A few weeks ago, Baseball Prospectus reported that Cubs pitcher Mark Prior was suffering from shoulder problems. The Cubs vehemently denied this, saying that Prior was just fine, despite the fact that he hadn’t made an appearance in anything more than a simulated game. On Tuesday, Baseball Prospectus, those vicious, slanderous bastards, were vindicated. Prior went to Los Angeles to have Dr. Lewis Yocum check out his shoulder. And just like that, Glendon Rusch is the #3 starter. Yikes.
General Manager Jim Hendry is all too aware of the perception by many of this news coming out now, as opposed to the beginning of spring training:
“Obviously, it will be perceived any way people want to perceive it. But there is no advantage of us holding back until March 14, then discussing a problem we knew about earlier.”
To paraphrase Rotoworld, you bet your ass there’s an advantage. An allegedly healthy Prior relieves the Cubs of the responsibility of having to hit the free agent market for another pitcher (though they should have done that either way). An allegedly healthy Prior wins as many games as Rusch, Jerome Williams and Rich Hill combined. Lastly, an allegedly healthy Prior allows the Cubs to tell their fans that they have a chance to compete, which gives the fans hope. And fans with hope buy tickets. The Cubs had every reason in the world to bury this story as quickly as possible.
The Cubs have trumpeted Prior and Kerry Wood as the two men who would take the Cubbie faithful to the promise land. They then surrounded these two with a manager (Dusty Baker) who doesn’t have the slightest idea when to pull a pitcher out of a game, and a pitching coach (Larry Rothschild) who doesn’t know bad mechanics when he sees them. Steve Stone, of course, does know bad mechanics when he sees them, being a former pitcher, and he urged Wood to change his mechanics or start selling cars. The Cubs repaid Stone’s honest assessment by jettisoning him from the broadcast booth. If I’m Carlos Zambrano, I’m signing as a free agent with the Orioles and Leo Mazzone as soon as I’m able to.
In the end, it’s stuff like this that makes Cubs fans suspect that the Tribune Company, owners of the Cubs, care more about making money than they care about winning. And if Rafael Furcal’s decision to play for Los Angeles instead of Chicago is any indication, even the potential free agents are starting to realize that, too. Combine that with the baseball renaissance on the South Side, and it seems the Cubs have the making of a meltdown on their hands.
But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe then the Tribune Company will try harder to win. Or, with any luck, they’ll sell the team to someone else, someone who cares more about the game than sweetheart broadcast deals, corporate synergy, and licensing.
