A rumor rumbled from the west coast yesterday, saying that Dusty Baker may opt out of the last year of his contract as coach of the Chicago Cubs and head to Los Angeles, the land of Vin Scully and a park that empties in the seventh inning in order to beat the traffic. As a die hard Cubs fan, I would like to simply say:
May I hold the door open for you?
If the Cubs ever want to end their fans’ suffering once and for all by winning the World Series, the first thing they should do is get rid of Baker. Sure, his supporters will cite the number of times he’s won Manager of the Year, including his first year with the Cubs in 2003. They’ll talk about how many players want to come and play for him, thus making it easier to attract big name talent.
Rubbish, the lot of it.
What I’ve seen, since he took over the Cubs, is a guy who rode his star pitchers (Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano) on to glory while riding them into the ground, to the point where they were completely gassed when the team needed them the most. (Wood and Prior subsequently spent significant time on the disabled list the following season, and Wood still isn’t the same today.) I’ve seen a guy who refused to put a fresh Matt Clement in either Games 6 or 7 of the 2003 NLCS, because “starters are starters and relievers are relievers.” Marlins skipper Jack McKeon, meanwhile, used Dontrelle Willis, Brad Penny and Josh Beckett in relief, and subsequently went on to, and won, the World Series. That is not a coincidence, and I will never forgive Baker for forgetting that, in the playoffs, there is no tomorrow.
But most importantly, I’ve seen a guy who allowed the Cubs clubhouse to become a bunch of petulant crybabies the second that anyone dared to have any expectations of them. When the going got tough last year, and they folded like a cheap card table down the stretch, the players blamed everyone but themselves. Hell, they ran the broadcasters out of town on a rail, because they were (rightly) critical of their lousy performance on the field. Ironically, the Cubs are still mediocre, while Chip Caray and Steve Stone have never been happier.
It was one thing to bring Baker in when Sammy Sosa was still in the clubhouse. Sosa was difficult, and Baker’s “skills” certainly came in handy in dealing with his massive ego, diminishing skills, and salsa-blasting boom box. But in jettisoning Sosa in the offseason, the Cubs claimed they were trying to create a different atmosphere in the clubhouse, a less toxic environment. Well, they’ve certainly done that, bringing in good guys like Jeromy Burnitz and Todd Walker to complement Derrek Lee, the nicest kid in the neighborhood. The problem now is that there are no egos for Baker to manage anymore, and he’s still running his starters into the ground.
This team is too good to play this poorly, and the window of opportunity is closing. Baker clearly doesn’t want to be here, and there doesn’t seem to be a need for him to stay. My suggestion: have a chat with Yankees bench coach Joe Girardi. He knows the Cubs’ system, he’s highly regarded (his name came up when McKeon was on the hot seat), and as a big league catcher, knows a thing or two about managing a game and getting a sense of when his pitchers are out of gas. Make the move, Cubs. Your time is now.
