Author: David Medsker (Page 8 of 20)

It is June 18. Here are the team batting stats for the Chicago Cubs – who have the seventh highest payroll in baseball – along with the stats of the league leaders.

Runs Scored: 264, second to last in MLB (New York Yankees, 386)
Batting Average: .258, 23rd in MLB (Toronto, .296)
On-Base Percentage: .310, second to last in MLB (New York Yankees, .370)
Home Runs: 53, second to last in MLB (Cincinnati, 102)
Total Bases: 882, second to last in MLB (Toronto, 1155)

Had enough? Okay, how about some pitching stats:

Runs Allowed: 334, 16th most in MLB (Detroit, 263)
ERA: 4.72, 22nd in MLB (Detroit, 3.61)
Walks Allowed: 285, second most in MLB (Minnesota, 157)
Home Runs Allowed: 82, sixth most in MLB (Colorado, 51) (Note: They allowed eight home runs today)

After surveying these numbers, a few small questions spring to mind. A few of you may recognize these from an earlier rant.

– How does hitting coach Gene Clines still have a job?
– How does pitching coach Larry Rothschild still have a job?
– Why does there seem to be no pressure at all on a single member of the Cubs coaching staff?

This team needs to be stripped for parts, a la the Florida Marlins, who, in case you were wondering, have a better record than the Cubs. With a sixth of the payroll.

Free the Cubs.

Boy, does this kid have a rough first few days in the major leagues ahead of him: with their first pick in the draft, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have selected third baseman…

Evan Longoria.

Insert Wisteria Lane joke here.

Let me get this out of the way: I’m not a big fan of Barry Bonds, and believe it or not it has little to nothing to do with the whole BALCO thing. It’s that whole swaggering arrogance thing, that I’m-better-than-you attitude he lords over pretty much everyone. Having said that, the fact that his passing of Babe Ruth on the home run leaders list was met with equal parts indifference and hostility is nothing short of tragic.

Here’s why: Bonds is a better ball player than everyone else in his generation. He was well on his way to the Hall of Fame before any of this alleged steroid nonsense took place. Purists would like to wipe his numbers off of the books, and while that opens a whole can of worms involving Ken Caminiti’s MVP award, Rafael Palmeiro and a half dozen other hitters, not to mention pitchers, let’s take 150 home runs — which roughly translates to the number of dingers he hit from 2001-2003 — off of the books. That still makes him the sole member of the 500-500 (home runs & stolen bases) club. Only four players are in the 300-300 club, and no one is in the 400-400 club. That is simply staggering.

And yet, we curse his name and pray to God, Allah or anyone who will listen not to let him pass Hank Aaron as the all time home run leader. Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen. His knees are shot, and if it took him this long to hit seven home runs this season, it’s going to take him three years to hit another 40. But Bonds, warts and all, is truly one of the greatest players in baseball history, and while there was no way he was going to force people to like him, he could have made it very difficult for people not to respect him. But pride got the best of him, and he threw it all away in order to keep that “white boy” from getting his glory.

Let’s count the number of deadly sins that were committed in this whole sordid affair.
Bonds – Envy (of McGwire and Sosa), Pride (insisted that everyone acknowledge him at the best player in baseball)
MLB – Greed, Sloth (owners clearly knew something was up, but did nothing to stop the players from juicing, since it was filling the ballparks again after the strike in 1994)
Fans – Lust (for dingers at first), Wrath (lust for blood later)

And now, instead of celebrating Bonds passing Ruth, everyone is celebrating each home run hit by Albert Pujols, the “clean one,” and holding out hope that one day he will pass Bonds, thereby making everything “better” again. Sad, sad, sad.

Thank you, Rick Telander, for echoing my sentiments to a much larger audience. If the Chicago Cubs are ever to win another World Series, the Tribune Company simply must sell the team.

The Trib has owned the Cubs for 25 years, and can boast of four playoff teams — two of which choked in the NLCS — and only one point where they had winning records in back to back seasons. Forbes ranked them as the sixth most profitable team in baseball last year. Sixth. And they’ve done nothing but lose for almost a quarter of a century. The lesson is clear: they do not care about winning. They care about profitability.

Granted, I know that it going to take a hell of a lot for the Trib to sell the Cubs, which is probably bolstering their stock price more than any other asset. But enough is enough. Between deliberately fielding mediocre teams and scalping their own tickets (how they won that lawsuit, I’ll never know), they are a disgrace of an owner, and if Bud Selig had any balls, or cared at all about the fans the way he says he does, he’d strip the Trib of their team and find them an owner that’ll make them genuinely competitive again, not the fake-competitive that they’ve been shelling to their masochistic fan base all these years. Mark Cuban, perhaps? Hey, don’t laugh, he’d buy his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday if they’d let him.

And fans, you have a say in this, you know. You want to nudge the Trib into selling the team? Then make them less profitable, and STOP GOING TO WRIGLEY. Until we give them a reason to take action, they will continue to sit back and count your money. Stay off the rooftops, and stay away from Wrigley. Even better: start buying White Sox tickets (attending the games is optional). They have to know that Cubs fans have had enough. The only way they’ll hear us is if we hit them in the wallet. The revolution begins now.

The Chicago Cubs are the most pathetic team in baseball. Yes, the Kansas City Royals are worse, but not much worse, and no one expected the Royals to be good anyway. The Cubs, on the other hand, have the seventh highest payroll in baseball, so yeah, they should be playing a little better than this.

Let’s look at the stats, shall we?

Hitting
Runs scored: second worst in MLB
Runs batted in: worst in MLB
Home runs: second worst in MLB
Batting Average: second worst in MLB
On-base percentage: second worst in MLB
Extra base hits: worst in MLB

Pitching
ERA: 19th in MLB
K/BB: 23rd in MLB
Wins: 26th in MLB

Now, after reading those numbers, a couple of questions popped into my head:

– How does hitting coach Gene Clines still have a job?
– How does pitching coach Larry Rothschild still have a job?

Now here’s the most important question of all:

– How the hell does manager Dusty Baker still have a job?

This is the most punchless team the Cubs have put on the field in years, and I don’t want to hear a word about injuries. The Yankees are missing two of their biggest sluggers (Matsui, Sheffield) and one big money pitcher (Carl Pavano, who might be done for the year), and they’re doing just fine. In fact, the recurring injuries to the Cubs’ (non)saviors Kerry Wood and Mark Prior only underscore how badly they need to get rid of Rothschild. The man clearly doesn’t know what bad mechanics look like.

So forget bad luck and injuries. The problem is that the players they do have aren’t playing. Eventually, the responsibility for this falls on the coaches, yet the Cubs seem to think that everybody’s doing just dandy. Well, they’re not, and if the Tribune Company wanted to send a message to Cubs fans that they’re just as sick of losing as the fans are, they’d fire the entire staff. From Dusty on down, clean ‘em all out. They’re clearly not getting the job done.

Of course, management will do no such thing. You know why? Because apparently, Cubs fans don’t care how bad the team is. They go to Wrigley no matter what. Not even the resurgence on the South Side has stopped them from packing Wrigley. Frankly, I’m surprised their payroll is as high as it is, since that’s only hurting a bottom line that could be even fatter.

This is never going to end, Cubs fans. As long as the Tribune Company owns the team, management will try just hard enough to keep the stadium filled, but will never try hard enough to win it all. The only hope is for the Tribune Company to sell the team to someone like Mark Cuban, but for as much money as the Cubs bring in each year, the Trib would be fools to give up a cash cow this big. In other words, unless the Tribune Company falls on hard times and needs to sell their assets, don’t expect the numbers in that counter in the right field bleachers to go down anytime soon. Like I said before, pathetic.