Sandberg Rides the Bus

Somewhere, Ryne Sandberg must be wondering whether he caught a break. Passed over by Jim Hendry for the vacant Cubs managerial position, the former hall of famer has spent the season managing the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. While the Cubs have been imploding, Sandberg has been riding busses and throwing batting practice. He, like all of his players, is waiting anxiously for his opportunity at the big league level.

With the recent firing of Jim Hendry, the managerial future of Mike Quade seems ominous at best. One would expect that the next general manager of the Cubs would want to hire his own skipper and Quade wouldn’t fit into those plans. That may open the door for Sandberg, who led the IronPigs to their first playoff appearance. Had Sandberg been given the job this past offseason, he’d probably be facing a similar fate to Mike Quade.

Sandberg represents many of the qualities that Cubs fans would like in their manager; a calm demeanor, a proven ability to teach young players and an intimate understanding of how hungry the fan base is for success. He dazzled the masses at Clark and Addison with his power and consistent production as a player, but whether that translates into managerial success remains to be seen.

Oftentimes, the best managers and coaches are those who had limited, if any, success at the professional level. Hall of Famers sometimes lack the understanding of how to coach someone with moderate talent. Hall of Famers don’t always comprehend the struggles of the average players. Then again, Hall of Famers don’t usually ride busses either.

Darwin Theory

Baseball fans love the undersized guys. They get labeled with terms like scrappy, tough, hard-nosed and other adjectives that describe a player with minimal athletic abilities. As fans, we can relate to the athletes that look more like we do. They’re not the physical specimen that won the genetic lottery, but guys that persevered and found a niche in their sport. They’re supporting cast players who fill a role but don’t make the big bucks or drive the flashy cars. They’re overlooked by scouts for not having flashy tools and ignored by GM’s who are looking for the impact guys. Darwin Barney is one of those players.

Listed at 5’10 and 180 pounds, Barney doesn’t look any different that the average weekend warrior playing in a softball game playing in some part in Chicago. He’s posted a decent season and shown some signs of being an everyday player. Unlike Starlin Casto, however, Barney doesn’t scream All Star or impact player. While you can win with David Eckstein and Craig Counsell, you don’t really win because of them. He’s not really a building block, but more likely a piece in the puzzle.

That being said, it’s nice to have someone you can rely on. With so many big money guys that disappoint and leave you shaking your head about what they should be, it’s not bad having someone who seemingly maximizes their talents. Whether Barney fits prominently in the Cubs future, or he’s just a Ryan Theriot type who’s passing through town temporarily, the Cubs could worse than the diminutive second baseman out of Oregon State.

We won't get fooled again

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Cubs seem to be making a late season run long after the games have become meaningless. They’ve won nine of their last 11 games and have started to look like something other than a horrendous team. That being said, let’s home Cubs owner Tom Ricketts doesn’t get too giddy and this recent string of respectability.

Maybe it’s the pressure being off and the expectations of contention slowly but surely evaporating. Maybe it’s the inevitability that every team going on a decent run of solid baseball at some point the long grind of 162 games. At some point, the line drive outs turn into hits and the bloop singles begin to fall in. As is often the case, players start to reach those famous “back of the baseball card” numbers” despite how bad they looked in the cold days of April.

Regardless of the elusive reasoning, Cubs fans have to hope that Tom Ricketts has learned the lesson of last summer. As you may recall, the Cubs owner and General Manager seemingly got carried away with the solid late season play under interim manager Mike Quade last year. They retained Quade and made minimal and unimpressive moves during the offseason. They made the mistake of overvaluing the strength of their manager and players once the season was already lost. Time will only tell whether the organization makes the same error again.

Show Me State

With the Cubs currently sitting 15.5 games out of first place, there isn’t much excitement or drama left in the season. Their fates have been decided and the only questions that remain are about which players will still be around for next season. With the Cubs unloading Kosuke Fukudome to Cleveland, Tyler Colvin now has a golden opportunity to make management believe that he belongs in the everyday lineup next season.

Colvin, a lanky outfielder from Clemson, was drafted with the 13th pick in the 2006 draft. He was looked at as a solid athlete with the potential to become a power bat from the left side. Some national experts doubted the pick from the beginning and Colvin hasn’t proven any critics wrong to this point. His biggest issue has been the inability to demonstrate any level of patience at the plate. He’s played parts of five seasons in the minors and appeared in almost 500 games but has never posted an on base percentage above .336. His numbers in the big leagues aren’t anything to write home about either. While playing in 185 games, Colvin has a career batting average of .223 and .284 on base percentage.

While 185 games and 534 plate appearances may not be enough time to judge a player, Colvin doesn’t appear to be getting much better. He seems destined to be a non-descript fourth outfielder, never justifying the high draft pick the Cubs used on him. He may just be another underachieving Cubs position player prospect, never realizing the potential that the organization saw in him.

Punching Bag

The Cubs managerial search dominated the discussion of the offseason for fans on the North Side. Some favored bringing in a big name manager with experience while others wanted the team to hire Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. While the Cubs elected remove the interim tag and hire Mike Quade, the decision to bring in a new pitching coach may have been the more impactful decision.

Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild was a frequent target of animosity from Cubs fans. When a Cubs pitcher went down for an injury or failed to come back as quickly from the DL as predicted, fans hurled their frustrations at the long time pitching coach. He survived the constant barrage of criticism outlasting Don Baylor, Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella. Finally, Rothschild had enough and packed his bags for the Big Apple.

Mark Riggins, the rookie pitching coach for the Cubs, has had his hands full this year and the results have been awful. The Cubs currently rank dead last in the National League with an atrocious 4.69 team ERA and a paltry 30 quality starts. While the Cubs have dealt with injuries, there is no excuse for that level of performance.

Meanwhile, Larry Rotchshild seems to be getting the most out of his injury plagued rotation. Former flamethrower Bartolo Colon boasts a solid 3.10 ERA with an impressive 1.07 WHIP. Veteran Freddy Garcia has posted a surprising 3.28 ERA.

While Brian Cashman certainly deserves credit for picking up Colon and Garcia, Kudos must be given to Larry Rothschild. While Mark Riggins seems to be overmatched at the big league level, Larry Rothschild seemingly has found a home.

Bottoming Out

Bob Verdi, a venerable former Chicago Tribune writer, once proclaimed that “when a team is at the bottom, the problem is usually at the top.” Verdi, was describing the state of the 1970’s Cubs, but it the description certainly fits the current inhabitants of Clark and Addison.

After a disastrous sweep to the last-place Astros and a less than stellar showing against the Pirates, the Cubs find themselves dangerously close to the bottom of the NL Central. The losses featured the usual cavalcade of botched defensive plays, runners being stranded on base and a blown save from the normally reliable but often wild Carlos Marmol. Some local media members have already turned on rookie manager Mike Quade by questioning his loyalty to slumping veteran Aramis Ramirez. Although Quade is still learning on the job and far from perfect, the issue goes beyond the first year skipper.

While Cubs owner Tom Ricketts believes injuries are the culprit, the roster just simply isn’t good enough. Whether Ricketts is prepared to make significant changes in the front office remains to be seen. The Ricketts family has taken a liking to general manager Jim Hendry and don’t appear to be in a hurry to start looking for a replacement. With empty seats piling up at Wrigley Field and seagulls seemingly outnumbering fans late in games, one has to wonder whether the Ricketts family will remain patient.

Falling Short

The Bulls season ended last evening in heartbreaking fashion. A lead which seemed safe evaporated in the blink of an eye. A three here, a foolish foul there and a string of empty possessions left the United Center silent until the next season begins. The broadcasters, those that are paid by the team, urged the fans to be thankful and proud of the season the Bulls had. It’s hard to be thankful when your team blows a 12 point lead with 3 minutes left. The reality, of course, is that unless your team is staging trophy presentations and ticker tape parades through the city, all seasons end in some form of disappointment.

Entering the playoffs, the conventional wisdom was that the Bulls needed their supporting cast to distinguish themselves. Luol Deng needed to be aggressive, Kyle Korver needed to find his shooting touch and Carlos Boozer needed to show explosiveness. Some of those things happened on occasion during the postseason, but not frequently enough. As has been the case for much of the season, the burden fell to MVP Derrick Rose to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, the young star wasn’t up to the challenge.

There will be brighter days for the Bulls. They will find ways to improve, they will find players who better fit the playing style of Rose and they will be back. Sadly, the Heat will too. The Bulls, like many teams, spent last summer looking for a game-changing type player to pair with Derrick. They fell short in those endeavors and may not be able to acquire that impact star any time soon.

Derrick Rose will spend the summer honing his game. There will be long sweltering days in the gym hoisting up countless jump shots and replaying the miscues in his mind. He will remember the missed free throws, the turnovers, the empty possessions and failures in late game situations. The great ones don’t forget about the heartbreak. Instead they heal and use it as motivation for the opportunities that arise in the future.