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.

Slip Slidin' Away

The baseball season has hit the quarter pole and teams are beginning to show their true identities. Some are contenders, some pretenders and others clinging to a distant hope that are being kept alive by weak divisions. Which category the Cubs fit into may still be in question, although many fans may be losing the optimism that the start of baseball season always brings.


During spring training, many media experts praised the enthusiasm that seemingly enveloped the camp in Mesa. Before the Cubs played a game that counted in the standings, Mike Quade was receiving kudos for bringing a new energy to the team that Lou Piniella may have lacked prior to his retirement last season. The drills were being executed with vigor and the team was going to reemphasize fundamentals that were lacking in previous seasons.

Not surprisingly, the results during the regular season have been spotty at best. Thus far, the Cubs have committed 29 errors, the sixth most in the National League. The culprits have been varied with offensive sensation Starlin Castro committing seven of his own. Noted defensive liability Alfonso Soriano has contributed three errors thus far, although that doesn’t reflect how poorly he performs in the field. The Cubs offense has shown sporadic signs of life recently, but they are beating themselves far too frequently. While many hoped that a new manager would bring about a change in defensive execution and fundamentally sound play, the personnel may just simply not be good enough.

Mixed Results

Like any General Manager, Jim Hendry has had hits and misses. The Derrek Lee for Hee-Seop Choi trade and the acquisitions of Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for the stretch run of 2003 are probably his two biggest successes. Of course, Hendry has also made signings and trades that Cubs fans would like to forget. The signing of Alfonso Soriano has financially hamstrung the Cubs for years to come and the Ricky Nolasco for Juan Pierre trade robbed the Cubs of a promising young arm. This past offseason, Hendry traded a boatload of prospects for Matt Garza. Thus far, the results have been mixed.

Garza, a 27 year old hyperactive right hander, notched his first win at Wrigley Field last evening against the Cardinals. While Garza boasts a pedestrian 44-48 career record, his 3.98 career ERA in the American League is pretty solid. Fans were hoping that Garza would make a seamless transition into the National League and feast on the weaker lineups.

Garza has been inconsistent in the early going, but has shown the propensity to rack up strikeouts at an impressive rate. His 64 strikeouts are the third highest in baseball while pitching fewer innings than league leaders Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum. Opposing hitters are having a difficult time catching up to his fastball and Garza can put them away with a disappearing changeup.

In order to acquire Matt Garza, Jim Hendry dealt highly touted prospects including Chris Archer and Hak-Ju-Lee while also surrendering big league ready talent in Sam Fuld and Brandon Guyer. Whether this trade is closer to the Derrek Lee heist or the Juan Pierre fiasco remains to be seen.