Will Sandberg Finally Manage The Cubs??

People have been talking about what horrible contract Soriano's would be since the day he signed it. The Trib refused to do what was necessary to field a championship ballclub for decades then opened the checkbook to make the team more valuable when it was looking to dump it.

Finally given the chance to act like the Yankees, the Cubs - being the Cubs - managed to fuck up that opportunity.

I really think the seeds for the apathy we're seeing now were sown with that two-year run. To go on a spending spree like that then proceed to choke like a bunch of gutless fucking assholes two years in a row finally drove true fans away because they knew the bill would come due on those horseshit contracts and that's exactly what's happening.

Couple that with dilettante ownership group that treats the franchise like a playtoy and you have a franchise that will not climb out of this hole any time soon.

This offseason will say a lot about the long-term future of the franchise under the Ricketts family. If Hendry and Crane Kenney are not shitcanned the Monday after the regular season ends there will be no reason to follow this club until the ownership changes because they will have clearly shown they either don't have a fucking clue or don't give a shit.

 

At least the Cubs can take solace that the talent traded for Garza isn't maturing very rapidly in Tampa Bay's farm system. There's talk Archer might not amount to anything more than a bullpen guy and that Chirinos is strictly backup material.

 

Re: Trammell.

Jesus Christ, Connie Mack and John McGraw put together couldn't have saved Tram's Tigers teams from the basement. I always felt he got something of a raw deal given the lack of talent, and just as things came around, they whacked him and Leyland looked like a genius.

 

Red Schoendienst - won a series as a player for the Cards, 10-time All-Star and managed them to one. Veterans Committee HOFer as a player. .522 winning percentage as a manager over parts of 14 seasons.

 

The player that is going to hurt in that deal is shortstop Hak-Ju Lee, who is hitting .315 in High-A and is only 21. If the Cubs held on to him the talk was that he would force Castro to second base.

 

If Ricketts is smart enough (I'm sure he's a bright business guy) to yank Kenney.

There has to be a sucker who'll take Soriano. If not, might as well let him play out the contract and show him the door.

 

Why wait for the end of the season? get rid of Hendry now. It is really tough to judge the job Quade has done with the Cubs because he has fuck all to work with, but a new front office usually leads to a new manager. This edition of the Cubs is so utterly disappointing, and looking at their pitching staff, their bullpen and their lineup, it is not the least bit surprising. I am having a hard time remembering a Cubs team that was this bad. There may be teams that ended with worse records, but there is absolutely nothing to get excited about with this team, those other teams you could always look at the young pitchers on the way, or a group of young players that had a ton of potential or even make excuses about an injury ravaged pitching staff. With this group the closest they come to a silver lining is Castro. Beyond him is a roster full of underproducing, ageing and overpaid chumps. It is a soul sucking experience to watch them play at this point.

And as far as star players returning to manage a former team: Not really sure he could be called a star but he did catch the Yankees to three World series championships and now managed them to one -- Joe Girardi.

 

As awful as they've been over the years they have not lost 100 games since 1966. They'd have to go 18-36 the rest of the way to reach that mark but I think they have it in them to do it.

The thing that is so discouraging about this year more than 2006 or any other year besides 84, 89, 98, 03, 07 or 08 is that many have absolutely no confidence in Ricketts being able to fix it.

 

At this point I'm pretty undecided on Ricketts. It all depends on how he decides to handle the next six months. Too early to draw conclusions on him yet. He's new to the game and inherited a mess. But if he sticks with Hendry he has a lot of work to do in my eyes to grow any confidence.

 

Absolutely a funny photo of Ricketts, but I'm guessing that was some sort of Harry Caray night? Others in the box wearing the glasses. Not going to hold it against a relatively young owner of a professional sports team who has at least a sense of humour or can still have fun. And as an owner of the Cubs I hope he likes beer. He's going to need a lot of it to get through his tenure. I will reserve my judgement for the decisions he makes that actually regard management and operation of the Cubs. I'm still on the fence. He's one fan who actually is putting his money where his mouth is. Now can he go beyond just being a fan and make tough and correct decisions? That remains to be seen. Hendry's future with the club will speak a great deal to that.

 

Willie McGee was the '85 NL MVP.