There's Good and Bad in Everything

As with most things in life there can be good and bad in the same entity. Despite the fact that the Cubs are in the throes of an eight game losing streak there are still some positives to consider if you look for them.

Going back to last off-season, the Cubs were looking for the next color guy after Ron Santo’s passing. I’m sure they had many options in the baseball world, but we heard publicly of three: Keith Moreland, Gary Mathews and Dave Otto. I would have been fine with either Moreland or Mathews but really wanted Moreland. Otto (especially with the season playing out the way that it is) would have been death on the radio. The Cubs got it right by hiring Moreland. He’s done a great job; very insightful, puts coherent thoughts together. The only complaint is that he sucks as the Ed McMahon to Pat Hughes’ stupid stories. That’s not his fault. He’s put in the awkward position of having to feign interest or amusement when Pat decides it’s time to tell a “funny” story because the game isn’t interesting enough to focus on. Hughes finally has a partner who can reach for the next level. It’s time he does the same thing.

During the off-season the Cubs were looking for a firstbaseman, a starting pitcher or two and some relief help. They did what the Federal Government, State of Illinois and most family households can’t do – they showed some fiscal responsibility. They picked up Matt Garza for prospects, signed Kerry Wood at a nice discount and signed Carlos Pena for a paltry $10 million which they spread over two years. Garza has been disappointing, but the potential is there. Wood has been good as well as an awesome influence in the clubhouse. Pena, while starting slow, has started to pick it up and may be the nicest Cub we’ve had since Ernie Banks.

At the top of the decision list during the off-season was “Who’s going to run this club?” It came down to fan favorite Ryne Sandberg and baseball lifer Mike Quade. Again the Cubs got it right. Eventually I would love for Sandberg to be managing the Cubs, but I don’t think he was ready. Our Boys in Blue are currently 12 games under .500, 11 out and six behind the Pirates. Think Sandberg would have changed that? More importantly how would he handle it? No one with an ounce of logic can blame Quade for this. 40% of his starting pitching went on the shelf in April, his centerfielder got hit in the face, Ramirez got a busted lip, Soriano is back on the DL, Colvin decides to hit like Karl Pagel and Dempster started out the year with an ERA of over 6.00. Some things are out of a manager’s control. The key is how the manager handles it.

Quade hasn’t overreacted or blown up. He had a team meeting behind closed doors. He didn’t take it to the media. When Zambrano made the immortal claim “We stinks”, Quade said it would be handled by Z’s teammates if they had a problem with his comments. The next day Zambrano apologizes and there’s no more story. Quade was the right personality to run this club. Now he just needs the talent.

Heading into the season Quade named Dempster the Opening Day starting pitcher. Exact right move. Sure it could piss off Zambrano, but Z didn’t earn it last year – Dempster did. Quade made the right decision, hurt feelings be damned. Imagine how good the Cubs could have been had Baker pushed Sosa down in the order before Sosa “volunteered” or had Pinella taken Soriano out of the leadoff spot years before it actually happened?

Like with anything there are also bad choices that were made. When Wells and Cashner went down, the original choice was to have Jeff Russell spot start. Oh baby that’s not the way to go. Then logic says bring in a grizzled veteran to eat up some innings. Sounds logical as long as that grizzled veteran isn’t Doug Davis. Strike two. Need someone in addition to Davis to be able to turn the rotation over? Here’s Rodrigo Lopez. Strike three looking. Now the fans are saying “Isn’t there some prospect at Double or Triple A that could be promoted and get some Major League seasoning?” That’s backseat driving in my opinion. Had they done that first and the prospect gets smoked, then we would be calling for the Doug Davis’ of the world because “they have experience and can at least eat some innings.” We just don’t have the depth. That’s probably a Hendry issue. But how many teams have seven quality starters in case they lose two or three of their rotation? None.

In the meantime we’ve been able to enjoy the emergence of Darwin Barney (again the right choice to start at second, rather than going with the veteran DeWitt) and the energy of Tony Campana. Sure, Campana will most likely go back to the minors when Johnson, Baker and/or Byrd come back, but it sure has been fun to watch Campana fly around the bases in a way we haven’t seen since Dunston was legging out triples.

So while the Cubs are horrible this year, it’s important to keep in perspective that decisions made during the off-season were correct.