The Cubs Are Not Cursed (They are Just Not Too Smart)
I would like to take a column and devote it to bad management decisions of the Cubs of the last fifteen years, because I think it's important to recognize that part of why this team is "cursed" is their own fault.
In 1992 the Cubs had a distinct decision to make with regard to a future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux. Maddux had just won his first Cy Young Award, going 20 and 11 at the age of 26, with a 2.18 ERA in WRIGLEY FIELD. However, Chicago declined to re-sign Maddux, instead letting him go to an NL rival, the Atlanta Braves. Maddux went on to win three more Cy Youngs, and the Cubs had a five year stretch in which their leading pitchers were... Steve Trachsel, Greg Hibbard, and Frank Castillo.
And it isn't as if Cubs pitchers weren't getting paid, either. The following pitchers got paid over $3 million a year for at least one season during the 1990s: Kevin Tapani (who inexplicably got 19 wins in 1998 despite an ERA near 5), Mark Clark (who the Cubs judiciously awarded $5 mil in 1998 based on 9 1997 starts), Mel Rojas (kept for exactly half of one season), Ismael Valdes (lasted exactly 12 starts), Jamie Navarro (who actually was the best of this bunch, pitching fairly well in 1995 and 1996), Mike Morgan (when he was 35, no less), Randy Myers, and Jose Guzman (who is now in independent baseball in Louisiana).
What is fairly clear is that the $7 or $8 million it might have taken to re-sign Maddux was better than all the fill-ins.
The Cubs, however, did no better in their farm system, developing around zero players until 1998, when they threw Kerry Wood into the majors, let him throw too many pitches, and watched him blow out his arm.
But, you say, we're in the 2000s, and a whole new better era of Cubs baseball is upon us.
This may be true. Corey Patterson, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, and Sergio Mitre are all competent farm-grown Cubs. Additionally, the Cubs have actually been on a streak lately of signing decent players to fill their lineup, something they never did for Sammy Sosa. Just imagine if Sosa had, say, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez behind him for more than the latter part of his career.
However, as you might expect, the penny-pinching Cubs decided not to re-sign Matt Clement, one of their solid, perfectly durable starters. Moises Alou and Sammy Sosa were deemed expendable, and have been replaced by such stars as Todd Hollandsworth and Jeromy Burnitz. Now there are pitching problems again, and Prior and Wood are hurt again. But hey, at least the Cubs are trying to put younger players on the field, and are not (generally) settling for older, more expensive players who are average (calling Mickey Morandini and Henry Rodriguez).
The fact of the matter is that any team who does not manage their personnel well is not cursed, they are just poorly managed. Cubs fans should take a good hard look at every off-season in the past few decades, and it will become apparent that they are only cursed by bad management.
In 1992 the Cubs had a distinct decision to make with regard to a future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux. Maddux had just won his first Cy Young Award, going 20 and 11 at the age of 26, with a 2.18 ERA in WRIGLEY FIELD. However, Chicago declined to re-sign Maddux, instead letting him go to an NL rival, the Atlanta Braves. Maddux went on to win three more Cy Youngs, and the Cubs had a five year stretch in which their leading pitchers were... Steve Trachsel, Greg Hibbard, and Frank Castillo.
And it isn't as if Cubs pitchers weren't getting paid, either. The following pitchers got paid over $3 million a year for at least one season during the 1990s: Kevin Tapani (who inexplicably got 19 wins in 1998 despite an ERA near 5), Mark Clark (who the Cubs judiciously awarded $5 mil in 1998 based on 9 1997 starts), Mel Rojas (kept for exactly half of one season), Ismael Valdes (lasted exactly 12 starts), Jamie Navarro (who actually was the best of this bunch, pitching fairly well in 1995 and 1996), Mike Morgan (when he was 35, no less), Randy Myers, and Jose Guzman (who is now in independent baseball in Louisiana).
What is fairly clear is that the $7 or $8 million it might have taken to re-sign Maddux was better than all the fill-ins.
The Cubs, however, did no better in their farm system, developing around zero players until 1998, when they threw Kerry Wood into the majors, let him throw too many pitches, and watched him blow out his arm.
But, you say, we're in the 2000s, and a whole new better era of Cubs baseball is upon us.
This may be true. Corey Patterson, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, and Sergio Mitre are all competent farm-grown Cubs. Additionally, the Cubs have actually been on a streak lately of signing decent players to fill their lineup, something they never did for Sammy Sosa. Just imagine if Sosa had, say, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez behind him for more than the latter part of his career.
However, as you might expect, the penny-pinching Cubs decided not to re-sign Matt Clement, one of their solid, perfectly durable starters. Moises Alou and Sammy Sosa were deemed expendable, and have been replaced by such stars as Todd Hollandsworth and Jeromy Burnitz. Now there are pitching problems again, and Prior and Wood are hurt again. But hey, at least the Cubs are trying to put younger players on the field, and are not (generally) settling for older, more expensive players who are average (calling Mickey Morandini and Henry Rodriguez).
The fact of the matter is that any team who does not manage their personnel well is not cursed, they are just poorly managed. Cubs fans should take a good hard look at every off-season in the past few decades, and it will become apparent that they are only cursed by bad management.
posted by mike at 9:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home