The Cubs season has fallen into a tug-of-war blame game.
The front office is still supportive of besieged manager Dale Sveum.
“He’s got our full support,” GM Hoyer said Tuesday in a rare road trip appearance. “We’re all in this together.”
The Cubs are 6-13 and nearly destroyed a great pitching performance by Carlos Villanueva (1.53 ERA) Carlos Marmol blew another save with one pitch in the ninth inning. Darwin Barney hit a rare home run and Kevin Gregg closed it out for his first save of the season.
“We needed it,” Villanueva said. “You can’t dwell too much on those close games. They’ll crush the spirits sometimes.”
“It’s been painful to watch because we keep on squandering leads,” Hoyer said. “That’s on Theo and that’s on me. We look at it and we have to figure out ways to get better. We’re not the most talented team in the league right now. We’re trying to build to get there. But as we get there, we can’t continue to make the kind of mistakes we’ve been making. We have to clean it up. We have to get better. That’s on us. Dale has our complete support. (Job security is) not what he should be thinking about in the least.”
The pitching staff is a woeful mess. That blame is squarely on the front office. News that Matt Garza's rehab start was scrubbed because of a "dead arm" issue, then any hope of a quick change in fortune is lost. Garza's set back, Scott Baker's MIA rehab and Vizcaino not even on the radar shows that the dice Epstein & Hoyer rolled in the off-season came up snake eyes. It is quite the gamble to rely upon injured pitchers suddenly pitching like they did in 2009.
Gregg is a type of reclamation project, too. His best years are behind him, too. He is just an experienced arm who may be able to throw an occasional strike. The Cubs bullpen has no fastball, strike out artist. The Reds closer Chapman can come into a game and intimidate an opponent with a high 90s heater. The Cubs roll out Marmol with control issues, or any one of several bullpen pitchers who tip the radar gun at 91.
Yes, the Cubs players are constantly making mistakes, but so is the front office. The admission that the current roster is not very talented speaks volumes to fans who feel misled by the fanfare of the boy geniuses who are running the team. At the major league level, the team has not been trying to rebuild - - - become the components being used are washed up or broken players. Ownership must believe that loyal fans are brain dead to pay to see this team play.
