The Cubs could not get through a month without the wheels coming off the bus.
The Cubs bumbled away the first two games of the Brewers series in Milwaukee. In typical Cub fashion, there were fielding errors, pitchers unable to cover first base, and incredibly bad pitches in key situations that constantly spell D-E-F-E-A-T. The Cubs cannot score runners (3-for last 30 with RISP).
In Sunday's post game autopsy on the flagship radio station, the hosts and callers were in agreement: the blame should be shared by everyone in the organization.
“Find options,” Dale Sveum said. “If people keep playing
like that, you have to find options. Get people playing time in
Triple-A to figure this stuff out.”
People believe Sveum was talking about Castro and Rizzo. Together, they are the post boys of the problems with the team: Castro cannot field routine plays and has the "gips" in throws to first, and Rizzo has little plate control and is hitting below .200.
The problem with the lack of production is tied to performance. People have begun to notice that the Cubs are not "performing" at all. Batters approach the plate like it is a continuation of batting practice: three swings and take a seat on the bench. Where is the new "Cub Way?" High OBP, taking pitches, selective situational hitting? Cub players admitted that they took it upon themselves to "hit agressively" which means that they are not listening to the coaching staff.
As Koz said on WGN radio last night, a good manager instills enough "fear and loyalty" to make his club respond and play well. Sveum has shown no leadership skills because the same mistakes keep getting made over and over and over again. Castro signed a $60 million extension. He is not going to get demoted or benched because the Cubs are not carrying a true back-up shortstop. Rizzo is not going to get demoted because he is the Epstein future cornerstone acquisition. And the Cubs have no back up first baseman ready in the minors. The Cubs are playing like a bad Triple A team because the talent is that of a Triple A team.
So the blame for that falls on the team president and general manager. But they keep saying that fans need to be "patient" and let them "rebuild" from the ground up. They said that the CBA has changed their plans so it will take longer. But if the current roster is any indication, the new front office may have very little baseball intelligence to find passable talent. The bullpen has been imploded and now is mostly of waiver pick-ups like Loe and Gregg, rejects from other organizations - -- journeymen or players whose best season was in 2009.
If the Cubs are focused on player development, none of those principles is apparent on the major league roster. It appears that Soriano has given up playing any professional defense. All he wants to do is swing the bat. In the first two weeks of the season, he batted clean up and had zero RBI. But it was cold, and his knees hurt. But when Soriano vetoed last year's trade to San Francisco, the writing was on the wall: Soriano would rather play for a bad team than the pressure of winning on a championship team. There were no consequences for this mind set. In fact, it was a statement given to all the other teammates that winning is not the most important aspect of being a Cub. Showing up and going through the motions is all that is required - - - which is starting to burn fans.
Fans will accept mistakes if they can see that their players are hustling to make plays. They can forgive occasional mental lapses or bonehead running mistakes if the players are really trying to win. But the current Cubs have shown no "drive" to win games. Either they don't understand what they are doing wrong or they don't care. And that puts the brick of accountability squarely on the manager's doorstep.
Sveum has turned into Mike Quade 2.0. The team is not responding to his instruction or rants. The Cubs are now 3-11 against teams that were over .500 last season. The current players know that there is job security on the team because the Iowa Cubs are just as awful. So bad, that the Cubs picked up another cast-off outfielder, Borbon, off waivers from Texas.
Now, some Sveum defenders will say that the manager is only as good as the talent he is given. True, the blame for the skills of the players put on the roster is squarely on the general manager Hoyer. However, a manager must motivate and coach players to give them the best opportunity to succeed, even if they lack certain skills. That is what makes the good managers great. The Cubs coaching staff has not changed any player's approach to the game. It is apparent that the players play how they want to play and not how they should play as a team. There is little accountability and no responsibility for the current Cub situation.
And this dark cloud over the franchise is going to pour many rainy days this year. Already, it is seen in the dramatic drop off in attendance at Wrigley. It was also quite apparent that many Cub fans did not make the trip to Milwaukee to see the Brewers (who did not sell out the weekend series). The Cubs only have approximately 25,000 season ticket holders (die hard fans), but even in this group, only about one-third are showing up for games. A bad product at high prices are turning even die-hard fans into non-believers.
The sad thing is that it is too late to right this sinking ship. The blueprint of drafting and signing young free agent players and stuffing the Class A ranks with prospects will not show returns, if any, until 2015 or beyond. But by that season, it may be too late. Then who would be left to blame?
