In a recent interview, former Cubs manager Dale Sveum said his only advice for new manager Rick Renteria is to have patience.
“I had never really been around something that lost that much,” said
Sveum, who had a team that had two-year franchise
record 197 losses in his tenure. “It’s tough to lose like that, man, I
don’t care who you are. For some people, it’s just no big deal. But it
wears on you. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.”
This is the same sentiment that Lou Piniella had when he abruptly ended his managerial career with the Cubs. Losing wears down managers. Likewise, losing has to wear down players, or at least numbs them to winning.
And that is the culture that the new front office said its was going to change three years ago. But under current management, losing has actually gotten worse at the major league level. Management has intentionally put a team on the field to lose (and to gain high draft picks and more bonus pool spending money). But that is a destructive plan. There are several "core" players on the major league roster (Wood, Castro, Castillo, Rizzo) who will fall into the same losing trap that consumes their managers. Players get paid whether they win or lose (for the most part, until a contract year hits them). They will run out of patience to better themselves if they see that the team is not going to improve.
