There was as much sizzle for the Cubs-Sox Crosstown Classic as a sidewalk dog turd in the middle of a February blizzard.
Both teams are coming off horrible 2013 campaigns.
And this year has not been too kind. One team has lost two starting pitchers, their third baseman, their second baseman, their right fielder and center fielder to injuries. The bullpen started off in a mess. But this White Sox team is still light years ahead of the Cubs.
The Cubs front office duo of Epstein and Hoyer have been in their positions longer than White Sox GM Hahn. Yes, Hahn was an assistant under Kenny Williams, so the White Sox management "team" is still together. But from all reports, Hahn is making the baseball calls.
He pulled outfielder Moises Sierra off the waiver wire last week when Avisail Garcia went down with a season ending injury. Sierra took to Cub pitching like a fish to water: he is 5 for 9 (.556 BA). A career minor league pitcher, Scott Carroll, is called up and makes two quality starts (1-1, 0.68 ERA and 1.05 WHIP).
And the Cubs have struggling Mike Olt.
And Darwin Barney who in the field is looking like a lost little leaguer.
This is a tale of two different baseball team philosophies.
The White Sox have to win in order to draw fan support. The Sox do not have the financial resources of the Cubs, but the team does not have the time to do a "rebuild." Instead, the Sox went out and traded and signed international free agents like Jose Abreu. Some call the roster turnover as "re-tooling" than rebuilding.
On the other side of town, the Cubs allegedly had the money to "re-tool" but stubbornly want to stay bad in order to re-stock the minor league system with high draft picks and Latin American teenagers.
The White Sox, even with their player injuries, are built to compete in 2014 while the Cubs are a complete journeyman AAAA team which as settled in to the bottom.
