Welcome, make yourselves at home. I'll be your guide today as I show you around a place that I like to call Rock Bottom. It's not as cold or as desperate in here as you might imagine. There's no stomach punch, no bottled up anxiety that makes you want to scream and no feeling of dread. It's quite numb here, actually. That's because we make you check your hope at the door. It's much like one of my favorite lines from The Shawshank Redemption when Red tells Andy "Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea." There is no hope at Rock Bottom.
This is a comically flawed team from top to bottom. What makes it so comical is that everyone seems to be aware of it except those closest to it. They continue to try and put the fires out with a garden hose while the rest of us already had the sense enough to jump off the roof. Now, after another incident on the South Side, the powers that be in the Cubs organization have yet another chance to make the wrong moves.
Only your 2010 Chicago Cubs could find themselves here. Can you think of another team that could have two of their bigger stars argue in the dugout and it makes that team no more or no less watchable? Do you care what the conclusion is? Does it matter?
Say what you will about Zambrano. He's probably not worth the trouble at this point and he's more and more becoming the house guest that won't leave. There may be some good that comes out of this though. Maybe after this, Derrek Lee will be willing to waive his no-trade clause and leave before Jim Hendry has the opportunity to re-sign him.
We all knew that Z was crazy, it wasn't a surprise. And just because he's crazy doesn't mean you should kowtow to him but it does mean that you should be aware of what certain decisions will do to his psyche. I harshly criticized Piniella's decision to move him to the bullpen earlier this year. Lou made sure everyone was aware that moving him there was not a punishment or a demotion. That is of course until now, when they want to punish him and demote him. Did anyone in Cubs' management ever stop to think that the initial move to the pen would start the process of Z unraveling?
I'm not trying to say that Z's move to the pen is what made his 2010 season up to this point a colossal waste of time, I'm just saying that I don't know. It's possible that the move affected him negatively and it's just as possible that his skills are in decline and the beginning of the end was near. We may never know now, and I think that sucks.
Of course, in typical Jim Hendry fashion, he's screwing this up too. He now has a player he wants to get rid of that he's paying $91 million dollars and his value has never been lower. So what does he want to do? He wants to move him back to the pen to lower his value even further. His one chance to move Zambrano this season is to try and trade him to a contender before the deadline. What contender is going to want to take on that salary when they now know that before Zambrano can even contribute to their team as a starter he'll have to be stretched out again, for the second time in one season? Does Hendry think there is a contender out there that will pick up the rest of Z's contract so they can use him as an 8th inning set-up guy? I'd hope that Hendry would realize what he's doing is counterproductive, but then again, I've already checked hope at the door. And now the Cubs, like Andy Dufresne, must crawl through a river of shit and hope to come clean on the other side. But what are we supposed to do in the meantime? It's a way of life I guess...
This is a comically flawed team from top to bottom. What makes it so comical is that everyone seems to be aware of it except those closest to it. They continue to try and put the fires out with a garden hose while the rest of us already had the sense enough to jump off the roof. Now, after another incident on the South Side, the powers that be in the Cubs organization have yet another chance to make the wrong moves.
Only your 2010 Chicago Cubs could find themselves here. Can you think of another team that could have two of their bigger stars argue in the dugout and it makes that team no more or no less watchable? Do you care what the conclusion is? Does it matter?
Say what you will about Zambrano. He's probably not worth the trouble at this point and he's more and more becoming the house guest that won't leave. There may be some good that comes out of this though. Maybe after this, Derrek Lee will be willing to waive his no-trade clause and leave before Jim Hendry has the opportunity to re-sign him.
We all knew that Z was crazy, it wasn't a surprise. And just because he's crazy doesn't mean you should kowtow to him but it does mean that you should be aware of what certain decisions will do to his psyche. I harshly criticized Piniella's decision to move him to the bullpen earlier this year. Lou made sure everyone was aware that moving him there was not a punishment or a demotion. That is of course until now, when they want to punish him and demote him. Did anyone in Cubs' management ever stop to think that the initial move to the pen would start the process of Z unraveling?
I'm not trying to say that Z's move to the pen is what made his 2010 season up to this point a colossal waste of time, I'm just saying that I don't know. It's possible that the move affected him negatively and it's just as possible that his skills are in decline and the beginning of the end was near. We may never know now, and I think that sucks.
Of course, in typical Jim Hendry fashion, he's screwing this up too. He now has a player he wants to get rid of that he's paying $91 million dollars and his value has never been lower. So what does he want to do? He wants to move him back to the pen to lower his value even further. His one chance to move Zambrano this season is to try and trade him to a contender before the deadline. What contender is going to want to take on that salary when they now know that before Zambrano can even contribute to their team as a starter he'll have to be stretched out again, for the second time in one season? Does Hendry think there is a contender out there that will pick up the rest of Z's contract so they can use him as an 8th inning set-up guy? I'd hope that Hendry would realize what he's doing is counterproductive, but then again, I've already checked hope at the door. And now the Cubs, like Andy Dufresne, must crawl through a river of shit and hope to come clean on the other side. But what are we supposed to do in the meantime? It's a way of life I guess...
Posts
