Bruce Miles dissects the MacPhail era

[goonys evil twin]

MacPhail era one of unfulfilled promise

 

Bruce puts out what I believe is the first detailed accounting of how disappointing the MacPhail era has been. A lot of people have focused on the managers, or on Hendry. But Andy is the bottom line decision maker. He's greenlighted the moves that have been made, especially the hiring and non-firing of key members of management that have repeatedly failed at their jobs. He set the tone and gameplan in place, the rest of the crew just followed along.

 

A key point:

Cubs record under MacPhail (1995-present): 912-1,006 Winning percentage: .475

 

Cubs record the previous 12 years (1983-94): 925-963 Winning percentage: .490

 

The Cubs were better before Andy, despite the overall sentiment that Andy did a good job moving the ballclub forward.

 

The scoreboard shows five seasons of winning records under MacPhail and seven losers, including those five 90-plus loss years. In 12 years, the Cubs have fielded no dominant teams, as both of their playoff teams had to scrap until the end.

 

That says it all. 12 years, and the only time they won 90 games was when they needed an extra game added to win the wild card. When your goal is to "contend within the division", this is the sort of mediocrity you will achieve. If your goal is to win 100 and be the best in baseball, a 90 win season and first round exit is a disappointment. When your goal is to contend within the division, 90 losses and last place is a disappointment. Disappointment is inevitable in baseball, it's up to the organization to decided what they will be disappointed by, and what sort of goal they want to achieve. If you don't try to win 100 and the WS, you probably aren't going to win 100 and the WS.

[Soriano12]

Tea-leaf readers say that when Commissioner Bud Selig retires, the chair is waiting for MacPhail, especially if he can deliver a second straight collective-bargaining agreement without a players strike.

 

 

Ha.....soon he Failure can sabotage all of MLB, not just the Cubs.

 

:lol:

[kroth1342]

http://www.londonist.com/attachments/Hazel/ether.JPG

[Soul]

Excellent article.

 

The jury is out on recent drafts, but the Cubs got absolutely nothing as far as position players go in the 1995, ’96, ’97, ’99 and 2000 drafts.

 

I can't emphasize this enough. Has there ever been a club who produces less position talent in their minor league system? We're talking Mark Grace here. How can this go unpunished for so long?

 

Here's all you really need to know about MacF.A.I.L (and, indeed, the entire Cub franchise over the past 10 years)

 

Ninety-win seasons: 1998 (Cubs won a wild-card tiebreaker to finish 90-73)

 

Ninety-loss seasons: 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006

 

He's a bozo. We should have dumped him years & years ago. But then again, the Trib doesn't care about baseball, only profits and Andy has presided over an era of big profits for the team.

[daske17]

Not to derail what promises to be an interesting thread, but I just want to compare the high quality of actual reporting and analysis that Bruce does to his competition from the Trib, everyone's favorite Paul Sullivan:

 

10 Steps to Change Cubs karma

 

We should all be thankful that someone is actually taking the Cubs to task.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Not to derail what promises to be an interesting thread, but I just want to compare the high quality of actual reporting and analysis that Bruce does to his competition from the Trib, everyone's favorite Paul Sullivan:

 

10 Steps to Change Cubs karma

 

We should all be thankful that someone is actually taking the Cubs to task.

 

I read Sulley's article in the Tribune this morning and just now clicked the link to Miles' piece in the Herald. Fantastic comparison, daske, Sullivan's article is complete garbage with absolutely no substance or originality at all. Miles' article analyzed a major problem within the organization and is hopefully eye opening for a lot of your average Cub fans. Nice work, Bruce, as usual. At least you're holding someone accountable for this disaster.

[soapy]

Bruce had a small blurb about this very subject a week or two ago in another article. I created a thread about it, but am too lazy to look for it.

 

As unlikely as it is for the Trib to step in and clean house, I have to wonder if they take notice in the dissapointing record in the MacPhail era. If all they are interested in is the bottom line, he's a shoe-in to stay for a while. As mentioned, MacPhail has upgraded the ballpark and increased revenue during his tenure. If the Trib is becoming concerned with winning to maintain that revenue, perhaps change is possible, though unlikely.

[BigbadB]

Just another small tidbit of information about MacPhail. He's been given a much larger payroll than the previous GM's and even that couldn't propel him ahead of them in the win/loss column.

 

Maybe that was in the article somewhere, but I won't be able to read it until later.

[snoodmonger]

I laughed at "well-known football acquisitions." Good article.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I laughed at "well-known football acquisitions." Good article.

 

I did too. I think that was my favorite part.

[snoodmonger]

That Sullivan article is amazingly bad. His problem is he tries to hard to be clever/funny and makes no effort to bring anything insightful to the table. It ends up reading like he's lazy and doesn't take his job seriously. For people who take the Cubs and their struggles VERY seriously, that doesn't work.

[goonys evil twin]

That Sullivan article is amazingly bad. His problem is he tries to hard to be clever/funny and makes no effort to bring anything insightful to the table. It ends up reading like he's lazy and doesn't take his job seriously. For people who take the Cubs and their struggles VERY seriously, that doesn't work.

 

Seriously, every single one of his suggestions were completely superficial and non-baseball related. 6 were strictly fan related. Not only did he fail to mention anything specifically baseball related (ie, fire Dusty), he couldn't even list a general baseball comment (get better pitchers). And to top it off, it wasn't even funny.

[Banedon]

That Sullivan article is amazingly bad. His problem is he tries to hard to be clever/funny and makes no effort to bring anything insightful to the table. It ends up reading like he's lazy and doesn't take his job seriously. For people who take the Cubs and their struggles VERY seriously, that doesn't work.

 

Seriously, every single one of his suggestions were completely superficial and non-baseball related. 6 were strictly fan related. Not only did he fail to mention anything specifically baseball related (ie, fire Dusty), he couldn't even list a general baseball comment (get better pitchers). And to top it off, it wasn't even funny.

 

Pitchers? Bah...that's so trivial. But that Zambrano billboard behind home plate is critical to the future success of the Cubs.

[daske17]

That Sullivan article is amazingly bad. His problem is he tries to hard to be clever/funny and makes no effort to bring anything insightful to the table. It ends up reading like he's lazy and doesn't take his job seriously. For people who take the Cubs and their struggles VERY seriously, that doesn't work.

 

It's clear he's thumbs his nose at Cubs fans who actually care about the future of the team. I understand if you don't like the team you're covering as a reporter, but don't patronize us with crap articles like this. It's insulting.

[Soul]

That Sullivan article is amazingly bad. His problem is he tries to hard to be clever/funny and makes no effort to bring anything insightful to the table. It ends up reading like he's lazy and doesn't take his job seriously. For people who take the Cubs and their struggles VERY seriously, that doesn't work.

 

Seriously, every single one of his suggestions were completely superficial and non-baseball related. 6 were strictly fan related. Not only did he fail to mention anything specifically baseball related (ie, fire Dusty), he couldn't even list a general baseball comment (get better pitchers). And to top it off, it wasn't even funny.

 

Pitchers? Bah...that's so trivial. But that Zambrano billboard behind home plate is critical to the future success of the Cubs.

 

It takes real guts to attempt to argue that flying the "L" flag is a reason for Cub failure. Amazing.

 

I think Sully must have written this article on his napkin at dinner the night before.

[dalgreen]

I give props to Bruce for bringing up Dallas Green's name. Too bad many on here are too young to have gone through the Dallas Green era of GM competence, where we actually developed pitchers and position players and got quality free-agents, and made trades that actually worked out. I still say it would be nice to hear one Cub President or GM emphatically state, "Any year where we aren't contending for the NL Central will be considered a failed season." It is a shame that MacPhail seems to fly under the radar of many over the years. People have screamed about Baylor, Baker, Lynch and Hendry leaving but you rarely hear or read many fans screaming for MacPhail's departure.

[Guest]

I think those are mostly good suggestions. They won't help the team win but most are on target.

 

Personally I thought Bruce's article was good but sort of just ended suddenly. Bring the point home Bruce!

[Bruce Miles]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I put a lot of time and research into it. Funny thing is, I like Andy MacPhail very much as a person. He's interesting, personable and well-read. But I, along with the rest of the writers, have an obligation to the readers to point out the record. And that record is not a good one (duh). Maybe putting some things in black and white will get some Tribco people to thinking, unless they just want to go ahead and sell the team.

Maybe there are a couple of free safeties out there in college footall this season that maybe...nah.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I put a lot of time and research into it. Funny thing is, I like Andy MacPhail very much as a person. He's interesting, personable and well-read. But I, along with the rest of the writers, have an obligation to the readers to point out the record. And that record is not a good one (duh). Maybe putting some things in black and white will get some Tribco people to thinking, unless they just want to go ahead and sell the team.

Maybe there are a couple of free safeties out there in college footall this season that maybe...nah.

 

:lol:

[Banedon]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I put a lot of time and research into it. Funny thing is, I like Andy MacPhail very much as a person. He's interesting, personable and well-read. But I, along with the rest of the writers, have an obligation to the readers to point out the record. And that record is not a good one (duh). Maybe putting some things in black and white will get some Tribco people to thinking, unless they just want to go ahead and sell the team.

Maybe there are a couple of free safeties out there in college footall this season that maybe...nah.

 

I'm not sure this is really your area of expertise Bruce, but do you think this is a realistic possibility to hope for?

[Soriano12]

But I, along with the rest of the writers, have an obligation to the readers to point out the record.

 

CC Paul Sullivan on this.

[goonys evil twin]

But I, along with the rest of the writers, have an obligation to the readers to point out the record.

 

CC Paul Sullivan on this.

 

Pauls points out the record, he just thinks it's because of karma.

[Scott G. F.]

Paul Sullivan's article was insulting but it was important. Why? Because people realy honestly think the Cubs lose due to bad luck. It polorizes the thinking of many people within the orgainization. Sorry but Ozzie's quote on bad luck and the orgainzation just being run like "hourse S**t" is spot on.

[biittner77]

To be fair, hasn't MacPhail's draft strategy been more about acquiring lots of pitchers. The MacPhail has had some success developing pitchers.

 

That being said, the last 12 years have been bitterly disappointing.

[Bruce Miles]

On the question of the Trib selling the Cubs, to the best of my knowledge, they've resisted long and hard having to do that. High finance isn't my forte, but I've to to think all possibilities are open. I'd bet against them selling soon, though.