Fred Mitchell's column

[macuser2]

In today's Tribune Mitchell has a column in which he quotes Phil Nevin. Here's the part that puzzles me:

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- So, what really went wrong with the Cubs this season?

 

Former Cubs first baseman/outfielder Phil Nevin, now a member of the Minnesota Twins, says there were mitigating off-the-field issues that the media and the public don't know about.

 

"That team has been through more than anyone knows this year," Nevin said before the Twins-Royals game Monday night at the Metrodome. "Some of it has been publicized, some of it hasn't, as far as the stuff that has gone on in the personal lives of some people that has affected that [clubhouse]. This just wasn't the right year for it to be done in Chicago."

 

Nevin acknowledged the heart-breaking matters regarding the mysterious health issue afflicting the daughter of first baseman Derrek Lee, the life-threatening blood clot in the lung of reliever Glendon Rusch and the early-season hate mail received by right fielder Jacque Jones.

 

But his cryptic remark about unpublicized off-the-field issues was puzzling.

 

"It has been one of those years, where … including most of those people in that [Cubs locker] room … they will learn from. You don't take life for granted, and next year [you will] come out with a different perspective on baseball," he said without elaborating.

 

Here's the whole article.

 

What could Nevin be talking about?

[C.C.]

I read that also and have no idea? I think it's about the Hate mail perhaps? Maybe management calling out Prior injury? I have no idea. Only adds to the Cubs mystique. I swear this Org. has more secrects and mystery.. It's like peeling back a onion. Layer after layer of drama. Just gets wierder and wierder and the years go by...

[goonys evil twin]

Unreported stuff that has gone in the personal lives, suggests to me it's got nothing to do with hate mail or management calling out Prior.

 

Maybe Cindy Sandberg came back. Maybe Prior's wife is sleeping around and he's depressed. Maybe Nevin's just talking out his butt.

[C.C.]

Unreported stuff that has gone in the personal lives, suggests to me it's got nothing to do with hate mail or management calling out Prior.

 

Maybe Cindy Sandberg came back. Maybe Prior's wife is sleeping around and he's depressed. Maybe Nevin's just talking out his butt.

 

I was thinking the same thing!

[RockTheIvy]

So looks like we were right about those pictures of Dusty.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Thta's my guess as well. It reminds me of the situation in New Orleans several years back when the team imploded down the stretch and it later came out that one player was sleeping with Willie Roaf's wife and another player was sleeping with one of the coach's wives and stuff like that.

 

Nevin's quote makes it seem like that sort of scenario was happening in there somewhere. We may never learn all or even most of what was happening, but that would be my assumption.

[daske17]

Thta's my guess as well. It reminds me of the situation in New Orleans several years back when the team imploded down the stretch and it later came out that one player was sleeping with Willie Roaf's wife and another player was sleeping with one of the coach's wives and stuff like that.

 

Nevin's quote makes it seem like that sort of scenario was happening in there somewhere. We may never learn all or even most of what was happening, but that would be my assumption.

 

I guess I should come out in the open with it finally.

 

I've been having a torrid affair with Yosh Kawano. It's torn the clubhouse apart.

[abuck1220]

i'm just glad they finally have an excuse that no one can pick apart...the ol' "unknown" excuse.

[Dirt Dog Sparly]

Maybe in house bickering between the position players and pitchers, the coaches, and the front office. Team chemistry is easy when you are winning. When you dont, it is hard to have any team chemistry at all.

 

Maybe MacPhail wanted Dusty gone and Hendry said no, and that got to Dusty? That lead to a clubhouse showdown where things were said on all sides and to many feelings got hurt on all sides.

 

I know it sounds like a soap opera, but when dealing with the modern athlete it is.

[CuseCubFan69]

First off.....I hope this isn't a serious health thing for any of the players or coaches.

 

I just hope this isn't some smokescreen excuse for the Cubs to use.

[CubinNY]

Obviously we don't know the story. However, if I were Prior I'd be seriously upest witht the Cubs front office. He's been mishandled, suffered from freakish injuries, and then got seriously ill during the offseason. And then the Cubs insinuated that he is "soft". All this in his first three years of full time big league pitching.

 

Maybe the Cubs are cursed. But the curse has nothing do with the starts, billygoats, or black cats. It has to do with a piss poor organization.

[Sammy Sofa]

Neifi refused to wear pants.

[RichHillIsABeast]

This team is always handy with the excuses.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I hope Freddie Bynum was doinking someone and is about to be shipped off.

[Sammy Sofa]

For every home run he hit, Big Z claimed another player's wife as his trophy.

 

Who could stop him? Who could resist him?

[BigbadB]

I'm relieved to know that the Cubs suck because of "off-field" stuff and not baseball talent.

 

Give Dusty a 10 year extension and give everyone a big raise. This same team can easily win 120 games next year with all the "off-field" stuff taken care of.

 

In one article, Juan Pierre says Dusty is the best manager he's ever played for. In another article, Dusty has absolutely zero control over the players and/or the clubhouse.

 

Assuming Dusty's history as a players manager, which was supposed to be this tremendous strength of his, I sure haven't seen it. Given how poor his in game management skills are, you would hope a guy making 4m a year could at least offer some people skills. :roll:

[Geech]

I hope Freddie Bynum was doinking someone and is about to be shipped off.

 

Maybe it's why Neifi is gone?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Maybe the off-field stuff was Baker and Hendry re-enacting scenes from Brokeback Mountain in the manager's office...

[goonys evil twin]

Maybe the off-field stuff was Baker and Hendry re-enacting scenes from Brokeback Mountain in the manager's office...

 

Riding horses?

[Laura]

If it involved boinking, I don't know that I'd say "You don't take life for granted" when vaguely referencing it. Maybe "you don't take family for granted" or "you don't take prophylactics for granted" ... but saying "life" makes it sound like an illness or disease or condition. But maybe Nevin didn't put that much thought into it.

[CubinNY]

If it involved boinking, I don't know that I'd say "You don't take life for granted" when vaguely referencing it. Maybe "you don't take family for granted" or "you don't take prophylactics for granted".

 

ha :D

[Blizzau]

Maybe it is just what it sounds like to me - a lot of personal issues coming up in the lives of players.

 

I know that when I was going through a broken engagement, my performance at work decreased substantially. In fact, I went from the best performer in the office to worst that year. It was enough of an effort just to make it through one day at a time; everything else (including my statistics and $ raised) became secondary, or even pointless.

 

But I'm getting verklemped... talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. Discuss! There, I'm feeling better now.

[goonys evil twin]

If it involved boinking, I don't know that I'd say "You don't take life for granted" when vaguely referencing it. Maybe "you don't take family for granted" or "you don't take prophylactics for granted" ... but saying "life" makes it sound like an illness or disease or condition. But maybe Nevin didn't put that much thought into it.

 

Well, the "life" talk seemed to come later, and may have been referencing the Rusch, Bynum and Lee situations, while the "stuff we'll never find out about" doesn't necessarily have anything to do with that.

 

 

This being said, did anybody significantly undproduce from what could have been expected? No. If life issues caused problems, you'd expect production to decline. But there isn't a guy on the team who player worse than you could have expected. The only guys whose numbers weren't there were the guys who were hurt.

[Guest]

the one thing that comes to mind is that prior is/was significantly sicker than any of us knew.

[A New Era]

I read that also and have no idea? I think it's about the Hate mail perhaps? Maybe management calling out Prior injury? I have no idea. Only adds to the Cubs mystique. I swear this Org. has more secrects and mystery.. It's like peeling back a onion. Layer after layer of drama. Just gets wierder and wierder and the years go by...

 

And just like an onion, we cry more and more as each layer is peeled.