It's Time

[lumafia]

For heads to roll. To quote Yogi Berra, "It's getting late early". I know that many of you will probably chastize me for jumping the gun, but some of you know me well enough from the ESPN message board days to know that I don't do that.

 

I'm not necessarily saying that Hendry has to fire Lou. As a matter of fact, he won't. He'll use Lou as a scapegoat if the season continues to go south in an attempt to keep his own job. However, if logic overcomes, there will come a time where you have to start sitting guys on the bench. I don't think you can keep your job 2 years in a row blaming the entire team's struggles on 3 offensive (pun intended) players. Last year they blamed it on Bradley, Soto and Sori. This year the plan appears to be to blame it on Rami, DLee and Z.

 

Z already lost his job, and that didn't send the message. I think it's time to stick Lee and Rami at 7 and 8 in the order, and if that doesn't spark some sense of urgency, you put them on the bench for somebody else. There just doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency with some of the players on this team. The two players that seem to have worked the hardest in the offseason, and continue to work hard (Fuku & Soto) spend quite a bit of time on the bench in favor of questionable lefty/righty matchups and unneccessary "rest". What message does that send? Work hard, get yourself in shape, and maybe I'll find a way of getting you out of the lineup while our light-hitting corner infielders with years of service can do whatever the hell they want.

 

FYI, Demp, Lilly, Rami, Lee, Z, Silva and Sori make more money combined than the entire rosters of the teams that just took 5 of 6 games from us, and completely dominated us in 2 of the 5 games they took.

 

We are already in the unfortunate position to have to play 100 win pace baseball in order to win the division or Wild Card. So much fo the "this is a long season", "we'll come around", "it's a matter of time", "these guys always hit", "we'll get this thing going in the right direction" crap we've been hearing fot he last 6 weeks.

[Soul]

I just think they need to start taking what action they can to prep for the future. To me that means firing Lou and seeing what an interim manager might be able to do. If it doesn't work out, fine. We already know Lou doesn't have a future though, so there seems to be little point to continuing with him.

[jersey cubs fan]

If this were some kind of powerful ballclub that should be winning 95 games this year, I might agree with your sense of urgency. However, they suck, and any decision that is made should be made with the future as the primary concern. If Ricketts is poised to hire a new president and/or president/GM type, then by all means start the head rolling. But if all they are going to do is give Hendry another coaching move to try and right the ship, then I say, take your time. Granted, if it were me I would have canned Hendry on Day 1. But it is completely rational and acceptable for Ricketts to take time to figure out how his business is being run, and more importantly, exactly how it's being run poorly, so he can make an informed decision on the next man to take power.

[lumafia]

I agree with both of you. Lou needs to go, but he won't.

 

However, I disagree with both of you. While this team ALWAYS needs to look to the future, there is talent on this roster. If Lee and Rami had produced at even marginal levels, this team would have won 4 or 5 more games to-date. That puts them a game or two behind the Cards, and maybe motivates Hendry and Co a little further into their pursuit of some additional late inning relief help. I think this is where heads should roll. Either Rami and Lee are "pushed" to produce, or they lose their jobs. Period. They've already been paid, and regardless of how poorly they've played, Lou continues to run them out there. Where's the motivation? Are they really working as hard as they can? Did they work as hard as they could have in the offseason knowing that Lou would stick with them until the end? I don't know, but it certainly seems like the only people who came to camp ready to play in 2010 are the people that "could" lose their jobs. Rami and Lee are the 2 guys least likely to be pulled from the lineup, and they are the player's who have sucked the most. I just don't see that as a coincedence.

[jersey cubs fan]

I agree with both of you. Lou needs to go, but he won't.

 

However, I disagree with both of you. While this team ALWAYS needs to look to the future, there is talent on this roster. If Lee and Rami had produced at even marginal levels, this team would have won 4 or 5 more games to-date. That puts them a game or two behind the Cards, and maybe motivates Hendry and Co a little further into their pursuit of some additional late inning relief help. I think this is where heads should roll. Either Rami and Lee are "pushed" to produce, or they lose their jobs. Period. They've already been paid, and regardless of how poorly they've played, Lou continues to run them out there. Where's the motivation? Are they really working as hard as they can? Did they work as hard as they could have in the offseason knowing that Lou would stick with them until the end? I don't know, but it certainly seems like the only people who came to camp ready to play in 2010 are the people that "could" lose their jobs. Rami and Lee are the 2 guys least likely to be pulled from the lineup, and they are the player's who have sucked the most. I just don't see that as a coincedence.

 

Dempster was guaranteed a starting spot, so was Randy Wells, Ryan Theriot (either SS or 2B), Fukudome, Byrd, Lilly, Marmol etc. I just don't see the point of rolling heads. Sit them a little more frequently, sure. Move them around in the order, fine. But that's not really head rolling. And this team isn't going anywhere if Lee and Ramirez aren't performing, so them losing their jobs doesn't solve anything, it just makes their lack of production more related to a lack of a job.

 

This isn't a good baseball team. If things were going better, they might be .500. The smart money sure didn't see them winning many more than half their games. It may not look the way we thought it would look, but in the ender maybe we're seeing this team perform to the level they were expected to perform, which is not well.

[erik316wttn]

Ricketts should fire Hendry first. I fear more and more that the longer the Cubs hang close to .500 or so that he'll make some sort of panic trade to go for it this year and trade some valuable prospects for an overrated one-year rental.

[biittner77]

How about this: fire Piniella and make Sandberg the interim Manager. When the team doesn't perform any better- or just as likely gets worse- they can get someone else to manage the team next year and they don't have to waste a season or two figuring out that Sandberg is a terrible manager.

 

The danger there is what happens if Sandberg shows a slight improvement and Ricketts comes under pressure to give him the job full time. Even then, it seems like Sandberg will eventually get his shot to manage the Cubs so it might as well be this yearwith a team that probably isn't going anywhere.

[jersey cubs fan]

How about this: fire Piniella and make Sandberg the interim Manager. When the team doesn't perform any better- or just as likely gets worse- they can get someone else to manage the team next year and they don't have to waste a season or two figuring out that Sandberg is a terrible manager.

 

The danger there is what happens if Sandberg shows a slight improvement and Ricketts comes under pressure to give him the job full time. Even then, it seems like Sandberg will eventually get his shot to manage the Cubs so it might as well be this yearwith a team that probably isn't going anywhere.

 

If the plan was to give Ryno a couple months to prove he's no good and then move on to better options, sure, why not. But it seems as though Ricketts really likes the idea of having a Cubs legend manage the Cubs, so they aren't going to set him up to fail.

[J.R.]

The Central Division is just awful enough to justify any and all measures to resuscitate this team.

[Sammy Sofa]

The Central Division is just awful enough to justify any and all measures to resuscitate this team.

 

It's not. Unless the Cardinals seriously stumble or this team as a drastic turnaround they're not going to be in contention to ever overtake them. And forget about the WC.

[nick23]

How about this: fire Piniella and make Sandberg the interim Manager. When the team doesn't perform any better- or just as likely gets worse- they can get someone else to manage the team next year and they don't have to waste a season or two figuring out that Sandberg is a terrible manager.

 

The danger there is what happens if Sandberg shows a slight improvement and Ricketts comes under pressure to give him the job full time. Even then, it seems like Sandberg will eventually get his shot to manage the Cubs so it might as well be this yearwith a team that probably isn't going anywhere.

 

If the plan was to give Ryno a couple months to prove he's no good and then move on to better options, sure, why not. But it seems as though Ricketts really likes the idea of having a Cubs legend manage the Cubs, so they aren't going to set him up to fail.

And it's not a definite that he would fail. He can't be worse than Lou and Lou did manage a team that won 95 games two years ago. Sure he may be a little old school in his philosophy but I'll gladly sacrifice a few sac bunts here and there for someone with any type of clue on how to manage a pitching staff.

[SouthSideRyan]

The Central Division is just awful enough to justify any and all measures to resuscitate this team.

 

It's not. Unless the Cardinals seriously stumble or this team as a drastic turnaround they're not going to be in contention to ever overtake them. And forget about the WC.

 

Well, the NL is terrible. Who's the frontrunner for the wild card? The Mets? The Giants?

[javy knows my name]

Your evaluation of how hard a guy is working is completely dependent on the results you've seen thus far. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you know Aramis isn't hitting because he isn't working hard. He isn't hitting because he isn't hitting.

 

That said, I agree with this for the most part. Just don't mortgage the future on a marginal upgrade in a lost season. Use this season to work through Castro's growing pains and continue to develop the prospects. I can wait two years for us to get way younger and cheaper and hopefuly have a change of regime in the front office.

[Sammy Sofa]

The Central Division is just awful enough to justify any and all measures to resuscitate this team.

 

It's not. Unless the Cardinals seriously stumble or this team as a drastic turnaround they're not going to be in contention to ever overtake them. And forget about the WC.

 

Well, the NL is terrible. Who's the frontrunner for the wild card? The Mets? The Giants?

 

Certainly not the Cubs. What have we seen that indicates they're not going to just stumbled half assed across the finish line lucky to be at .500?

[erik316wttn]

The Central Division is just awful enough to justify any and all measures to resuscitate this team.

 

It's not. Unless the Cardinals seriously stumble or this team as a drastic turnaround they're not going to be in contention to ever overtake them. And forget about the WC.

 

Well, the NL is terrible. Who's the frontrunner for the wild card? The Mets? The Giants?

 

The Giants could be deadly in October. Would you want to face a rotation of Lincecum, Cain, and the resurgent Zito?

[SouthSideRyan]

The Central Division is just awful enough to justify any and all measures to resuscitate this team.

 

It's not. Unless the Cardinals seriously stumble or this team as a drastic turnaround they're not going to be in contention to ever overtake them. And forget about the WC.

 

Well, the NL is terrible. Who's the frontrunner for the wild card? The Mets? The Giants?

 

The Giants could be deadly in October. Would you want to face a rotation of Lincecum, Cain, and the resurgent Zito?

 

I'd like to wait more than a month before I consider Zito resurgent. And how good a team they'll be in October has nothing to do with their strength over a full season. That is one horrendous offense.

[SouthSideRyan]

And I'm not saying the Cubs are likely to win the wild card, but it's not as dire a situation as everyone's making it out to be, pretty much primarily because the NL is awful.

[jersey cubs fan]

And I'm not saying the Cubs are likely to win the wild card, but it's not as dire a situation as everyone's making it out to be, pretty much primarily because the NL is awful.

 

They are 4 games under .500, 6 games out of first, 5 games out of the wild card and in 10th place.

 

What you said is exactly what people said in 2005 and 2006, until they finally gave up. And they are essentially in the same position as they were in 2005. Somebody is bound to put together a solid season to win the WC, and it's highly doubtful that will be the Cubs.

[SouthSideRyan]

There were like 2 people who thought that 2006 team had a chance. Once Lee went down, that was the season.

 

2005, IIRC was constant hopes that Prior/Wood/Nomar would get healthy

 

This year, it's hoping that Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez's careers aren't over.

[Soul]

I know it's not a dire situation right now, but I don't think that's really the point. The strong likelihood is that 2010 is a year of a lame duck manager and a non-playoff team. We're tossing a lot of money around for a throw away season.

 

If we're doing this because Ricketts hasn't figured stuff out yet, then I suggest he get cracking.

[Sammy Sofa]

I know it's not a dire situation right now, but I don't think that's really the point. The strong likelihood is that 2010 is a year of a lame duck manager and a non-playoff team. We're tossing a lot of money around for a throw away season.

 

If we're doing this because Ricketts hasn't figured stuff out yet, then I suggest he get cracking.

 

Get cracking doing what? Why not just let it play out? Let the contracts that are expiring expire (ideally after you've traded those players and convinced them to waive their NTC and pray to God that Aramis opts out), let Lou walk at the end of the season and let Hendry go with just a year left on his contract. Simply waiting things out could easily be the smartest thing Ricketts could do and definitely an indicator that he's "figured stuff out."

[Soul]

I know it's not a dire situation right now, but I don't think that's really the point. The strong likelihood is that 2010 is a year of a lame duck manager and a non-playoff team. We're tossing a lot of money around for a throw away season.

 

If we're doing this because Ricketts hasn't figured stuff out yet, then I suggest he get cracking.

 

Get cracking doing what? Why not just let it play out? Let the contracts that are expiring expire (ideally after you've traded those players and convinced them to waive their NTC and pray to God that Aramis opts out), let Lou walk at the end of the season and let Hendry go with just a year left on his contract. Simply waiting things out could easily be the smartest thing Ricketts could do and definitely an indicator that he's "figured stuff out."

 

So just let the year lapse without finding out much of anything about possible options for next year. That seems like a waste of time and money to me.

[erik316wttn]

I know it's not a dire situation right now, but I don't think that's really the point. The strong likelihood is that 2010 is a year of a lame duck manager and a non-playoff team. We're tossing a lot of money around for a throw away season.

 

If we're doing this because Ricketts hasn't figured stuff out yet, then I suggest he get cracking.

 

Get cracking doing what? Why not just let it play out? Let the contracts that are expiring expire (ideally after you've traded those players and convinced them to waive their NTC and pray to God that Aramis opts out), let Lou walk at the end of the season and let Hendry go with just a year left on his contract. Simply waiting things out could easily be the smartest thing Ricketts could do and definitely an indicator that he's "figured stuff out."

 

Aramis had better start hitting if we want there to be a chance he opts out. Otherwise, he would take a paycut on the open market if he has a horrible year this year.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

So just let the year lapse without finding out much of anything about possible options for next year. That seems like a waste of time and money to me.

 

What exactly are these options they would be finding out about?

[Soul]

 

So just let the year lapse without finding out much of anything about possible options for next year. That seems like a waste of time and money to me.

 

What exactly are these options they would be finding out about?

 

Mainly if any of our current coaches can manage.