Another great Bruce Miles column......

[ManEatingTarp]

The point is, IMO, that the Cardinals have built a synergistic organization, which trickles down to a synergistic team.

 

The team is greater than the sum of its parts.

 

The Cubs have not learned how to do this. That's not to say that they can't or won't, but only that they have not.

 

 

ding ding ding..

 

We have a winner.

[ManEatingTarp]

i don't buy the synergy thing in baseball.

 

Neither do the Cubs.

 

The Cubs are not a bad organization. They have a lot of very good parts that just don't fit together.

[UK1679666180]

i don't buy the synergy thing in baseball.

 

Neither do the Cubs.

 

The Cubs are not a bad organization. They have a lot of very good parts that just don't fit together.

 

The Cubs didn't have enough parts when healthy to compete for the division.

 

Compatibility mattered very little for the Cubs this year. Injuries mattered more than how well they mesh. I damn sure won't use injuries as an excuse for this team, they didn't have the talent.

 

The Cubs need more high priced talent by spending less on overpaid stop-gaps whose roles should be used by younger players making less (Burnitz-Murton/Cedeno-Nomar might be examples for next year). Of course, the Cubs have to build up that system of young players especially from the position side.

 

But, compatibility is much further down the ladder.

[dalgreen]

I apologize if I'm sounding like a homer, but if Wood and Prior were healthy all year, and Carpenter and Mulder were hurt to the extent that Wood and Prior were, I think the Cardinals would be asking the questions that the Cubs are now. All you have to do is look at the present. The Cards have lost 8 of their last 11 because Carpenter and Mulder (along with others) haven't been good. I say we need better planning. We better go into next season expecting ARam to miss at least 15-25 games; therefore we need a quality back-up at third. We better plan on Wood and Prior missing some starts; therefore, we need to go at least seven deep in the rotation (meaning pretty good arms and not just guys). If you sign Lofton, you better have a darn good back-up player in case his body finally realizes that he's pushing 40 or, maybe worse, he goes back to his 2000-2004 norm. We need better players and back-ups for the regulars.

[1908]

The point is, IMO, that the Cardinals have built a synergistic organization, which trickles down to a synergistic team.

 

The team is greater than the sum of its parts.

 

The Cubs have not learned how to do this. That's not to say that they can't or won't, but only that they have not.

We're talking about gestalt-ball now?

[dalgreen]

I'm not necessarily advocating this, but would Murton and Hill land Zito? If both guys are going to be used sparingly/stupidly, I'd rather see them moved for a guy who could potentially help (avoiding signing Burnett or Millwood) than have them rot on the bench.

 

I think Murton, Hill and Mitre might do it. Unless Billy has had his fill of pitchers, then it might be something like Murton, Sing and Hill, possibly with Fontenot thrown in somewhere. I wouldn't want to see that move, but if they went out and traded or signed for impact OF bats, I wouldn't object too much.

 

Given our outfield situation, there's no way I'm letting go of Murton now. As much as I would love to have Zito fill out our rotation, isn't there someone else we could send along?

 

My plan wouldn't call for a trade of Murton. But if the Cubs can get Chipper in a trade and sign Giles, I'd have no problem dealing him. In other words, if you fill the OF spot with production, go ahead and trade Murton if you have to.

 

I wouldn't mind getting Chipper, but you better go out and get somebody else as well. The thought of Jones and ARam and the liklihood of them sitting on the DL together scares me to death.

[goonys evil twin]

I wouldn't mind getting Chipper, but you better go out and get somebody else as well. The thought of Jones and ARam and the liklihood of them sitting on the DL together scares me to death.

 

I want a salary dumped Hinske as the backup 3b/1b to help in the preventive maintenence of those players.

[rawaction]

I wouldn't mind getting Chipper, but you better go out and get somebody else as well. The thought of Jones and ARam and the liklihood of them sitting on the DL together scares me to death.

 

I want a salary dumped Hinske as the backup 3b/1b to help in the preventive maintenence of those players.

 

Hinske would be interesting. I'm still holding out hope for Branyan though. Don't know his contract situation.

[Mark_R]

Why Branyan?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

.370 OBP and .860 OPS looks pretty good from a backup.

[CubfaninCA]

I apologize if I'm sounding like a homer, but if Wood and Prior were healthy all year, and Carpenter and Mulder were hurt to the extent that Wood and Prior were, I think the Cardinals would be asking the questions that the Cubs are now. All you have to do is look at the present. The Cards have lost 8 of their last 11 because Carpenter and Mulder (along with others) haven't been good. I say we need better planning. We better go into next season expecting ARam to miss at least 15-25 games; therefore we need a quality back-up at third. We better plan on Wood and Prior missing some starts; therefore, we need to go at least seven deep in the rotation (meaning pretty good arms and not just guys). If you sign Lofton, you better have a darn good back-up player in case his body finally realizes that he's pushing 40 or, maybe worse, he goes back to his 2000-2004 norm. We need better players and back-ups for the regulars.

 

Thank you.

 

They need one more real good arm. They were one real good arm short almost all year. Can't count on Wood to last more than 15 games. If it means replacing Williams in the rotation w/ someone like Millwood then so be it.

[USSoccer]

In reference to ARam missing 15-25 games, i think the club assigned him a trainer to work on lower body flexibility and strength. i'd venture to say he won't miss a great deal of time in 2006 because of his hamstrings...

[CubfaninCA]

In reference to ARam missing 15-25 games, i think the club assigned him a trainer to work on lower body flexibility and strength. i'd venture to say he won't miss a great deal of time in 2006 because of his hamstrings...

 

They didn't do this last year or the year before??? Surprising.

[NewUserName]

I think one thing that gusdog kind of brought up but I am going to put it in my simple terms. winning breeds winning. Tony Larussa has made a career out of it. I think this is why Hendry brought in Dusty. When Dusty was in SF he sometimes would do something utterly stupid(like bat santiago after Bonds) but somehow it worked. I think its just because on winning teams they instill you with the confidence to do the job.

 

I will also say that the Cardinals seem to have several players that the team is the most important thing to them. I dont see that kind of commitment on the Cubs. Houston also have several of these team first guys.

[bhogg]

the cards play all those night games, too.

 

you can't win day games.

[CubsWin]

Ah-ha! Bruce has succumbed to mocking bitterness.

 

Meetings are at my house at 8:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Bruce. Bring beer and Doritos.

 

Seriously, the last line is exactly right. Everyone sees this ineptitude except the Cub front office. And I mean, EVERYONE. (Except maybe Peter Gammons and Paul Sullivan).

 

The Cubs organization is a joke right now, bouyed hopelessly by a fluke 88 win season that receives entirely too much credit as being a monumental success.

Thats another great article by Bruce. He is asking why and so should someone in the front office.

 

I didn't pick up on the mocking or the bitterness, that JC did, however. It seemed pretty fair and straightforward to me.

 

Keep it up, Bruce. Hopefully, your writing will result in someone inquiring into what is missing in the Cubs current approach.

[Illini Iceman]

If you look at the entire column, the point is not just what happened this year. It's what has happened year after year after year. Teams such as the Cardinals, Braves and Astros have enjoyed consistent runs of success. This is largely because of good decision making in front office (Jocketty, Schuerholz, Hunsicker _ and see today's Richard Justice column in the Houston Chronicle about Tim Purpura).

Injuries hit all teams. The Cardinals overcame the death of a pitcher in 2002.

All I was saying is that there is a reason that teams succeed year after year. That reason is based in smart planning, good decision making and sound execution on the field.

 

You are probably right, but I don't see how your examples prove that point.

 

If the Cubs could go back in time and sign Rodgriguez, Grudz and Eckstein instead of Holly, Walker and Nomar would they have battled with the Cards down to the wire for the division title? I highly doubt it.

 

Injuries have killed the team the last two years and part of that has been dumb luck and part has been because Hendry has relied too much on injury prone players for the team's success. However, even the Cards took some of the same risks on Morris, Mulder and Carpenter who also each have injury history and it was pretty darn amazing that all three of those guys made it through the season without missing a start. I give the Cards their due for building a winning team but there is no way they knew those pitchers would all stay healthy all year. Luck always has a big impact on which teams come out on top.

 

To imply Hendry has not had smart planning or good decision making when he has added core players like ARam, Lee and Barrett through trades that cost the Cubs very little is not giving him enough credit. Even this year the Aardsma / Williams for Hawkins is turning out to look like a pretty good deal.

 

Hendry has plenty to prove this offseason, but he has not exactly been sleeiping at the switch for the past 3 years.

[cubbieinexile]

I never said the Cardinals were better because of Eckstein and the others. I said they were better because of BETTER DECISION MAKING, which includes acquiring the players I mentioned.

Oh, yes, Eckstein will have value beyond this year. And if the Cardinals win it all with him at the top of the order, he surely has had value this year.

Walker a better player than Grudz? Ask the Cubs pitching staff.

The point on Rodriguez is not that he's a difference maker. It's that he's a valuable part, one that the Cardinals identified and acquired. From people I talked to in baseball, the Cubs really had no idea who he was. Followers of the team should be alarmed by that.

 

Pitching staffs opinion is only one side of the coin. Its quite possible that Grudz is the better defensive player (okay more then possible) but still have less value to his team then the inferior defensively Wallker. I think Walker is/was the better overall player.

 

AS for Eckstein and winning it all. Just because you are there doesn't mean you are necessary. Bob Brenly and the Arizone Diamondbacks won a world series. That doesn't mean that Bob Brenly was an important reason why they won. Dusty Baker managed the Cubs to two winning seasons in a row, that doesn't mean he is an important reason why they had two winnings seasons.

 

As for Rodriguez do you know the abilities of every single reporter out there? Or more importantly does the Tribune or Daily Herald? Okay so the Cubs didn't know about Rodriguez, you know what in about two years its quite possible that nobody is going to know about him again. Rodriguez is probably just another Bo Hart.

[Careless]

Pitching staffs opinion is only one side of the coin. Its quite possible that Grudz is the better defensive player (okay more then possible) but still have less value to his team then the inferior defensively Wallker. I think Walker is/was the better overall player.

Heck, you could probably find 50 minor league IFs who are better at fielding 2b than walker, and most of them you could get in a trade for almost nothing. That doesn't mean getting rid of walker for one of them would help the team, even though it might make the pitchers happy

I trust the pitching staff's evaluation of what is important for winning baseball games even less than I trust Dusty's (wow, did I say that?) Dusty is at least supposed to know what wins in baseball. That should be his primary qualification, or at least one of 2.

[Geech]

Anyone have access to the advanced defensive stats out there? We could actually find out whether Walker's offensive advantage has outweighed Grudz' defense.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Anyone have access to the advanced defensive stats out there? We could actually find out whether Walker's offensive advantage has outweighed Grudz' defense.

 

What advanced defensive stats are you referring to?

[Geech]

Seems like there was something called Runs Saved Above Average or something like that, which could be compared to a similar offensive stat.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Grudz

 

Batting Runs Above Average: -3

Fielding Runs Above Average: 4

Net Runs Above Average: 1

 

Walker

 

Batting Runs Above Average: 10

Fielding Runs Above Average: -7

Net Runs Above Average: 3

Edited September 30, 2005 by Transmogrified Tiger

[cubbieinexile]

According to BP Grudz through 134 games has been worth +1 runs above average overall. Walker through 107 games has been worth +3 run above average overall.

[Geech]

Thanks. I'm a little bit surprised his defense has been that bad.