Bruce Miles
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Everything posted by Bruce Miles
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If there's something higher than a Type A personality, Jim Hendry is it. He's nonstop nervous energy that would make coffee jittery. Baker is more laid-back as a person. I think they see things similarly as far as baseball philosophy goes.
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I don't believe the Cubs will hold Maddux back because of the contract thing. Clement was 9-13. Maddux was 16-11. There's a lot of war left in the old war horse. With or without Maddux, there was no guarantee Clement was coming back for '05.
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From what I've heard, I don't even think the Cubs know who their leadoff hitter will be in April. Your points on Patterson are valid and well stated. Maybe the experience of having done it, succeeded and slumped, will allow him to do it in '05.
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Hendry always has been of the opinion that there are very few slam-dunk closers out there. He felt Benitez got too much money for too many years. Right now, Dempster is the front-runner unless Hendry finds gold somewhere else.
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I see Wuertz as a potential (with stress on "potential") closer in the bigs at some point. Blasko is another tough kid, but I haven't heard him mentioned as a closer lately. I will try to follow up in the paper with more info as I get it.
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Mitre is the type of player I see the Cubs including in some sort of multiplayer trade down the line. He's tough and tenacious as you say, and if he's in Mesa come February, he'll compete for the No. 5 job. I'm told better pitch selection was the reason for his improvement vs. LHH, but I'll try to get a less vague answer.
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Great kid with good stuff. He just needed a year to mature. He looked a little awed in spring training last year. I see him in the bigs at some point in 2005.
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There are no untouchables, but Prior, Wood, Ramirez and Zambrano come the closest. All the rest could be had in the right deal.
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You've stated this so well, JC, that I don't think I can add much to it. I see nothing wrong with this scenario. Hendry has to say he anticipates Sosa will be the right fielder because he may be. That said, some sort of accommodation, along the lines of what you stated is necessary. It's been Hendry more so than Baker lately who has said this is possible. Dusty is still acting as if this happened yesterday and the hurt is still fresh. At some point, they all have to move on.
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My guess is that Baker felt he could make an impression on Patterson but that Alou was probably "unreachable" at his age and at that stage of his career. I think there's a tendency _ wrong or right _ for some people to give benefit of the doubt to more experienced workers. In my opinion, Patterson fell of simply because he's not a true leadoff hitter. We'll know more in '05 as we see how Dusty handles things. It's worth watching.
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A little of both and a little of neither. That's how these things go. I wasn't present at any of their "confabs" so I really don't know. See my first statement.
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As I mentioned before, Bako was a "Jim Hendry guy," and everybody agreed Ramon Martinez had to be replaced. What you saw were some natural "corrections" that I believe occur in any employer-employee relationship. The Cubs have not lost confidence in Dusty Baker.
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There's always a chance of a third party getting into the mix, but in the end, I believe Sosa will remain a Cub. If not, I believe it'll be the Mets or Baltimore. The industry first will see how the Randy Johnson trade shakes out and what the Mets do about Delgado.
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I don't think they've soured on him by any means. They are concerned about the velocity drop, and that concern is real. But they feel it's way, way too early to give up on him.
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There is always that worry. But I think the union and management overcame a lot of bad history in 2002 when they signed that basic agreement. From what I saw, the players seemed to take control of things from the hired leadership, much as they did recently with the steroid issue.
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As of now, he's prepared to stay in-house, but he'll continue to pursue. There aren't a whole lot of viable candidates out there, and teams won't part with those who are easily.
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I've been asking the Cubs about Jacque Jones for a month. They've seemed lukewarm the whole time. I'm not a big fan for the same reasons you express. We'll see if things change here in coming days and weeks.
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Another great question. A lot of people seem to think "chemistry" is some sort of media creation. (And we in the media have to be careful not to label teams as "bad" who get along with each other but don't like working with the media. I try to avoid this trap.) I've talked to a lot of athletes about chemistry, and all insist it's important to some degree. As I mentioned, there were a lot of good guys on the Cubs last year, but the synergy wasn't there for whatever reason. Maybe a lot of the new guys were afraid to speak up early and set a tone. Winning, of course, overcomes a lot of things. The 2003 bunch had great chemistry, as did the 1998 wild-card team. The 2001 team, which fell short, also had great chemistry. It's important, but we shouldn't get too carried away with it.
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I sure hope he doesn't languish in the system. It's high time the Cubs gave a chance to some of their homegrown position players. That said, I believe Jim Hendry will see to it that Jason has every chance to win the left-field job in '05. Let's first see how the Sammy-Beltran-Drew stuff plays out. It is possible Jim will leave Dusty no alternative but to play Dubois.
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As I said earlier, the Cubs have been and will continue to be, cautious with Guzman. I suspect he'll start the season at Iowa and be among those first called upon when an arm is needed.
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Just make sure I get some of the cash in any deal!! I'll hire you as my agent. LOL. Good observation. Hendry's job certainly is tied into Baker's success or failure to a large degree. He knows this and has said that if he doesn't get the job done and turn the Cubs into winners year after year, he deserves not to be here. That said, I think it's going to be hard for the Cubs NOT to contend for the playoffs for years to come because of the talent they've amassed at the minor league level and the loosening purse strings at the Tower. This is a pivotal, if not exactly make or break, year coming up, to be sure.
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Sure. The Cubs felt other pitchers who were protected had a better chance of sticking with big league clubs. Sisco had a "down" year at Class A ball. Because he's been only a starting pitcher and that's where his future seems to lie, the Cubs felt he'd have a hard time sticking with a big-league club all season. Haggerty played no higher than Boise this year and would be a real longshot.
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Character is always an issue with Hendry. It was a strange clubhouse in 2004, and I've been on the beat since 1998. Individually, there were a lot of good guys, but the "synergy" wasn't there for some reason. I got along with Mercker just fine. LaTroy was hot and cold. Walker is one of the most honest guys I've been around, and I expect him to be a force this coming year. So yes, Jim would be looking for good "character" guys.
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Chuck did quite well and is enjoying his new job. For those of you who don't know, Chuck used to be one of the top media relations people in the game before moving over to the baseball side last year. Even though his job is stats oriented, he is in line philosophically with Hendry. I really don't think the two camps are mutually exclusive. There's a lot to be gained by listening to people on both sides. Besides, Gary Hughes never shouted anybody down!!! LOL
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I look for Pinto to get a good shot this spring. He'll be with the Cubs at some point in 2005. I haven't heard much of Vazquez lately. I'll ask. They're pretty high on Valdez. You guys all know about Dopirak. The Cubs like him a lot, along with Pie and Bacon. Keep an eye on Connolly. Pignatiello keeps proving people wrong. Nobody seems to like his velocity, but he has a knack for getting guys out. He could be in the big leagues at some point in 2006. Richard Lewis was a good bet to make the club this coming spring, but he suffered a setback, as you guys know. The Cubs are confident of a full recovery. Koronka is another guy who turned out to be a surprise. You may see him this year at some point.