Break up the Cubs? A fine idea, and not only because they interrupted their funk Sunday at New York, thereby relinquishing any chance to become something truly special in American athletic lore.
Mediocre teams are everywhere, but to be awful in a league of your own does carry a certain distinction. There’s this huge difference between 0-16 and 2-14, so the Cubs should act now to build for a better tomorrow.
Trade Mel Rojas and his ailing hamstring, soon. He’s an excellent relief pitcher, or at least he was until he joined the Cubs as a free agent. He had 36 saves last season with Montreal, but at this pace, he might not make 36 innings.
Naturally, when offered this advice over the telephone, General Manager Ed Lynch accused us of having crossed wires.
“Trade Mel Rojas?” Lynch said Monday from Shea Stadium, where the rampaging Cubs again smoked the Mets 6-4. “We’re open to any deal that will help our organization, but we signed Rojas to pitch for us, not to deal him.”
Of course, the Cubs would like to wait before doing anything that reeks of giving up on 1997. If the squad is still, uh, struggling by the All-Star break, then maybe it’s another story.
But George Frankensteinbrenner, owner of the defending world champion New York Yankees, won’t be so patient. The Yankees carry almost a $60 million payroll, but George is taking heat for letting his ace closer, John Wetteland, escape to the Texas Rangers over a measly few million dollars. Of all people, Frankensteinbrenner was outbid.
George and his baseball people–or, more likely, George without his baseball people–decided the Yankees could survive by having Mariano Rivera, last year’s terrific setup man, take Wetteland’s job and anchor the bullpen.
Well, it hasn’t worked out that way. The Yankees were 86-1 in 1996 when leading after eight innings, and 79-2 when leading after seven. Already this season, the Yankees have lost 11 games in similar circumstances, including Sunday’s 8-7 defeat by the White Sox at Comiskey Park.
The Yankees are desperate, probably enough to overpay. George has been chasing Japanese star Hideki Irabu all over Asia. Trouble is, his major-league rights belong to the San Diego Padres. But George doesn’t have to call the world to find what he really needs. He merely can dial the National League Central basement, where Rojas is ready and rusting.
The Cubs made a noble gesture by acquiring Rojas, though the bullpen wasn’t really a concern in 1996. The problem in 1997 is getting a lead for Rojas, or anybody else, to protect. The Cubs aren’t so loaded with assets that they can afford luxuries. Do you give a gold-plated hair dryer to a bald man?
If the Cubs can exchange him for players who actually play, why not? All teams make midcourse corrections, but after doing a June swoon in April, must the Cubs wait until July?
The Cubs would be accused of dumping Rojas’ $4.5 million salary regardless of what they have to pay whomever they obtain, but they’ve been branded as cheap now. Tribune Co. takes the low road with a $40 million payroll, and so on.
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Then again, there’s the flip side. For $40 million, the Cubs just might be overpaid, not underfunded. For $40 million, shouldn’t you expect more than a 2-14 team that is fundamentally brutal?
Trading Rojas, when healthy a fine right-hander who can help the Yankees win another pennant, is a start. We hardly knew ye, but it’s time. He is a right-hander, isn’t he?