Unlike Jerry Reinsdorf’s White Sox, the Cubs don’t require a formal announcement of surrender from the chairman. One look at the NL Central standings tells you everything you need to know about another failed season at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs would have given anything to be the pre-Reinsdorf Meltdown White Sox. Cubs management would have replaced the ivy with corn stalks if it meant the difference between being in a pennant race or being the third-worst team in baseball.
The White Sox had their problems–more than you think–but at least their scores were mentioned during the first half-hour of “SportsCenter.” That’s better than the Cubs, who’s only clip-and-save moment of July was Sammy Sosa in a leisure suit. August didn’t start off much better, what with Saturday’s bittersweet “Retirement–The Sequel” announcement by Ryne Sandberg.
Believe it or not, the worst part isn’t just the losing. After all, this team was doomed not long after the All-Star break, when reliever Mel Rojas, the Norm Charlton of the National League, kept blowing saves . . . when center-fielder Brian McRae couldn’t regain his form of a season ago . . . when Sandberg kept swinging at anything low and away . . . when Sosa kept swinging at anything. So to think the Cubs were going to surge past the rest of the division was the stuff of mushrooms and glue sniffing.
But the most telling sign of the Cubs’ need for reconstructive surgery came as the trading deadline approached Thursday evening. That’s when the rest of baseball provided the Cubs a lesson of supply and demand.
It is no secret that the Cubs were shopping McRae, starting pitcher Terry Mulholland, shortstop Rey Sanchez and, in all likelihood, shortstop Shawon Dunston. And you didn’t need a pair of Harry Caray prescription goggles to figure out that other teams were probably interested in relievers Terry Adams, Bob Patterson and Turk Wendell.
This is where it gets murky, mostly because Andy MacPhail, Ed Lynch and Jim Riggleman don’t exactly reveal state secrets. But this much is known: The Cubs were talking to the pitching-suspect Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Florida Marlins and the Cleveland Indians. The Anaheim Angels and New York Mets also might have been in the mix, but who knows for sure?
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So what happens? The Indians trade for starters Jeff Juden and John Smiley. The Mariners trade for relievers Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric. The Marlins decide to stick with young starters Livan Hernandez and Tony Saunders. And the Giants get starters Wilson Alvarez and Danny Darwin, as well as star reliever Roberto Hernandez, from the White Sox on a white flag.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is probably why Mulholland, Patterson, Adams and Wendell are still Cubs today. As for McRae, Dunston and Sanchez, it seems obvious that no other team wanted them. That could change during the next few weeks, thanks to the waiver wire and injuries to other players.
At the risk of sounding like MacPhail Jr., the Cubs did the right thing by not doing a Reinsdorf, which is push the panic button until your thumb hurts. Reinsdorf and General Manager Ron Schueler can put all the happy faces they want on the Alvarez-Hernandez-Darwin trade, but with the exception of minor-league pitcher Lorenzo Barcelo, the Giants didn’t give up much.
The Cubs would have made a deal had somebody wanted what was made available. But to trade third baseman Kevin Orie, or soon-to-be center-fielder Doug Glanville, or starter Jeremi Gonzalez just for the sake of making a trade didn’t make any sense. Still doesn’t.
This is a dreadful Cubs team, but not so dreadful to see little glimmers of hope. Orie, Glanville and Gonzalez are keepers. Starter Kerry Wood is in the pipeline. The bullpen, if you don’t include Mr. Pyrotechnics (Rojas), is a strength, what with Wendell, Adams, Kent Bottenfield, Patterson, Ramon Tatis and, it seems, Amaury Telemaco. Outfielder Brant Brown is still considered a prospect. Sosa and Mark Grace remain cornerstone players, and catcher Scott Servais is as solid as Wrigley Field brick.
By management’s own admission, the clock is ticking on the MacPhail-Lynch-Riggleman regime. Three seasons of rebuilding have brought brief bursts of promise, but little else. By any reasonable timetable, next season is a pivotal one for all three.
This means change. This means a new shortstop and second baseman for 1998. This means a left-handed-hitting outfielder with power. This means a little luck. This means a bump up in budget.
What matters most is that the Cubs not repeat the mistake of Reinsdorf. No garage sales. No deals made out of fear. No public announcements.
And maybe, if all goes exactly right, no corn stalks.