Jerry Manuel is trying, perhaps too hard, which doesn’t bode well for him fitting in with Chicago’s barren baseball cupboard.
Shortly after the fiend-friendly White Sox added Wil Cordero, a battery expert who neither pitches nor catches, the rookie manager volunteered that his squad might be among the most despised in either league.
If only this were true. The last time the Sox made anybody angry was when they hired Albert Belle for $55 million two winters ago. Anger throughout the industry subsided, however, when adversaries realized he wasn’t worth it and most of his highly paid mates were harmless too.
Meanwhile, on the North Side of town, the Cubs travel southbound in the standings, also striking fear only into the souls of their fans. Unlike the Sox, the Cubs can be terrible theater without employing bad actors.
The result is that by July, when the Bears begin practicing for their winter trip to nowhere, our two baseball juggernauts are already there, the summer destroyed.
This is why Chicago so enjoys the change of seasons, because all local teams besides the Bulls seem more dangerous, and infinitely more interesting, when they aren’t playing instead of when they are. One of these decades, the Cubs and Sox actually will be in uniform when their biorhythms are also up.
Part of the problem seems to be that our baseball teams don’t get it until it’s too late to do anything about it. A number of Sox players, for instance, didn’t realize until 1998 that they were awful in 1997. To wit:
“It was a circus and a joke. There were guys who didn’t care about winning, and the guys who did care couldn’t play hard enough to make a difference.”
Those harsh words were uttered by Jorge Fabregas, confirming everything you suspected about last season’s Sox. Thing is, Fabregas issued his critique in February, as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It took him that long to clear his throat?
At least when the Sox surrendered in July by shipping Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin to San Francisco, the returns were more immediate. The traded athletes vilified their former organization for treating them like “garbage.”
That salvo left little room for Ozzie Guillen to contribute, but he eventually blasted the Sox, albeit not before joining the Baltimore Orioles. Why these self-appointed therapists failed to offer advice while on the premises might explain why an odor surrounds Comiskey Park instead of pennants.
More Top Picks Nest Cam Indoor
The Cubs are slow to diagnose disease too. Not until the final weekend in September did manager Jim Riggleman express his theory about Sammy Sosa’s one-dimensional ways. That was well after management decided to pay Sosa $10 million per annum. Did anybody important think to ask Riggleman’s opinion while Sosa’s contract was being drawn up? Or was the skipper otherwise occupied waving to the bullpen?
Yet, because our former national pastime has become so polarized, there is hope for the Sox and Cubs. Should either team contend come autumn, money is available to be spent, perhaps even wisely. Too many other franchises don’t have a prayer, or the cash. Here’s a scary thought: The Cubs might even win their division.
As for Cordero, hold the hysteria. It is folly to predict that his police record will make Comiskey Park chillier than ever. More than ever, fans realize these guys are just ballplayers, nothing more, nothing less. Cordero won’t be your neighbor, and won’t date your daughter. He’s just another parole model, and a cheap one at that.
Anyway, the Cubs and Sox start this week, and the nice part about baseball being so near is we are that much closer to waiting until next year.