Cubs haven’t clarified plan to move forward
Why not go with an old-fashioned youth movement?
The curse of being a
Cubs fan might be an inability to forget the past.
Every bad team reminds one of a horrible team from another era, and in the case of the 2021 Cubs the most recent antecedent is the 1999 version that lost 95 games.
The ‘99 Cubs were 32-23 in early June and had a star-studded roster with Sammy Sosa, Mark Grace and closer Rod Beck. Coming off their 1998 wild-card season, things looked exceedingly bright.
But they lost a one-run game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which Lance Johnson was picked off first to end a comeback, then were swept by a rebuilding White Sox team at Wrigley Field, including a memorable loss on a home run by light-hitting shortstop Mike Caruso.
The downfall got progres
sively worse during a record-setting 6-24 August, the worst month in franchise history, leading to the offseason firing of manager Jim Riggleman and another reset under Don Baylor.
David Ross, the current Cubs manager, doesn’t have to worry about a repeat. He’s safe, though his team that once was 38-27 and in first-place in mid-June is on another downward spiral.
After their 14-10 road loss Friday night to the Miami Marlins, the Cubs are 1-11 in August with a nine-game losing streak following the biggest two-day sell-off in team annals, and Ross’s pitching staff posted an 8.55 while serving up 28 home runs in those 12 games. Making matters worse, catcher Willson Contreras was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday with a right knee sprain, leaving catching duties to journeymen Robinson Chirinos and Austin Romine.
Brighter days are not in the forecast, though Ross will no doubt continue to extol the virtues of Wrigley Field as a reason to watch, even if ticket prices don’t match the on-field product.
The Cubs theoretically should tank the rest of the season for a higher first-round pick in 2022, but Ross’ reaction to that scenario Thursday was “words I can’t say.” The Cubs followed with a 17-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in which shortstop Andrew Romine pitched the ninth to his brother, Austin.
As the Cubs enter the COVID-19 hotspot, all eyes are on team President Jed Hoyer. To Hoyer’s credit, he has not misled fans by giving any indication it will be a quick fix, pointing to the uncertainty caused by the expiring collective bargaining agreement, which could reset rules on luxury taxes and draft compensation, not to mention adopting a universal DH. There also could be a lockout, which Hoyer did not bring up.
Fortunately, Hoyer did tell reporters Thursday that the team next season will not resemble the one currently donning Cubs uniforms. That’s a relief to fans who don’t want to invest on a new $150 jersey in the team store. Whether Hoyer spends a wheelbarrow full of cash on free agents or makes more one-year offers to get through 2022 remains to be seen.
One path Hoyer seems intent on avoiding is the Theo Epstein rebuild of 2012-15, which included the sign-and-flip strategy to amass prospects and tanking to get higher draft picks. It worked so well it became a baseball trend after the 2016 World Series.
Hoyer needs to carve out his own path, which is why an old-fashioned youth movement might be the best way to go.
Next season’s lineup will include infielders Nico Hoerner and Nick Madrigal. The rotation likely will include Kyle Hendricks, Adbert Alzolay, Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson. Codi Heuer will be back in the bullpen.
The Cubs don’t have a enough talent at Triple A to put a prospect everywhere, and some players, including Patrick Wisdom and Rafael Ortega, deserve to stay. But everything else should be up for grabs, even if it means giving a shot to a player currently in Double A.
Hoerner came up from Double-A Tennessee in 2019. Madrigal had only two minor-league seasons in the White Sox system. Let’s see Tennessee center fielder Brennen Davis, who has a .921 OPS, or teammate Nelson Maldonado, a Chicago-born outfielder with a .314 average in 442 minor-league at-bats.
It could not be any worse than a September of watching Ian Happ and Jason Heyward try to finish above .200.
Re-signing Contreras should be a priority, but if it’s not in the cards, the Cubs need to know quickly to trade him for a prospects package after the season. Hoyer desperately needs to avoid the nonstop “Will he stay? Will he go?” narrative that surrounded the Big 3 the last two seasons.
Chairman Tom Ricketts would be happy to save on payroll and start over with fresh faces for TNGCT — the acronym for what Hoyer calls “The Next Great Cubs Team.” Ricketts already is unpopular, so the risk of being more disliked should not be an impediment.
Attendance would go down, but Wrigley Field is a tourist attraction that mostly will be packed from June through late August. Lowering ticket prices would be advisable, but it’s unlikely. At the very least the Cubs could offer discounted tickets in April, May and September.
Before teaming the Romine Brothers as batterymates in Thursday’s debacle, Ross mentioned a “youth group here that is talking about being the next championship-caliber team.” He didn’t mentioned who was in that youth group or when they think that team will arrive. When I asked Ross if Cubs fans would go for a youth movement, he replied that he doesn’t talk to fans except to say hi.
“You guys do the surveys on that,” he said, throwing the question back at reporters.
How would Ross feel about managing one?
“My job is to manage the team, whatever it is I’m given,” he said. “We try to win ballgames. I’m excited about (where) this organization has the potential to go. I don’t know that the spot we’re in right now is indicative of where we’re going to be.”
So the Cubs are where they are but are not where they are going to be.
How they get there is the question no one could answer.