Cubs - thoughts, rants & changes that need to be made
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by user Demonboy
I know that this is a couple of days old but I've been working very long hours & didn't have a chance to write...
Anyways, after watching that abomination of base running by Aramis Ramirez during Thursdays 2-0 Cubs loss to the Brewers, I've now officially had it with Dusty Baker.
For those of you who do not know what I'm talking about, in the 7th inning and no outs, Ramirez hits a long & high ball to deep right. Instead of hustling right out of the batters box, Ramirez just stands there and admires the ball he just hit. He obviously thought it was a HR. When Ramirez saw that it was not going to be a HR, then he decides to run. He would've made it to second but the idiot decides to possibly stretch it into a triple. Geoff Jenkins (who has one of the best arms) easily throws out Ramirez at third. So instead of having a runner on 2nd or 3rd (if he hustled immediately) and still no outs with the tying runner coming up, there's none on & 1 out.
The Cubs announcer, Bob Brenly said it best when refering to the no hustle out of the box "How many times have we seen this?". Dusty Baker said after the game "He just decided to hustle at the wrong time". Wrong time? What kind of an excuse is that?
I blame Baker for that play. How? It's the managers job to make sure that players don't make stupid mistakes like that. When Ramirez first got to the Cubs, the first time he ever did something like that should have been the last time. But Dusty doesn't hold anyone accountable... he's a players coach. He makes excuses for the players - pats them on the back and says "Nice try. We'll get them tomorrow."
Whenever a player makes a mistake, instead of twirling that damn toothpick in his mouth, he should get mad, walk over to that player and tell them to sit and stay seated the rest of the game and possibly continue to bench them for a few days. Enough times of that player being benched, they'll get the message.
Jim Hendry cannot wait any longer, he must fire Baker now. While you're at it Jim, trade away or release Ramirez, Neifi Perez, Todd Walker, Glendon Rusch & Juan Pierre for starters.
Baker is not the kind of manager the Cubs need. However, a Lou Pinella type person is.
Perez & Rusch do nothing for the team.
Ramirez & Pierre do have some trade value though. But who to trade with? Need to find a team with room to take on a salary and will be a buyer. If you look at all the teams that need a 3B and have money, the Dodgers come to mind. Yes Ramirez has gotten better at defense since he's been with the Cubs but when Derrek Lee went down with injury, that was the time for him to step it up & show some leadership skills. Did he do that? No! Instead he faded away.
They, Dodgers, could use a power 3B - trade back Cesar Izturis. Move him back to his normal position (SS) and move Ronny Cedeno to 2B.
Pierre might be a little more difficult to trade but I'm sure that there's a team out there willing to take him. As for a CF, the Cubs already have one in AAA - Felix Pie. With Cedeno at 2B, no need for Walker. Again, I'm sure that there's a team out there willing to take him. Worse comes to worse, Walker would be good off of the bench - certainly a hell of a lot better than Nefi.
This season is lost. Might as well start looking forward to next year & after. Start rebuilding now. This year, the NL Central is actually pretty weak. A little above mediocre would win the division. St. Louis Cardinals are the best team in that division but they're only 7 games above .500. Cincinnati at only 3 games above .500, are only 2 games back, Milwaukee at .500 is only 3.5 games back and finally, the Stros at 1 game under .500 is 4 games back. Where do the Cubs sit? At an abysmal 22 games UNDER .500 and 14.5 games back!
Dusty has failed to keep this team average/mediocre. He has failed to manage. I don't even want to hear "he's had injuries to deal with" argument. The Yankees with all thier injuries (Sheffield, Matsui to name 2 big ones) & bad pitching, they're 14 games ABOVE .500 and 3 games back of Boston. Dusty Baker should take a lesson from Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa, Ozzie Guillen or Jim Leyland on how to manage a baseball team.
Date
Sat 07/08/06, 6:03 am EST
