The season is down to its final days on the North side, as the Cubs wrap up a pretty miserable season with a four game series in Houston. Since the Bears are on a bye, and the MLB playoffs are starting next week, this is a perfect time to say good-bye to the 2005 Cubs with some post-season analysis. Not that the Cubs are in the postseason, mind you, but the season's over. For lack of a better way to analyze the Cubs this year, I'll go position-by-position.
Right Field - Last year, Sammy Sosa had his third declining year in a row, and the fans started to get pretty rough on him. After getting beaned by Solomon Torres last April, he was never the same. He started standing 5 feet away from the plate, and his strikeouts rose while the rest of his stats began to suffer in unison. He couldn't handle the Wrigley boos and the frustration, so he walked out on the last day. The Tribune Company didn't help any by releasing the security tape to prove Sammy lied to the media. It was the last straw for the Cubs faithful, and they booed his image at the Fan Convention. Cubs fans just couldn't put up with the Prima Dona behavior from a fading superstar. Hendry was forced to trade him for 50 cents on the dollar (Jerry Hairston Jr. and a few marginal prospects.) Well, it turned out the Cubs got the better end of that baseball-wise. Most figured that Sammy would still be a solid, if overpaid player. He wasn't even as good as Hairston as he hit .220 with only 14 HRs. Pretty sad, actually. I still have pictures of Sammy and his historic 1998 season plastered on my wall, and he was a fan favorite for a long time.
To replace Sammy in Right, the Cubs signed Jeromy Burnitz. Lots of stat-oriented Cubs fans were irate at the signing, but I was ok with it. He did about what I expected from him. .258/.323/.439 with 24 HRs and 87. Solid defense, too. Right around league average for a Right fielder, if not slightly below. Compared to Left Field, he was a rock. I don't advocate resigning him for next year, but he was a decent one year stopgap.
Center Field - Wow, did Corey Patterson stink up the joint. Willie Mays Hayes. Run like Mays, hit like shit. I knew Corey had a long swing and was undisciplined, but I never would have expected him to fall so low. Last year he hit .266 with a .320 OBP and 24 HRs, along with some rather excellent defense. Turning 25 this year, I was hoping for a modest upgrade at the very least. Instead, he simply fell apart and his average dipped to .218 with only 13 HRs and a rather pathetic 33 RBIs. And his defense has become incredibly shoddy, as he's continued to miss cutoff men, misplay flies, and generally have a confused look about him. He's lost. Aside from a few months here and there, and a near all-star caliber first half of 2003, he simply has not lived up to his potential. I think its time to cut the cord. Trade him for anyone with a pulse. He's passed what I like to call the “Farnsworth” point, aka the point of no return. I don't care if he realizes his potential on another team, I just don't think its going to happen here and I want him gone.
Left Field - Left Field was nearly as bad as Center Field this year. Todd Hollandsworth proved that he was an excellent 4th Outfielder in his 107 Games on the North side. He was among the worst regulars all season till the Cubs mercifully traded him to Atlanta in late August. He never should have been playing every day. He hasn't been a full-time starter since 1996, what on earth would make Dusty think he's an every day player? Holly's graying mullet, thats what. Dusty admitted that he thinks players primes are 32-36. Sure, Dusty. Jason Dubois, a 25 year old moose with tremendous power and poor strikezone judgment got to platoon with Holly for a while. Every fly ball was an adventure with that kid, though, so power-be-damned he got traded to Cleveland in July. I liked Dubois, but he simply had “DH” written all over him. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts up a .290/35 HR season in the near future, but unfortunately he simply isn't suited to wear leather on his non-thowring hand. Deadline trade acquisition Matt Lawton played one lousy month with the club before they traded him to the Yankees. He was a good acquisition, but he simply didn't do anything for the Cubs. Hendry gambled and lost. I do congratulate him for realizing sunk costs, though, with the deal and dumping him while he could still get something. Since then, Matt Murton and Jerry Hairston have split time, with Murton finally getting regular playing time after Hairston's late season injury. I really like Murton. I don't want to say he was a throw-in on the Nomar deal last year, but he was a throw-in. After an excellent season at AA, the Cubs jerked him back and forth to the majors a few times despite the fact that he a) was hitting .350, and b) was better than all five of the Cubs other OFs. Whatever. Dusty doesn't like kids. Murton, with the red hair and freckles is a spitting image of Opie on the Andy Griffith show, aka Richie Cunningham. Ain't no kiddies starting on Dusty's team. Not when Jose Macias has a pulse. I really hope Murton gets a legitimate chance to win one of the corner outfield spots next year, but with Baker, you never know.
Third Base - Aramis Ramirez is a truly great hitter. In 123 games, he hit .302/.358/.568 with 31 HRs and 92 RBIs. The dude rakes. His defense is best described as “poor“, he's got recurring groin problems, and he's Franklin the Turtle on the basepaths. But the guy can hit. He's not going anywhere. One of the lesser problems the Cubs had this year is no adequate backup for Ramirez. When he needed his occasional day off, the only guy around to spell him was Jose F. Macias, who's biggest asset is that he plays multiple positions. He plays them all poorly, mind you, but at the very least, he plays them. His biggest problem is his manager. In what alternate universe is Jose Macias worth 175 plate appearances? I don't mind if he's the last man off the bench in case of emergency, someone that plays eight positions terribly can be an asset in such circumstances. But Dusty used him as his primary pinch hitter. Hendry needs to take this toy away from Dusty this offseason.
Shortstop - Nomar was slated at short, but he tore his groin tendons off the bone back in the third week of the season and was lost until the season was all but over. Bummer. The guy's great when he plays, but he simply hasn't played much for the Cubs. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that he's a viable option for next year. It would have to be a much smaller base salary with much higher incentives for me to even consider him. He's just too fra-gee-lay to consider. The Great Neifi Perez played the bulk of the year at SS for us. He actually did a credible job. Now go away. He's 32 years old, and he's been one of the worst every-day players of the past decade. The Cubs should quit while they're ahead with Neifi, as they got every last drop of productivity out of him. Ronny Cedeno is a good looking youngster, as Harry would say, and deserves a legitimate shot next year. He's excellent on defense, and his hitting in 2005 took a great step forward. It may be a fluke, but he's worth looking at if the Cubs miss out on Furcal (IMO the only SS worth thinking about this offseason.)
Second Base - Todd Walker is a good hitter perfectly suited for the #2 hole in any lineup. He doesn't strike out much, walks a lot, and has decent power for a second-sacker. So that's why Dusty hit him 6th for 80% of the season. His only knock is his defense is less than stellar. He has a good glove, but his range is poor. (or so they say) If no better options present themselves, I'd be happy with him coming back next year.
First Base - MV-Lee. Talk about a career year. Derrek Lee had one of the best seasons ever, by anyone. To say it was unexpected is quite the understatement. If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I was by Lee's season. .339/.422/668 with 46 HRs and 106 RBIs to date. He was a legitimate triple-crown candidate for a while, and he may have had a real shot had Dusty not castrated him with Corey and Neifi at the top of the lineup so many times. Oh well.
Catcher - Michael Barrett hits well, but his defense is lacking. Actually, his defense looks ok to my eyes, and he throws out a fair amount of batters for a guy with a good stick. His problem is he calls a lousy game. Everyone on the Cubs staff prefers to throw to Henry Blanco. I read an article comparing the pitchers ERAs with Blanco to their ERAs with Barrett, and it was seriously more than a two-run difference. Even Barry Bonds at his Balco-best doesn't make a two-run difference in the final score on a daily basis. I think Catcher is an area where a serious upgrade is needed.
Starting Pitching - Carlos Zambrano is the staff ace. He had a fine year. He had a bit of a rough stretch in June, but other than that he was his dominant self. He had a lot of no decisions as well, or else his record would look better than the 14-7 that it stands at now. Mark Prior spent his usual two months or so on the DL, but when he pitched he was effective. Not as good as his 2003 year by any means, but he pitched well enough to win most times out. He's had a lot of fluke injuries in his career, and none of them were pitching related so I think he might be able to paste together a full season next year. Greg Maddux will always have a place on my pitching staff. No, he's not pitching like a Hall-of-Famer every time out, but he still does a credible job. Take that plus all the bench advice that every young pitcher on the Cubs raves about, and you've got yourself quite the bargain. Kerry Wood. I don't even know where to begin. Kid K simply isn't reliable. He's under contract for next year, and I'd love to see him back and in the rotation. But they need a really good insurance policy with him, because he's practically guaranteed to spend three or four months on the DL. Jerome Williams has a lot of career wins for a 23 year old. He's a solid candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation next year. Glendon Rusch was the savior of the pitching staff in 2004 but had large stretches of ineffectiveness in 2005, mixed in with occasional brilliance. He wants to start full-time, but I just don't trust him enough to simply hand him the job in spring training. So he's gone.
Relief Pitching - Latroy Hawkins was miscast as a closer by you-know-who back in April, and he repeatedly blew lead after lead after lead. His deer-in-headlights act wore extremely thin with the Cubs faithful, and he was shipped away for Jerome Williams and David Aardsma, an excellent score for Jim Hendry. Hawkins was a Farnsworth-like dump job, and he fleeced Brian Sabean and the Giants for two under 25 pitchers with lots of potential. Nice move. Once Hawkins was out of the picture, Ryan Dempster took over as closer. It was only suggested about seven thousand times between August 2004 and May 2005 by Hendry, the media, and the fans; but Dusty acted as if he invented penicillin with the move. Nice! Elsewhere in the pen, Kerry Wood was mighty effective for a few weeks, and would be an excellent candidate for the pen next year. I'd rather start him, though, as nine million dollars is an awful lot to pay for a setup guy. If Hendry can pick up a top-notch starter though, I'd make Wood's move to the pen permanent. Will Ohman, Mike Weurtz, and Roberto Novoa all had some nice stretches and are welcome back in 2006. Scott Williamson, supposed mid-season savior, was practically worthless. So was washed up Mike Remlinger. After a mediocre 2003 and a below-average 2004, old graybeard finally pitched himself out of a job in 2005. So did Joe Borowski. It really hurt to see the pained look on Joe's face when he served up that grand slam to Jeter in the Bronx back in June. He just wasn't fooling anyone, and the Cubs let him go. Incidentally, he pitched rather well for the D-Rays down the stretch. Don't be fooled, though. He was a new pitcher in a new league with low-expectations. His fastball is deader than a doornail.
Bench - This was a major problem all year. The Cubs best bench players were starting most of the time. Hollandsworth and Hairston were perfect backups/utility men. But Dusty wasted those pocket aces by trotting them out day after day after day. Once Nomar got hurt, Neifi was forced to start far too many games himself. He was a perfect backup, though. If Dusty didn't love him so much, I'd consider Neifi as a backup for next year, too. But I just know that's far too tempting for Baker, so we must eliminate that option.
Manager - By now, you probably are under the impression that I don't like Dusty Baker that much. Ding! Ding! Ding! What do we have for her, Johnny!? While its true that I'm not enamored with Dusty's lineup decisions and game management skills, I don't think he's the worst manager in the world. If we fire Baker, who do we get? I honestly don't know. Is Joe Torre going to be available? Bobby Cox? I doubt it and no freaking way. I'd like to see them hire the next Earl Weaver, but its not like there's a Manager Store out there where you simply can pick up a young genius to lead the team to glory. Go ahead and Fire Baker. I wouldn't be upset in the slightest. Just don't hire the next Jim Essian.
General Manager - I think Jim Hendry's done an adequate job. If you look at all his trades for the team, most of them have worked out in the Cubs favor. (Some were absolute steals like the deals for Aramis, Lee, and the Todd Hundley purge.) The Sosa situation handcuffed him last offseason, though, so he gets a one-year pass. He simply didn't have the time and resources to fill the biggest holes in the lineup. (LF, RF, and Closer) Everyone at those positions that signed big contracts last year, in my opinion, were greatly overpaid. J.D. Drew, Carlos Beltran, Troy Percival, Armando Benitez, Magglio Ordonez. All of them spent significant time on the DL this year, and all of them are under contract for massive dollars over the next several years. We dodged a bullet with every one of them. If Hendry can simply cure his unnatural fascination for crappy middle infielders, I think he has the smarts to build a winning lineup. So don't let me down this offseason, Mr. Hendry, or I'll be leading the bandwagon next year that calls for your dismissal.
That about covers the 2005 Cubs. Once the playoffs are over, I'll take a look at the players available and offer my two cents on what the team should do for 2006. See you then.
PS. Don't forget to root for the White Sox in the playoffs next week. I'm not a hater of the South Side, and I don't think any self-respecting Chicagoan should be. I simply root for the Cubs while the Sox play in some other league. I only root against them when they're actually playing the Cubs. It'd be nice to see a championship in this city. We've been draped in loser-dom for far too long.