Time to Move On, I Guess

This afternoon we learn that Lou Piniella met with the team to discuss the Zambrano situation and just things in general. It turns out the players only complaint was that Lou did not post the subsequent day's lineups soon enough after each game, so that no one knew who would be playing in the next game because they would already have left the stadium. Lou promptly blamed the media for keeping him after hours answering questions about why the Cubs stink.

Wow! That's a pretty hard-headed team meeting and I'm certainly glad Piniella and the team, or what remains of it, had a chance to clear the air. Apparently, the team is quite content to trot out every day and lose in ever more ignominious fashion so long as they know the night before who will be on the hook. Today's lineup was a little bizarre to say the least. Only one left-handed hitter against a right-hander who lives by throwing soft stuff about a foot outside. This year's stats show Garcia is slightly better against lefties, but his career stats are about even, and, anyway, the Cubs right-handed hitters generally cannot hit anyone at all, which proved to be pretty much the case today as usual.

We also found out that Zambrano, if he returns at all, will be relegated to the bullpen, which makes no sense whatsoever, but what does with this team and its management? Two or three observations worth discussing. Should the Cubs forget about this year and concentrate on next year? I think so. If they do, they might actually wind up winning more games this year than they expect.

With that in mind, the move of Gorzelanny into the rotation unless it is to compensate for a trade of Lilly is the wrong one. Cashner should start now. The more innings he gets under his belt at the major league level, the better he is going to be. Also designating Tracy is the wrong move. For some reason, Lou just loves Baker, but unless you are shopping Theriot and want to keep him as a platoon player, he has no real role on this team. Baker does hit lefties well enough, but he has only one hit (one hit!) all year against a right-hander in 33 ABs.

Tomorrow should bring another game and another loss if past performances have anything to do with it. Danks, another lefty, has always dominated the Cubs and there is no reason to suppose that domination will not continue unless they are rained out.