The Cubs wrapped up their third consecutive losing season Wednesday night, each more depressing and futile than the last. It was done in characteristic fashion with a philosophical Ryan Dempster, a longtime favorite of the Cubs inept management and particularly a favorite of Mike Quade, hanging around to pitch his 200th inning of the season, giving up nine runs, eight hits, four walks, and two home runs in the process.
Dempster rambled on after the game about how it was an achievement to pitch 200 innings even though for the most part they were not quality innings but he gave the team a chance to win and that was what it was all about anyway and if the team could not give him the run support he needed to deliver, which, given an ERA close to five, an ERA+ of 81, and a WHIP of 1.45, is quite a few runs indeed well, too bad, he gave it everything he had.
He also confessed to not even having thought about whether he would exercise his $14M player option next year. Come on, is this guy playing Ricketts and the fans, or what? Make no mistake, Dempster is only hemming and hawing about this because, like Ramirez, he wants at least three more years from the Cubs. He faces a harder choice than Ramirez in this matter because he is less certain to get a good deal elsewhere and the Cubs at present are not in a position to make the necessary commitment. Nor, in his case, should they.
Dempster is a pretty ordinary pitcher who has made a lot of money for a guy who arguably has had only one good season, 2008. He's been on a downhill slide since then, his stuff has deteriorated, and he is 34 years old. I would venture to suggest that the Dempster contract is an even greater albatross than the Zambrano deal. At least Zambrano is only 30, and there is considerable upside there if he can conquer his demons. In Dempster's case, though there are no apparent demons, there is no upside either.
I wrote in an earlier post about the seemingly delusional behavior of Mike Quade who seems to think he did a good job this season and, worse yet, believes he will return next year. This peculiar form of complacency is shared by his ultimate boss, Tom Ricketts, who, once the season had mercifully ended, proudly announced there was no timetable in his search for a new GM. He would take as long as he needed to find the right man, and, anyway, this team was only a few tweaks to be competitive next year, by golly.
Haven't we heard this before? As a matter of fact, we heard this mantra from Jim Hendry after each unsuccessful year? Is Ricketts channeling Jim Hendry? Or was Hendry channeling Tom Ricketts all along? Here's a horrible thought, what if Ricketts has secretly rehired Hendry and not told anyone about it? Or maybe Ricketts has deputized Hendry to head up the search team for his own successor without telling anyone, even Hendry? The possibilities are endless.
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