Too Clever by Half?

There are some bright sides to the Cubs deals of yesterday.  They picked up guys who are healthy and ready to fail in the majors, so we are spared the expected ordeal of waiting for them to heal or disappoint in the distant future.  Also the Cubs picked up some extra international bonus money, which they promptly invested in three or four of the top five or six prospects on the international market.

The thing here is that these kids are sixteen years old, so even though they look pretty good now, it will undoubtedly be many years before they mature into big league players.  So a lot can happen in the interval.  Anyway, is it just me or is there something a little sinister in building the future on a foundation that can only charitably be perceived as a form of indentured servitude?

The Cubs brass has correctly concluded that the real bargains in impact players are offshore, but you kind of get the impression they must be spending all their time high-fiving each other about how smart they are in pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.  They might want to watch some major league games as an antidote.

Last night the cleverness extended to the embattled Dale Sveum, who snatched defeat from the precipice of victory by inserting the slumping and overused James Russell in the eighth inning with two outs, a two run lead, and a runner at first and the game seemingly well in hand.  A walk and a home run later, the game was for all intents and purposes lost.

I know that Sveum has little to work with, but sometimes you just have to keep it simple and leave well enough alone.  The Cubs are carrying seven relievers, but actually Sveum has shown confidence in only four of them, viz., Russell, Camp, Gregg, and lately Parker.  The confidence shown in Camp has always seemed to be puzzling, as his performance this year has been consistently worse than anyone in the bullpen including Marmol.

Before the game, there was a bit of good news, though, and I do not mean that Guerrier and Strop reported, though to be fair, they cannot be any worse than the rest of the bullpen.  What I do mean is that Sean Camp was designated for assignment.  Sveum was almost tearful before the game making the announcement, which makes you wonder what is going on in his head.

Anyway, in the actual game, Sveum had Garza pitch his arm out for eight innings until he could get to Gregg to save a 3-1 win. He had any number of pitchers warming up in the seventh and eighth, but it now seems his confidence is limited to a single player, Gregg.  Actually, I was rather happy he stuck with Garza.  Granted he was getting tired and had thrown a lot of pitches, but taking the game deep is what money pitchers are supposed to do.  Garza delivered.  Which is also another reason to keep this guy in Chicago if it is at all possible.