I suppose all lousy teams face similar issues when it finally dawns on the players and management that they are going nowhere and the light at the end of the tunnel is likely an oncoming train. So it comes as no surprise that the Cubs are experiencing some late season melodrama. Actually, given how disappointing the season has been in terms of the already low expectations the team entertained, it is rather a shock that such diversions did not occur sooner.
So, in rather quick succession, you have Edwin Jackson and Dale Sveum blowing up in the dugout after Sveum pinch hit for Jackson after only four innings. Bear in mind that Jackson was pitching his usual half-assed game, building up his pitch count, in trouble every inning, unable even to throw to first base successfully on a routine play. One is tempted to suggest maybe having a look in the mirror rather than continue this weird self-absorption is the answer for this guy.
Has Jackson had a bad year in an otherwise stellar career? No, he has had a bad year in a pretty mediocre career. Jackson has bullpen stuff, high-end bullpen stuff, but not a bullpen mentality, so it is difficult to see how he fits in other than as a fourth or fifth starter on a mediocre team. Jackson still does not know how to pitch and he has been in the big leagues for a long time. God knows why Epstein signed this guy, but, at least as an experiment in whether the Sveum team can effect a turnaround, put him in the "no" column. (More about the Sveum evaluation later).
The second melodrama, somewhat milder, occurred when Samardzija blew up at infield coach David Bell for moving Anthony Rizzo off the line while he was pitching to Aoki in the Brewers series. Aoki promptly pulled a triple down the right field line. Of course, the ace Samardzija was somewhat befuddled by the notion of pitching to your defense, preferring to blame someone else for a mistake pitch.
On the subject of Samardzija, for all the milestones, 200+ innings, 200+ strikeouts, Samardzija is still not a real pitcher. He has great stuff and no brains. As far as being a Sveum/Epstein project, an honest observer would conclude he is at best a work in progress and at worst a modest flop.
Which brings us to the third fiasco, Kevin Gregg. Gregg celebrated his achieving his fiftieth game finished, a big bonus milestone, by allowing four runs in the ninth inning to the Atlanta Braves yesterday. He explained later that he was somehow distracted by the team deciding to use Pedro Strop once or twice in save situations, something the team has yet to do.
Where do they get these guys? The Cubs rescued Gregg from the scrapheap when the Orioles cut him loose this spring. Unaccountably, Gregg had a significant resurgence, at least before the All-Star break. Since the break, he has rather come down to earth, but, on the whole his season has been a positive one that should have landed him a decent deal in the off-season, more than likely with another team.
Even though Epstein did not release him, which he should have done in my opinion, he has pretty much burned his bridges with the Cubs. Good riddance. Gregg gained an outlandish reputation as a setup guy with the Angels, but has never delivered since he moved on, especially in the closer role. This whole business of feeling slighted by the Cubs honesty is a bit much. He's 33 years old and the Cubs are looking for youth in the bullpen or another cheap rehab.
Standards on the north side are so low, though, that this kind of pea-brained thinking is the norm. No more so than in relation to the beleaguered manager Dale Sveum.
Another off-hand remark by Theo and the gang set off a mini-controversy respecting Sveum's future. If you take Epstein at his word, though, that he will evaluate Sveum and the coaches not on wins and losses but on player development, you more or less have to conclude they should be gone and that the Cubs should jump at the chance of hiring a Joe Girardi or a Ron Gardenhire in the unlikely scenario that such a prospect develops.
Certainly almost everything Sveum says makes little or no sense. Castro's numbers, for instance, are virtually identically bad batting leadoff. The third base platoon is not a pleasant surprise. These guys have hit a lot of home runs at the expense of playing good baseball. (Valbuena's OBP is around the league average, Ransom's and Murphy's significantly below average, as are their batting averages).
I could go on and on, but the terrible truth here is that the only players to show significant improvement this year are Travis Wood and Welington Castillo. The "cornerstone" players, Rizzo and Castro, have gotten worse.
I've never really understood the decision to hire Sveum, nor the decisions with respect to the coaches. Usually, organizations will pack these spots with people from the GMs past. The Cubs, for example, became the Phillies West in the 80s. Is this the Brewers South or something? Not a grand baseball tradition.
In this case, though, the Cubs have no real personality. You get a vague impression they would like to have one. Sveum's remarks about Travis Wood's progress, how he has learned to pitch to a game plan, for instance, give one the feeling that management has something in mind. Possibly these statements are more meaningful in relation to the players who are not mentioned, the Samardzijas and Jacksons who evidently do not pitch to a game plan.
Still, if you are judging Sveum by any reasonable standard of player development, he has failed pretty badly and so should be gone. What's more, in the last few weeks, he has pretty clearly lost control of the team and in a fairly public way.
