By Steve Rhodes

Did you know the Cubs are looking at the success of the Nationals as a blueprint for their own rebuilding?
Also, the Orioles and the A’s.
And the Cardinals, the Reds and the Red Sox.
Oh, don’t forget the Rays and the Pirates.
Why not throw in the Braves, the Giants and the Tigers?
Guess what: It’s not really useful to look at other franchises for winning formulas.
Why?
Because every franchise (and every market) is governed by a unique set of circumstances.
And that’s why their formulas are all different.

Read More

Posted on May 13, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Cubs are well on their way to matching last season’s 101 losses. After all, it’s essentially the same team.
Think about it: Eight of nine starters among position players were starters last year. The only difference is that Tony Campana (and Reed Johnson before him) is out and Nate Schierholtz is in. That’s an improvement insofar as Schierholtz is hitting .302 with a .355 OBP, but that’s easily cancelled out by the poorer play of everyone else except Welington Castillo if you ignore his defense and only consider his relatively hot bat.
The bullpen is essentially the same, too: Marmol, Russell, Camp and the return of Kevin Gregg to fill out Kerry Wood’s role in some weird way.
And while the rotation has exceeded expectations, thanks largely to Carlos Villanueva and Travis Wood, Edwin Jackson looks like the Alfonso Soriano of the Theo era.
It ain’t getting better, folks. And if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.

Read More

Posted on May 6, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Just because the Cubs took three of four from the Fish doesn’t mean they are somehow “back on track.”
It just means Miami would be in line for the demotion to AAA this week if the majors had such a thing. It’s nothing to be proud of.
Has Kevin Gregg “stabilized” the bullpen? My god, no.
Is Anthony Rizzo “emerging?” Sure – he’ll be hitting .281 in no time!
Did the Cubs answer a “wake-up call?” Please.
Are the Cubs happy to have Darwin Barney back? Yes, but enjoy him while you can.
Don’t forget: You’re not supposed to even care for a few more years.

Read More

Posted on April 29, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“In less than seven months of regular-season baseball since Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Sveum took over, the Cubs have gone from 101-game losers to simply laughable,” Gordon Wittenmyer writes in the Sun-Times
“Certainly, there’s lots of time left. But whether that’s a good thing is in serious doubt the way the team has looked, especially considering that the 5-1 loss to the Brewers, which included three more errors and four unearned runs, was played in maybe the best playing conditions of the season.
“No blaming the cold or the rain or the wind or the facilities at Wrigley or baseball gods, bogeymen or gremlins.”
As if those were ever acceptable excuses.

Read More

Posted on April 22, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

It’s not even fun to watch out of spite anymore.
Not when you’re being fed Brent Lillibridge and Alberto Gonzalez and – still – Alfonso Soriano and Scott Feldman.
Not when a minor-league catcher starts at third and ends up on the DL because he swung too hard in the game’s final play.

Read More

Posted on April 15, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Here’s the sad truth about today’s home opener: We’ve already been instructed to wait ’til next year. Or the year after that. Or, realistically, the year after that. If all the tumblers click into place. And every other franchise gets worse – or even remains stagnant.
And therein lies the problem with Theo’s Plan. Hope deferred wasn’t always hope denied for Cubs fans because we at least had until June before we could adjust our modest expectations. A few times we even had until October. These days our seasons are over before they get started.
Hope is dead. Or at least in a deep-freeze. But good luck with your new billboards, Mr. Ricketts!

Read More

Posted on April 8, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

The Cubs are gonna stink again this season and it’s not alright.
There is absolutely no guarantee that Theo’s rebuild will quadruple lap the rest of the league’s franchises in, say, oh, 2016, justifying our continued pain, and there is absolutely no excuse for the most profitable team in baseball owned by one of America’s richest families one year away from another huge jackpot to not try to win a the major league level on a parallel track to reshaping the farm system.
And a Jumbotron doesn’t make things better, it makes things worse.
The desecration of sport’s most uniquely special franchise, intimately tied to its uniquely special ballpark, is nearly complete.

Read More

Posted on April 1, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Has the world gone mad?
The Cubs’ peculiar brand of failure has always been complicated, but Theo & Co., brought here to make the team winners, has doubled down on the notion that losing for this team is akin to winning – and the Kool-Aid is flowing like urine through Wrigleyville after a twi-night doubleheader.
The Tribune, which no longer owns the team and is now free to exercise bias it was previously forced to withhold, best exemplified the reaction to the team’s completion of an astonishing 101-loss campaign by proclaiming “Awful Season Aside, Cubs On Right Track.”
Yes, awful season aside, the Cubs are really going places!

Read More

Posted on October 4, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

Please, no more Kerry Wood.
I mean, haven’t we appreciated him enough? In fact, I don’t think there’s a more overappreciated Cub in franchise history. And that includes Ron Santo.
At least if he acts as a roving minor league pitching instructor he wouldn’t be hanging around Wrigley.
But wouldn’t giving him that job just be a return to the Kubs Kulture that Theo is trying to break? I’m sure Wood has a few tidbits of advice to offer, but he never struck me – nor anyone else, as far as I know – as a student of the game.

Read More

Posted on September 25, 2012

By Marty Gangler

I took my 4-year-old son to his first Cub game on Sunday and I have to admit I got a little nostalgic. I remember going to the games with my dad and brothers through the years and hoped to make some memories of my own. And really, isn’t that why we are all here?
I mean, you aren’t reading this unless you are tied in to the Cubs or baseball in some way, and typically that’s through your parents, and that is even more typically your dad. So, the “history in the making” moment was all right there. And history was made. I took my son to his first game, that was part of the history, the other part was that it was my shortest game ever.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think my 4-year-old was going to hang in there to sing that silly “Go Cubs Go” song, but I didn’t think it would be five batters into the game before he said, “Dad, I want to go home.”

Read More

Posted on September 17, 2012