Today, the Cubs' misery ended on a winning note. The Cubbies beat the Bucs, 7-3, to end the season on a two game winning streak. Sammy hit his 499th homer of the season so we have to wait until next season to see # 500. Hopefully, # 500 would be at Wrigley on opening day 2003. The dismal record of 67 wins and 95 losses doesn't show the true talent of this team.

Now, it is time to fix the problems with the Cubbies and bring a winner to the Cathedral of MLB Baseball (Wrigley).

The power at the tower (Tribune Tower) should make the following changes immediately and end the "Looney Tunes" atmosphere with the Cubs.

1. Hire a first class manager like Lou Pinella or Dusty Baker. It is time to bring out the Tribune checkbook.

2. No music in the clubhouse which will put an end to Sammy's disco and circus. It is tearing apart the club as showed in Friday's fiasco between Joe Girardi and Sammy.

3. Trade Todd Hundley, Fred McGriff, Stynes, and Moise (is he still injury) Alou.

4. Played our future starting lineup ... Hee Seop Choi (1B), Bobby Hill (2B), Luis Gonzalez (ss), Mark Bellhorn (3B), Corey Patterson (cf), Sammy Sosa (rf) NOW!

5. Do whatever it takes to keeping the starting pitching lineup of Wood, Clement, Leiber, and Prior.

6. Go out and buy a bullpen. Also, the new manager should have a Dr. Phil talk with Kyle Farnsworth and tell him to grow up and act like an adult.

All of these changes might adjust the Cubbies from lovable losers to competitive winners like Leo Durocher had them back in the late 60's/early 70's.

Finally, WGN-TV/Radio does the best job of any superstation or major league network in broadcasting the game of baseball. Today, WGN ended today's broadcast by playing the best moments of the season with the song of "Waiting for A Sunny Day". It was a classic way to end a dismal season.

[quote]Originally posted by J T:
2. No music in the clubhouse which will put an end to Sammy's disco and circus. It is tearing apart the club as showed in Friday's fiasco between Joe Girardi and Sammy.

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What exactly happened?

As for Sosa, a "no-music" rule might make him unhappy. If he is unhappy he'd be likely to leave Chicago. Is that what fans there would like to see or do they prefer the Sosa home run show, even if he may be a bad apple in the clubhouse and not conducive to a winning team atmosphere?

[quote]Originally posted by J T:
1. Hire a first class manager like Lou Pinella or Dusty Baker. It is time to bring out the Tribune checkbook.
2. No music in the clubhouse which will put an end to Sammy's disco and circus. It is tearing apart the club as showed in Friday's fiasco between Joe Girardi and Sammy.
3. Trade Todd Hundley, Fred McGriff, Stynes, and Moise (is he still injury) Alou.
6. Go out and buy a bullpen. Also, the new manager should have a Dr. Phil talk with Kyle Farnsworth and tell him to grow up and act like an adult.
Finally, WGN-TV/Radio does the best job of any superstation or major league network in broadcasting the game of baseball. [QUOTE]

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To address a few of your well-stated points JT, the Cubs announced today that interim manager Bruce Kimm will NOT be back next season and that there is no timetable on when a replacement will be named -- hinting that perhaps the Cubbies will try to lure a present manager or coach from one of the eight teams still competing in the postseason to Wrigley (such as Dusty Baker, whose contract expires at the end of this season?)

Surprisingly, I haven't read or heard anything about the Sosa and Girardi "fiasco" from Friday....any details?

As far as trading Hundley or McGriff, I doubt there would be ANY interested takers or, if there were, that the Cubs would receive more than a couple of low-end prospects in return....despite Alou's sub-par season, I would imagine that based upon his recent past production in Houston, Florida and Montreal that Moises would still generate some interest in the "hot stove league".

Please, DON'T have Dr. Phil talk to Kyle Farnsworth!....I know that Kyle had some control problems this year but any pitcher that throws 100 mph and looks THAT good (wow, does he have a long, lean body with some of the best legs ever to take the mound ) shouldn't be tampered with -- especially by someone with the credentials of Dr. Phil.

As for WGN's "superstation" broadcasts, they have taken a serious decline in quality since the departure of Steve Stone as analyst a few years ago IMHO....I believe Stone was in the booth there for over 15 years, if I'm not mistaken -- btw, why did he leave anyway? -- was Stoney just burnt out from broadcasting all those losses and wanted to spend more time at home in Arizona, could Harry Carey's death have played a role in his departure (I tend to doubt that since I always sensed that Steve "put up" with Carey's "peculiar" style of broadcasting more than he welcomed it) or did WGN "quietly" push him out the door?....in either event, Joe Carter (who only seems to appear as color commentator on a random sampling of the WGN games I have caught, which admittedly have not been too many this season) has to be one of the WORST broadcasters I have ever heard -- he continually makes absurd statements and I recall one game where he seriously projected some mediocre middle-infielder (sorry I can't recall the player's name) as a future Hall of Famer....Carter is clearly still living off the laurels of his HR off Mitch Williams a decade go....but apparently someone in the WGN/Tribune brass must like him (or he comes very cheaply, which seems to be priority #1 where the Trib is concerned).

To all the long-suffering Cubs supporters, there's always next year -- since you haven't won the Series since 1908 (sorry to bring that up JT) I would say it's time for a change -- now if only the execs at the Tribune would feel the same way and reward all those fans who have loyally supported an inferior product for 94 years....(geez, and the Red Sox faithful thought they had it rough ).

[ September 29, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

For audio, I turned on WGN radio with Pat Hughes and Ron Santo while watching the TV game on WGN. It is the best combo. I do agree with you that Joe Carter is the worst announcer ever. Already, WGN has announced that Steve Stone will return back to the booth for next season and Joe Carter is out of here. Thank God!

On Kyle, he has major problems off the field. The new manager, hopefully Dusty Baker, needs to talk to him and tell him to start acting as a professional on the field and as a mature adult off the field.... not sleeping off your hangover in the clubhouse.

On Hundley, Alou, and McGriff, dump the salaries even if you have to take a hit. Hundley has a bad attitude on the field especially flipping birds to the fans in the stands and his comments in the Trib about how tough of a career that he has chosen.

If Sammy was playing for the Yanks, the Boss (George Steinbrenner) will have a heart to heart talk about his disrupting influence in the clubhouse. Sammy's act has become a 3 ring circus here in Chicago. The players in the lockerroom should be concentrating on their prepartations to play baseball not listening to Disco, Rap, or Techno music before the game.

The Cubs should go after Mike Hampton and Danny Niegel from the Rockies after they dumped some of the salaries.

I sincerely hope the Tribune will hire someone like Baker or Piniella, too, though I'm not sure about Piniella's contract status. As for the lineup, here is how my Opening Day lineup would look for next year:

1--Bobby Hill, 2B
2--Corey Patterson, CF
3--Sammy Sosa, RF
4--Moises Alou, LF
5--Mark Bellhorn, 3B
6--Hee Seop Choi, 1B
7--Alex Gonzalez, SS
8--Joe Girardi, C
9--Pitcher

Manager--Dusty Baker

I'm not quite ready to give up on Moises yet. I think he's gonna have a pretty good season next year, and still has a lot of baseball left in him. Bellhorn has shown me a lot this year offensively, my only question is his defensive skills at third. I don't think Choi is ready to assume the cleanup spot, not on Opening Day, hopefully, later in the season, he can be eased into that spot. Hampton, I think, would definitely be a good fit in Wrigley Field. Get him out of Coors, and he will thrive. Both Darryl Kile (God rest his soul) and Pedro Astacio enjoyed markedly improved seasons after leaving Denver. Better we get him quick than Houston or St. Louis (i.e., Rolen) stealing him away before we have a chance.

As for the WGN broadcasts, JT, I do the same thing. There's not a better broadcast duo these days than Pat and Ron. I urge everybody, next year, if there's a game on and you pass through the WGN-AM station signal, to listen to those two. They make a horrid season truly bearable, and I nearly piss myself with laughter nearly every game.

For you Cub fans out there who are Hughes and Santo devotees, ever go through withdrawals from those two in the offseason?

[quote]Originally posted by J T:
WGN has announced that Steve Stone will return back to the booth for next season and Joe Carter is out of here. Thank God!


[QUOTE]

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That's some of the best news that any baseball fan could hear -- it will be great to hear Stone back in the booth and anything to get rid of Carter is a significant improvement....as far as their on field personnel are concerned, while the Cubbies obviously need to establish some stability at the managerial position (which has been lacking since the days of Jim Frey and Don Zimmer), they may also need to consider signing at least one "veteran" position player as a free agent to bring some TRUE leadership to the clubhouse -- while Hill, Patterson, Bellhorn, and Choi may all eventually turn into consistent MLB talent, to expect 3 or 4 of your everyday players to be that unproven and STILL contend for a playoff position is asking a bit much IMHO....as long as they don't replace the incredibly cute Alex Gonzalez at shortstop, they've done something right!

[ September 29, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

I live in Wrigleville and have been watching the Cubs for 17 years. I'm not a Cubs' fan, so I have at least some level of objectivity.

The Cubs have no intensity (generally). There is a la-de-da attitude among the players. The Cubs win, they lose, so what?

Cub fans are far too tolerant. They need a little Philly fan in them. How about expecting more, demanding more? If the Cubs lose, the fans should stay home.

The Cubs (historically) have had terrible middle relief, no team speed, poor defense (especially in the outfield) and a complete absence of offense from the catcher position. So, add the pitcher and you have two automatic outs in the line-up. A team can survive this only if the other players are great.

The Cubs have a positive net (financial) bottom line. This positive bottom line helps promote that sort of "so what" attitude throughout the organization. Nobody is "hungry". There is no commitment to winning at any cost.

The Cubs have a tradition--losing. Losing is what they know, its what they expect, its what they do best. When the Cubs win, people scream, "Cubs win!" as if its something novel, bizarre.

Wrigley Field is a tourist trap: quaint, sweet, "nice", calm, peaceful. The milieu is not conducive to winning.

So, what to do? As far as I'm concerned it starts with the coach. They need a mean, lean, intense, firey, crazy, zero tolerance type of coach--an Earl Weaver type. Also, they need to recognize that step one is just step one, there are 10 more steps to go. For the rest of us, forget the Cubs!
Bye, bye Cubs. When you do something worthy of attention, then and only then we'll give you some. P

7) Have the Tribune folks sell the team to an individual owner. Who among the company is going to care if the Cubs never win? The team is a cash cow to the corporation--there'll never be any drive to win if the top authority for the organization is a group or whatever Tribune is considered to be.

And, just to stir the pot a little, trade Sosa. The team can only finish one spot lower in the division without him than it did with him.

[quote]Originally posted by SteveIN:
And, just to stir the pot a little, trade Sosa. The team can only finish one spot lower in the division without him than it did with him.[/QB]

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Interesting suggestion Steve....based upon the recent success of the Angels, Twins, and Patriots who have won with the "non-superstar", team chemistry approach I think it's a "radical" idea that the Cubs should strongly consider -- especially after reading about all the resentment Sosa supposedly generated among his teammates with his "selfish, me-first" clubhouse antics....If the Cubbies could get 3-4 STRONG prospects and young players in return they oughta do it....after all, look at how the Mariners have flourished after trading Randy Johnson to Houston (I believe they received Peniero, Halama, and one other quality player in return) and going back nearly two decades ago in the NFL the Cowboys "dynasty" was built on trading "superstar" RB Herschel Walker to the Vikes for about 6 high draft picks and several quality "unknown" players which they parlayed into a few championships (much to the dismay of us Jerry Jones/Cowboy haters).

I was up in Boston last month and found it interesting that when a local newspaper columnist and sports talk radio contributor suggested the Red Sox trade Nomar Garciaparra for a larger quantity of young talent to help the club, his comments were met with such outrage that he was nearly run out of town....taking nothing away from Nomar's or Sammy's obvious talent and gaudy offensive statistics, I personally think such moves should be given serious consideration -- and NOT for the primary reason of reducing the teams's payroll either.

[ October 10, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Just for the record, I agree, trade Sosa. And, do it now before it's too late or you'll have a Frank Thomas on your hands. P