What’s wrong with the team?
“Nothing, just a lot of injuries.”
Not quite.
Nobody bought that statement a month and a half ago, and nobody is buying it now.
The Cubs are healthy. The only players on the DL right now are Andrew Cashner and Marcus Mateo, neither of whom should have been considered vital to the team’s success this season.
Guess what. This team is worse than ever now.
They have lost 9 consecutive series.
They have dropped to 21 games below .500.
They suck.
I hate to be the one to tell Tom Ricketts this, but there is something else wrong with this team.
Here are some other disturbing warning signs…
Starlin Castro is not improving at all defensively. For a kid that has been said is extremely eager to learn and be coached, the coaching he is getting doesn't seem to be working. Based on what I said in the last sentence, I have to place the blame on the coaching staff for either lying about Castro’s teachability or for being unable to teach an eager player how to play better. This is Ivan DeJesus's responsibility.
Peña and Ramirez are hitting now…and it doesn’t matter. This team is still having problems scoring runs. Remember this spring when people blamed the weather for the lack of offense? Well the weather is literally hotter than hell now, and the Cubs are still not scoring runs with any consistency. The hitting guru, Rudy Jaramillo, still doesn't seem to be earning his lofty salary.
Carlos Marmol’s slider has become extremely flat. At the same time, his arm angle has slowly slipped more to the side. This is exactly what happened 3 years ago. Can Mark Riggins fix this?
This points to a very ineffective coaching staff with a manager that seems to be making questionable decisions on an almost daily basis. The Cubs were bad last season and instead of cleaning house, they instead promoted people from that failed system into positions of greater importance, and the results have been disastrous.
Jim Hendry seems unwilling to trade anyone as well as he sees great value in all of the players currently on the roster. How can all these players be keys to the future success of the team if they are failing so badly now?
So, Mr. Ricketts, what's wrong with this team? The players, the coaches and the front office...that's all. That's not to many things to fix in a few months, is it? It's not like that is everything? Right? Oh, I guess that is everything.
Wait, there is nothing wrong with the ballpark, right?
And, don’t worry my friends, Alfonso Soriano is still a Cub for 3 more years.
