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The end of baseball’s regular season tends to be a time tinged with sadness. A passing of seasons. A time for reflection. A time of looking off in the distance for better days. Unless, of course, your team happens to be part of the postseason. Which tends not to be the case with the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs might want to consider Lisa Marie Varon as a free agent.
And so it was that on Monday, the day after the team ended a 96-loss season, the Cubs fired manager Dale Sveum. Gee, a guy loses 197 games in two seasons (hey, he did win 127), and they can him? Although Sveum expressed surprise at his dismissal, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer thought things were fairly clear at the all-star break that they expected improvement by Sveum.
With a decidedly deficient roster in terms of talent, it’s unclear precisely what management expected. Which isn’t to say the Cubs will regret sending Sveum packing. Or that he will become a Hall of Fame manager elsewhere. He functioned more as a place-holder for when the Cubs actually might be good. Or at least mediocre — which, given recent results — would be incredible improvement.
“Soon, our organization will transition from a phase in which we have been primarily acquiring young talent to a phase in which we will promote many of our best prospects and actually field a very young, very talented club at the major-league level,” Epstein said. “The losing has been hard on all of us, but we now have one of the top farm systems in baseball, some of the very best prospects in the game and a clear path forward.
“In order for us to win with this group — and win consistently — we must have the best possible environment for young players to learn, develop and thrive at the major league level.”
Maybe soon Epstein can be a bit more specific about how soon the Cubs will be able to contend — for something other than last place in the National League Central.
Possibly available to replace Sveum is former Cubs catcher Joe Girardi, whose contract with the New York Yankees expires on Oct. 31. Girardi no doubt would want a longer contract than the three years Sveum had, and he undoubtedly would want more money. If he is smart (and the sentiment — given that he did attend Northwestern University — is he is), he undoubtedly would want more talent on the roster. Proven talent. not the projected variety.
Perhaps if second baseman Robinson Cano departs the Yankees for the Cubs (he’s asking for $30 million a season) and a few other talented types sign with the Cubs or are obtained in trade, Girardi will wind up at Wrigley Field. The chances of the Cubs going out and spending significantly in free agency seem about as likely as a World Series championship in 2014.
All that is clear after two years of Epstein’s reign is he apparently made a bad hire in his first Cubs manager, and the young talent he thought he had — first baseman Anthony Rizzo (.233 batting average and .323 on-base precentage this season) and shortstop Starlin Castro (.245, .284) for starters — is yet to show it is as talented as hyped.
At some point, the Cubs will have to produce. And if they do not, then it will be time for another firing. And this time — rather than merely a manager — it will be time for the president of baseball operations and general manager to go, too.
Nothing says Chicago Cubs and what it means to be a fan of recent vintage (let’s say since 1945, the team’s last World Series appearance, rather than 1908 — the team’s last World Series crown) better than Steve Goodman’s classic tune:
Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the edifying efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and their willingness to take a broad view of what some people might consider gratuitous):
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