(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
This is not about a billy goat, a Bartman, or some new Century Club Curse hanging over the Chicago Cubs. Yes, the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years now, but it’s no longer about a lack of talent or a propensity to choke.
Everybody wants to bury the Mets this week for their underachieving ways, but at least their struggles can be largely related to their lineup that has been decimated by injuries, a bullpen that lost its power set up man, and one misguided contract given to Oliver Perez.
In Chicago, it’s less about injuries and more about attitude. The Cubs need a culture shock, one that comes with a swift broom and a dustpan, sweeping out all of the destructible personas in this woebegone franchise.
It’s amazing that the Cubs currently sit 3.5 games out of first place in the National League Central. If you only looked at the standings, you would think life is pretty good on the North side. But if there is ever a franchise in need of detoxification, this is it.
The selling of the Cubs from the Tribune Co. to the Ricketts family has been held up over financial issues regarding the $900-million price tag, but as soon as that transaction is complete, Tom Ricketts needs to walk through the clubhouse with a Dustbuster.
If Ricketts wants to see a winning franchise with his name on it, an identity change is the first thing he needs to do.
The face of the Cubs, certainly for the worst, is ace Carlos Zambrano. If Zambrano didn’t live life as a ticking detonator, his enormous talent would be universally lauded. Zambrano would normally be one of the Top 15 pitchers in all of baseball on my list, but enough is enough.
His tantrums do more harm for the Cubs than his pitching does good. When are we ever going to see the Zambrano who doesn’t let his emotions get the best of him and simply sticks to dominating the competition, you ask? Well, never, because there isn’t such a thing. I’m convinced.
Vintage Zambrano was on display Sunday as the Cubs wrapped up a weekend series with the White Sox.
In the bottom of the sixth inning with the White Sox up 3-0, Christ Getz was on third base with DeWayne wise at the plate. The White Sox put on a suicide squeeze but it was recorded as a stolen base for Getz when Zambrano threw wide of catcher Geovany Soto and the ball went to the backstop, making it 4-0 White Sox.
On the next pitch, Zambrano hit Wise, and the two immediately started exchanging words. Zambrano said it was a “cutter that cut too much,” but then waved Wise to meet him out at the mound.
Regardless of Zambrano’s alibi, he lost his focus, put fake machismo above competing, and didn’t make it out of the inning. That’s not exactly the leadership the Cubs need from their ace when they are looking up at three other teams in their division.
Oh, but Big Z isn’t alone when it comes to the powder kegs. Milton Bradley routinely joins the party, and his latest water cooler-smashing incident came on Friday, resulting in a shouting match in the dugout tunnel with manager Lou Pinella and Pinella allegedly calling him a “piece of [bleep].”
But Bradley being in the middle of some sort of emotional drama is no surprise, though. When a guy has played for seven teams in the last nine seasons, why in the world would he ever be able to survive in one of the rowdiest sports venues in America playing in front of some of the hostile and blood-boiling fans?
There’s Ted Lilly who is always good for a few outbursts a season. My favorite Lilly moment came in the 2007 NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lilly gave up a home run to Arizona’s Chris Young – one bad pitch in a horrible outing – and spiked his glove on the mound in a big Little League huff. That was the lasting image of those Cubs.
To top it all off, Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana while playing for Puerto Rico in this spring’s World Baseball Classic. Soto, the 2008 NL Rookie of the Year, was banned from international competition for two years (big deal), and promptly made all of the cliché apologies that he didn’t write.
To be fair, the Cubs have been crushed by the absence of Aramis Ramirez and the invisibility of Alfonso Soriano. Ramirez is expected back soon after dislocating his left shoulder on May 9, but Soriano is still lost at the plate.
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