Chicago Cubs: A Lesson on Great Expectations and Ambition

"No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself."

- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

There are admittedly lots of things that separate good teams from bad, winners from losers and contenders from the also-rans. However it occurred to me recently that some of the things we strain our brains to analyze are actually right in front of our noses.

Take the Cleveland Indians. Please. No, seriously, look at what they just did. Off to a surprisingly great start early this year and currently sitting in first place in the AL Central, they went through an offensive slump and fired their hitting coach.

Examine this quote from ESPN.com: "We've been scuffling for a while and I felt like we need a new voice," manager Manny Acta said. "Jon worked hard and I want to thank him, but we are confident Bruce, who is very familiar with our current players, will continue the work he has done developing hitters at every level."

Yet the Cubs continue to stink and all that happens is more varnish on that rotten wood.

Look, the Florida Marlins go into a tailspin and, sitting in last place in the NL East, the manager feels enough pressure that he resigns before he can be fired.

Mind you, at 32-40 they still have a better record than the Cubs despite a payroll that is far less than half of the Cubs payroll.

In basketball, the Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman won't return despite posting a 193-135 record, the best winning percentage of any Rockets coach ever.

In New York, managers routinely are on the hot seat unless they are winning World Series titles and sometimes even when they do.

Sure, many times these firings are the result of a GM passing blame. Other times, it's disagreement over the direction of the team or an inability to communicate effectively. Not surprisingly, personality and ego clashes have a lot to do with many of these moves.

Still, there is the common thread of having expectations.  Teams simply aren't satisfied with the status quo, with losing, with anything except being the best they can be.

Not so much for our Cubbies. They are lovable losers playing in the friendly confines. All is well.  

Cubs owner Tom Ricketts gives GM Jim Hendry and manager Mike Quade so many votes of confidence that they should have the self esteem of a five star general by now.

Now, in Quade's case, one can make the argument that he hasn't managed all that long. One can also make the argument that he never should have been hired in the first place, but that is a story for another day.

In the curious case of Hendry, however, he's safe despite a clear record of failure. Hendry became the Cubs GM in July of 2002 and ESPN's David Schoenfield recently compiled an interesting list of the war crimes against Mr. Hendry.

To wit: 

• Since 2003, the Cubs are barely over .500 at 688-671, despite ranking in the top 10 in the majors in payroll each season except 2003 (when they were 11th). 
• Despite all those high payrolls, the Cubs have won 90-plus games just once in his tenure, in 2008. 

• Eight years, $136 million for Alfonso Soriano. Yes, there is still three years remaining at $18 million per year.  

• He once signed Neifi Perez to a multi-year contract 

• Signed Carlos Zambrano to a $91.5 million extension in August of a season in which he posted a 3.95 ERA and led the NL in walks.  

• Signed Carlos Pena, a player who had just hit .196, to a $10 million deal for 2011. 
• He’s paying John Grabow $4.8 million this season. JOHN GRABOW! For a reliever who’s had an ERA under 3.30 ONCE in his career and a career WHIP of 1.46.

• The team hasn’t drafted well under him: Its first-round picks since 2003: OF Ryan Harvey (sixth overall, never reached majors); P Mark Pawelek (20th, never got past Class A); OF Tyler Colvin (13th, no plate discipline, currently hitting .105 for Cubs); C Josh Donaldson (48th, traded to A’s); 3B Josh Vitters (3rd, hitting .289 in Double-A, but has just eight walks, drafted ahead of guys like Matt Wieters, Madison Bumgarner, Jason Heyward and Rick Porcello); we’ll see what happens with the more recent draftees like Ryan Flaherty and Brett Jackson.

Schoenfield goes on to point out other issues that I have railed about in the past, too, such as the fact that the farm system is rated low, players don't walk or play fundamental baseball. Heck, it's as if Hendry doesn't see the value of defense.

Hey Quade, you need a right fielder? Just put Jeff Baker out there, no problem.

Talk about damning, consider this quote from Schoenfield: "The long-term outlook is bleak: The only decent players younger than 28 are pitcher Matt Garza and the middle-infield combo of Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. The trouble with that combo is that Castro’s fielding may turn him into a second baseman and Barney isn’t really that good or even that young (25)."

Ouch.

Expectations? Apparently Ricketts feels Cubs fans don't have any. Maybe I'm reading too much into all this, but his reaction is, to me, the equivalent of his saying that we're stupid.

How does that sit with you?  

Pass the varnish.