A farewell tour already in progress is pre-empting Shawon Dunston’s farewell tour with the Cubs.
Please stand by.
Unlike Ryne Sandberg, Dunston won’t be getting any Waterford crystal on his way out of Chicago.
He won’t be watching any highlights of his career on Videotron boards around the National League, accompanied by one of his favorite Sinatra tunes.
Dunston may not even get another chance to see the infamous Shawon-O-Meter, which has been conspicuously absent at Wrigley Field since Dunston’s slower-than-the-CTA start.
President Andy MacPhail and General Manager Ed Lynch apparently want plenty of new faces to head up next year’s cast, so, barring a sharp change in direction, this will be Dunston’s last ride on the Cubs’ backward express.
The arrival of Manny Alexander is perceived as a clear indication Dunston is a goner, though Lynch insists it’s “too early” to predict which way the Cubs will go.
Baseball is cyclical in nature and Dunston is preparing to play the Larry Bowa role, moving over for the younger and less expensive model as Bowa reluctantly did for Dunston 12 years ago.
“I’m a free agent and I’m playing pretty good,” Dunston said. “Maybe they want to go with someone (earning) less money. That’s their prerogative.
“If a big opportunity came up to me next year, who knows if I wouldn’t take it? They have to cover themselves. I’d like to end up as a Cub, but things didn’t happen that way (after ’95). I didn’t think I’d be here this year.”
Alexander is getting opportunities at second base and shortstop as the Cubs’ season rolls to its long-awaited end. He’s still trying to shed the memories of his bad experience in Baltimore, where he was the man who was chosen to “push” Cal Ripken out of his shortstop’s job.
The experiment didn’t work, and Alexander was so unhappy over his treatment in Baltimore that he called the organization “racist” for not giving him an opportunity.
Now two teams removed from Camden Yards, Alexander is trying to maintain a low profile as a Cub.
“I’m just happy to be here and get a chance to show what I can do,” he said. “I got a chance in New York, but I was hurt two times (with a right knee injury).”
Dunston believes he’s a better player than Alexander right now, and many agree with him. But, at 34, he understands the way the Cubs are thinking.
“When you lose, you have to make changes,” he said. “It’s nothing personal. Some other team will be happy with me.
“I still can play. I hustle. I bust my butt. And I’m not an expensive player.”
If the Cubs wave goodbye to Dunston, he would be the first Cub player about whom Lynch changed his mind not once, but twice.
Lynch first let Dunston go after he hit .296 with 14 homers and 69 RBIs in ’95, a move that cut Dunston deeply.
“I just knew I was going to be back,” he said. “When I didn’t come back, that’s probably why I didn’t get any sleep for a long time.”
After a year in San Francisco, Dunston surprisingly was re-signed last off-season after Lynch decided Rey Sanchez wasn’t the answer at shortstop.
But when the Cubs self-immolated in April, veteran Cubs realized many of them eventually would pay the price.
Dunston was one of several Cubs who made a notable contribution to the man-made disaster of 0-14. He didn’t climb above the .200 mark until April 25, by which time the Cubs were 4-25 and 9 1/2 games out of first.
His personal low may have come May 9 in his first game back in San Francisco, when he committed three errors in four innings on the first three balls hit to him.
Since then, he has improved offensively and defensively, leading the team with 26 steals, hitting .284 and committing only five errors since that shaky weekend in 3-Com Park.
But the Cubs have remained in their “virtual offense” mode all season, and Dunston’s power numbers (eight homers, 38 RBIs) and poor on-base percentage (.301) haven’t helped the cause.
Lynch’s failure to find a power hitter to back up Sammy Sosa led to manager Jim Riggleman’s insertion of Dunston into the No. 5 hole for a good part of the season.
Yet Dunston has only eight walks and 54 strikeouts, unimpressive numbers for someone batting in the heart of the order.
In effect, Dunston is paying for the fact the Cubs put him in a spot for which he wasn’t suited, only because they couldn’t or wouldn’t find a power-hitting outfielder to protect Sosa.
That’s a major reason why they are 50-77 and why a player such as Dunston may be on his way out. Again.
“Everything has changed,” Dunston said.
“I didn’t expect the team to be . . . to be this.”
