It’s official. We stink.
Year after long year, Chicago baseball fans have drawn solace from one talk-show theory. It goes like this: As disappointing as our teams are, maybe we should merge them together and have one strong team instead of two weak ones.
Except it doesn’t work. At least, not in 2002.
The teams that will meet this weekend at Wrigley Field feature so many hitters and relief pitchers having bad seasons that Whitey Herzog could pick an All-Star team from them and still finish 20 games behind the New York Yankees.
Whom do you want at shortstop, Royce Clayton or Alex Gonzalez?
Or how about in left field, Moises Alou or Carlos Lee?
Pick your poison behind the plate, Sandy Alomar Jr. or Joe Girardi.
These aren’t choices; they’re punch lines.
Center field and right field are the only two positions that generate legitimate debates. You might as well throw darts or draw names out of the hat at just about every other spot, the exception being first base, where the choice is obvious.
Corey Patterson will make a few All-City teams before his run with the Cubs is done. But he didn’t this time around. Kenny Lofton earned his place by hitting .343 and making a dozen highlight-film catches during the White Sox’s 16-10 April. He continues to lead the league in stolen bases (21) and is among the leaders in runs scored (49).
There has been no better bargain in baseball than Lofton at $1.025 million a year. Plus, the Sox are looking safe on the attendance bonus he had included in his contract.
Patterson’s emergence as a .291 hitter has been the most consistently pleasant storyline of the Cubs’ season. He has caught every ball in sight while flashing his power, which will come with age and experience. He’s mentally tough enough to get through August and September without a crash landing.
If anything, Patterson’s history suggests he’ll be better after the All-Star break. It’s too bad he doesn’t qualify as a Rookie of the Year candidate.
The rest of this year’s best of Chicago:
INFIELDERS:
FIRST BASE
Paul Konerko
First, an editorial note. Matt Stairs’ inclusion on the Tribune’s 2001 All-City team was not a typographical error. It was an analytical error, which we hope did not cause the ultra-intense Konerko sleepless nights.
There’s no overlooking Konerko this time around. Not only has he joined Magglio Ordonez as one of the Sox’s most consistent run-producers, he also has turned into an outstanding defensive first baseman. His reactions have improved, showing how hard he concentrates whenever he’s on the field.
Fred McGriff is doing the predictable–salvaging his season statistically. But it will be hard for him to outrun the memories of his .205 April. Another midseason trade is possible–to Atlanta, perhaps?–but it’s complicated by the no-trade clause that was put into his extension with the Cubs.
SECOND BASE
Ray Durham
This is a case of the lesser evil. As bad as Durham has been, the Cubs haven’t been able to find anybody better–and they’ve tried five starters.
Bobby Hill’s .182 batting average was a disappointment. He received a return trip to Iowa because he failed to control counts, drawing only 10 walks in 102 plate appearances. This guy should roll out of bed and have a .350 on-base percentage, but he never got on a roll. He’ll be back.
Turns out Durham can be just as much of a streak hitter batting after the leadoff spot as in it. He’s hitting .224 (28-125) since the end of April. The Sox need him to get turned around, and this could be the weekend. He loves the give-and-take of the city series, hitting .370 in 54 career at-bats at Wrigley Field.
SHORTSTOP
Royce Clayton
No matter what Jerry Manuel says.
As porous as they are at other positions, there should be room on the Sox for a talented fielder at shortstop. But when the guys around him start struggling, Clayton always finds himself on the defensive because of chronic streak hitting. He has had a disappointing season at the plate, failing to find the form he had in the last four months of 2001, but he has been a major asset to a young, inconsistent pitching staff. Score the switch to Jose Valentin as E-Mgr.
Alex Gonzalez, too, is a solid fielder, but the Cubs were counting on getting more from him at the plate. He hasn’t been the same since pulling a hamstring May 9.
THIRD BASE
Eric Hinske*
Oh, yeah. The Cubs don’t have Hinske anymore. They traded him to Oakland two springs ago so they could hang onto reliever Scott Chiasson, whom they took in the Rule 5 draft. Jim Hendry signed off on the trade because he didn’t believe Hinske could hold his own at third. He might be right–Hinske already has 15 errors–but he’s hitting .288 with 12 homers and 38 RBIs for Toronto.
With Hinske off the ballot, Valentin’s an easy choice. That’s saying something considering how his bat is slowing down. The guy who batted .273 with 25 homers and 92 RBIs in 2000 has hit .257 since then. There would be more difference in those totals if Manuel were playing Valentin against left-handers. Bill Mueller ever so slowly is working his way back from the abyss.
OUTFIELDERS:
RIGHT FIELD
Magglio Ordonez
That chant is the best thing going at Comiskey Park.
LEFT FIELD
Carlos Lee
Good thing Ken Williams gave him that two-year contract. You would hate to see how low his batting average would go if he were still pressing.
That was the theory when Lee went from .306 at the All-Star break to .228 in the second half of last season. It appears the source of the trouble may lie elsewhere. Whatever the problem, it is keeping Williams from trading Lee, who is guaranteed $4.2 million next year. The Sox would be a better team with a platoon of Aaron Rowand and Joe Borchard in left.
Moises Alou? Like a true Cub, he’ll get ’em next year.
CATCHER
Sandy Alomar Jr.
There’s no one we’d like to pick more than Joe Girardi, who is all about doing the right thing. He’s a wonderful receiver and a respected hustler, but at some point you have to swing the bat. With the Cubs in so many one-run games, their catching issues have been magnified. So we’ll take the guy who just went on the disabled list for the 10th time in his career.
OFF THE BENCH
Mark Bellhorn and Tony Graffanino.
Finally, a real Cub cracks the team. Bellhorn has started everywhere in the infield and made a cameo in left field. His fielding is acceptable wherever he goes, but it’s his bat that gets him into the lineup. His .829 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is second only to Sosa’s on the team. McGriff and Sosa are the only two Cubs with more homers than Bellhorn’s seven.
Graffanino hit a quiet .303 in a limited role last year. He has hit himself into a bigger role this year, already driving in a career-high 23 runs. That’s only four fewer RBIs than Durham–and Graffanino has done it in 101 fewer at-bats. Plus he’s Jerry Reinsdorf’s favorite player. Now there’s a cross to bear.
PITCHERS:
STARTING LINEUP
Mark Buehrle, Matt Clement, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.
Put these four guys in Atlanta Braves uniforms and no one would blink. That’s how good the best Chicago pitchers are these days.
Buehrle, he’s Tom Glavine. Clement, he’s the old Kevin Millwood. Wood is John Smoltz, zipper on his elbow and all. And Prior? He’s a tall Greg Maddux with better stuff.
In the five years the Tribune has presented this version of all-city, nobody ever has been picked after playing in only five games. But Prior earned his letter jacket even before Wednesday’s outing in Houston. His best outing was the June 7 game in Seattle, when he held the Mariners scoreless in seven innings. His 43-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first five starts compares with 45-12 in the first five career starts for Wood, who got 20 of his strikeouts in one game.
Clement has harnessed the wildness that plagued him in San Diego and Florida. His two-hit shutout at Pittsburgh on May 28 was impressive, but anything has seemed possible since he compiled 24 strikeouts against one walk in back-to-back starts in April. Wood joins ex-Sox Mike Sirotka as the only starting pitcher named all-city three times. Injury is the only thing that could keep Buehrle and Prior from making this team on an annual basis.
SETUP MEN
Joe Borowski and Damaso Marte.
Suffice it to say Chicago bullpens haven’t been real strong.
CLOSER
Antonio Alfonseca.
Here’s a scary question–how much worse would the Cubs be if Florida hadn’t handed them Alfonseca and Clement in one of the year’s most one-sided trades? Baylor has ridden Alfonseca, whom the Marlins babied, hard. Jeff Fassero’s meltdown and Kyle Farnsworth’s absence prompted Baylor to use Alfonseca more than one inning eight times, including six times in save situations. He has responded.
Keith Foulke, an all-Chicago fixture, misses the team for the first time. There might not be a bigger key for the Sox’s standing as a viable contender than his putting the pieces back together.
MANAGER
Jerry Manuel.
Neither Manuel nor Baylor will be listed on Manager of the Year ballots. But both have the mentality to bring teams back from a lousy start. They understand the marathon nature of a season and have game faces that belie little concern, much less panic.
While Manuel should not have succumbed to the temptation of putting Jon Rauch on his season-opening roster, he has done a good job keeping Jon Garland and Dan Wright positive. The results are beginning to pay off.
Baylor’s job status will remain a topic until further notice. The Sox could force the issue by making things turn ugly this weekend.
