It isn’t often that the Cubs put their pants on a leg at a time, take one game at a time and achieve consecutive winning seasons. In case you have forgotten, before last season–which should be forgotten but not forgiven–we must hearken back to the late ’60s and the early ’70s.
That’s the late 1960s and early 1970s, otherwise known as the Golden Era at Wrigley Field because not two, not four, but six teams in a row finished above .500–albeit none better than second place–before the dynasty dissolved, as all dynasties do.
Everything goes in cycles, especially if you’re a tricycle in baseball’s fast lane, as is the Cubs’ history. But now this once-passive franchise has raised the bar, and we’re not talking about Kyle Farnsworth. The Cubs won more games than they lost in 2004, when they won one more game than they won in 2003, yet management has cleaned Sammy Sosa’s house.
No, a better term would be fumigated. Backed up the truck, driven by the Orkin man. When was the last winter such a thing happened? Ever? It is the front office’s way of confirming that summer was, in fact, the off-season.
What’s more, general manager Jim Hendry has presided over addition by subtraction in all departments. Cosmetic changes used to suffice, but no longer. The Cubs sprayed insecticide to all fields, notably left and right, evacuated the TV booth and even rearranged the trainers’ room.
Hendry didn’t choreograph every maneuver, to be sure, but this overhaul occurred on his watch, and he probably is not done yet. Just when we need them, names are taken off their players’ jerseys. Hendry is so hands-on, he makes Dallas Green look like a crossing guard.
With the departure of Moises Alou through free agency and Sosa because it was time for a forwarding address, the Cubs are out 74 home runs. This is no small number, nor was Sosa’s disappearance fee paid to Baltimore, but that’s all you need know about how Hendry felt about the imperatives for drastic change.
And if you don’t think the situation was beyond repair, consider the hoops Sosa, his agent and the union jumped through to facilitate the trade. Sosa might enter the Hall of Fame in a Cubs hat. Question is, what size? If his head continues to grow as it did here, he might wear Cubs and White Sox hats.
It is true the Cubs got nothing for Alou, but the same could be said of what Houston was left with after Carlos Beltran bolted and what St. Louis received in return for Edgar Renteria. The difference is, the Astros and Cardinals were sorry to see their stars relocate.
As for Farnsworth, there is always the possibility he and his fastball will come back to haunt the Cubs. Problem is, he haunted them while he was here, with his temperament, work ethic and alleged nocturnal meanderings.
The 2005 Cubs have enough holes to deter experts from picking them to win the World Series. You’re allowed that mistake once a century, and last year was it. Whether the Cardinals, whose defensive middle was shredded, can repeat is debatable. The Astros also appear weaker.
But if Mark Prior and Kerry Wood can’t combine for more than 16 victories, the same total Greg Maddux recorded, then maybe there is hope in Pittsburgh after all.
In short, the Cubs probably don’t know what they have. But they know what they don’t have. They think they cleaned up Sammy’s house. Any boom boxes left in the closet? Fans are restless, and they don’t grouse about 1908 anymore. It’s 2004 that has them annoyed.
