It's time to dump Dusty, bump up Brenly
suntimes.com
June 20, 2006
BY JAY MARIOTTI / CHICAGO SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
<<...So why not put Baker out of his misery, let him go now while he still has his health and sanity and give the second-half managerial reins to broadcaster Bob Brenly? Didn't he win what the Cubs haven't won in 98 years -- a World Series -- as skipper of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001? Having missed the chance to hire Jim Leyland, Joe Girardi and Lou Piniella last offseason, shouldn't the Cubs see if Brenly wants to manage and if they like him in the job? Keeping Baker around another 93 games seems like torture -- for him, for the fans, for Cubdom. Do something, anything, and do it soon.
Because I speak for many in saying I'm sick of all things Cubbie. Beautiful as Wrigley Field remains, you'd think 40,000 people would have enough respect for their lives to seek less insulting, more rewarding entertainment. Not only does this continue to be the spookiest team in sports, for all the chronicled reasons, but you're also looking at the worst dollar-for-dollar team in baseball and a franchise with as murky a future as, well, the troubled conglomerate that owns Chicago National League Ball Club, Inc.
What else is there to say? I started calling for Baker's job last season, realizing he is too sensitive to criticism, too passive with his players and too oblivious to the unique pressures of Cubdom. I've written that team president Andy MacPhail, a beancounting blueblood who should have been replaced years ago, made a big mistake in extending Hendry's contract in April. I've e-mailed Mark Cuban and asked if he'd be interested in rescuing the Cubs from Tribune Co.'s 25-year ownership run -- and he quickly wrote back and said yes, he would, if the Tribsters ever do us a favor and sell the team. Hey, short of collaborating with the Chandler family in Los Angeles and trying to run Dennis FitzSimons out of his exultant Tribune perch, I've done all I can do.
Many at fault, but Baker will go
Yet the Cubs keep employing the culprits, taking the fans' money and giving them a Kansas City/Pittsburgh product. And if I hear Baker complain one more time about not having Derrek Lee, Wood and Prior all year -- ''My team,'' he keeps saying -- I'm going to report him to the Better Business Bureau. Look around the profession, Dusty. The Cardinals keep winning without Albert Pujols. The Yankees keep winning with injuries and pitching problems. Might it have something to do with Tony La Russa and Joe Torre being better managers, and the Cards and Yankees being classier organizations? Much as Hendry committed executive crimes by relying too heavily on Prior and Wood, not putting enough clout in his outfield and woefully overestimating some of his prospects and acquisitions, it is Baker's job to maximize the talent on hand and at least remain competitive in a mushy National League, which was supposed to be his best attribute. Somehow, he has minimized that talent and turned the Cubs into a corpse.
Obviously, they have a better shot of losing 100 games than winning a World Series before the 100-year anniversary of their last championship. The Baker experiment is a dud, having unraveled since Bartman Night. Of course, the Hendry experiment also is a flop and MacPhail is confirmed as a 12-year MacFailure, but the GM is under contract through 2008 and Dandy Andy, as long as the Tribsters own the Cubs, is in the Tower's good graces thanks to the Wrigley Field cash cow. Dusty is the one who will go. He's the lame duck, the one whose deal expires in 41/2 months, the one without the extension.
Why not get rid of him now, then? Why not give Brenly a chance to climb down from the booth in the second half and prove he's a long-term keeper? If management brought back Baker with a two-year extension, the fans -- increasingly bitter about the White Sox and the possibility of back-to-back World Series titles -- just might burn down the grandstand.
Beaten up every day on talk radio and often in this column, though rarely on the Tribune sports pages, Baker knows the target on his back is widening. Isn't this pretty much a lost cause for him? ''I don't know, man. I really don't know how it's going to work out,'' he said Monday. ''People are going to blame like whoever they want to blame. You can't stop people."
''I do the best job I can. Sometimes your best ain't good enough. I stay up every night trying to figure out a way to get us together. It's always worked out for me the rest of my life, so why wouldn't I think it's going to work out now?''...>> |
