New Cubs Owners Looking to Reverse a Century of Misfortune
While Lou Piniella may be mourning the loss of his friend and former boss George Steinbrenner, he should be relieved Steinbrenner is not his boss right now. After all, fifty losses at the break just wouldn’t cut it for ‘the Boss.'
Piniella though has accomplished more than any Cubs manager since 1975 as he is the first manager to have 39 wins at the break in that time. Yes, that’s a big accomplishment for a cursed franchise like the Chicago Cubs.
Many would wonder if Big Stein could have changed the Cubs woeful ways.
"His main focus was winning," Piniella said on Thursday. "He didn't take any shortcuts to win. His style would work anywhere."
While the Cubs no longer have a Steinbrenner, they now have a Tom Ricketts, who has played it calm, cool and collected during his short tenure. He may have some big decisions to make soon though as him and his siblings have taken over a franchise that is 102 years removed from its last World Series title.
Dissatisfied fans are anticipating Ricketts to clean house, firing Piniella, general manager Jim Hendry, and others who are taking blame for the underachieving team.
This offseason, the Cubs may once again be in rebuilding mode unless the team accomplishes something amazing in the second half of the season. The Cubs are nine games back from the lead in the NL Central.
"I've said it. We need to put a hot streak together," Piniella said "We need to swing the bats and put runs on the board consistently. Nine games is not insurmountable. I look forward to the challenge, but we've got to get it done on the field."
"When they're doing some damage, we're going to score some runs," Piniella said. "Today they did some damage and we scored a lot of runs. Good to see."
The Cubs are well under .500 for a reason. As a matter of fact, they haven’t had a winning record all year. The goal for the Cubs this season should at least be to finish with a winning record so that Piniella can repay the fans who spend enormous amounts on tickets. There is some intrinsic value in picking up winning habits for the rest of the season.
In case the Cubs finish flat this year, they’ll have to make some changes to the way they run things. Firstly, the organization should cut the payroll to the $100 million neighborhood and have room to add later, if necessary.
Ricketts has stated that he’s looking to spend money wisely and not throw so much of it onto a small set of players. Right now, $103 million is guaranteed to nine players, which has got to be trimmed down. Some high salaries must also be dumped.
Hendry has given straight answers to the team’s situation right now.
"We’re not looking to add guys the normal way we did it when we were in it, adding guys with big salaries that might get you over the hump, even if they were short-term guys like Rich Harden or whoever. It's a situation where we've got good enough players to be better than what we've done and we just didn't do it," he said.
Now the club will try to turn their season around, although the possibility of winding up in the playoffs is a long shot. A good second half though can set the team up for next year and may give them a proper evaluation on where they stand.
A competitive manager like Piniella is not ready to give up on his Cubs, but the franchise has got to start turning things around. How much longer can you go without a World Series?
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