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Moreland "I’m gonna damn sure be there."
Me too!
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson
I've got a bone to pick with Castle:
The likes of Milton Bradley and Jacque Jones barreled in, grabbed the Cubs’ megabucks and then folded quickly upon the first setback with literally the whole world watching.
Is that really fair to Jacque Jones? First, did he really sign a “megabucks” contract? I’m too lazy to look up the exact terms, but I don’t remember it breaking the Cubs’ bank.
Second, precisely when did Jacque fold? Look, I know Jones had a number of flaws in his game, but I remember a guy who went out there and played hard no matter what. He never “folded” – even after his terribly cold start and even after Lou benched him in ‘07. In fact, as I recall, he was a big part of the ’07 team making the playoffs. That’s a really unjust comment.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
Jones signed a three-year deal for about $5 million a year.
It wasn’t “megabucks” but it was far more than any of us thought he deserved.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Hmpf, that sure doesn't seem like much now.
But, yeah, it was probably was high.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
agree with your initial premise
Jones was set up to fail by Hendry and perhaps the fans. He was, at best a 7 hole hitter and was expected to do much more than that. He may have underperformed, but not by much, based on his history in Minnesota.
Agreed.
My main point, really, isn’t so much about his salary as about his effort. I think it’s really unfair and quite dubious for Castle to lump Jones and Milton together.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
Moreland has got it.
And the key is the mental part. The ability to, not ignore the 100-year thing, but be acutely aware of it, and simply not care. As great as they were in the regular season, the 2008 team just was not able to do that. And the thing is, the pressure is only going to get worse with each passing year, so the Cubs are going to have to really do their homework with the players they acquire. Ensure that all players they sign or trade for really know what they are getting into, and are able to handle it. I know that is easier said than done, because you never really know for sure about a guy until you see them in action, but they have to develop a formula for really evaluating what a guy is made of mentally and emotionally.
"Don't complain to me about the stormy weather, boys. Just bring the ship into port." --Steve Stone, September 2004
Well then
Moreland is pretty spot on…you win games by being strong up the middle. So, as the Cubs currently sit with a marginal defensive SS, a marginally talented 2B position, no CF to speak of, a C with significant question marks, a closer who is as wild and erratic as he is talented and 3 solid but not spectacular starting pitchers…one begs the question as to how on earth the 2010 version will be any different than the 2009 version?
Who needs a stinkin' tag line? What are they for anyway?
problem solved lol
castro to short .theroit to second. granderson to center. Geo to gym.
by Kchance on Nov 24, 2009 5:22 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Clarify with dat cubfan daver
Here’s what happened with Jacque Jones. Do you remember when he had a ball thrown at him from the bleachers, and they never prosecuted the female tosser? After one game in May, 2006 during his poor start, Jones said there was an “angry” atmosphere in the right field bleachers regarding him. He was misquoted in one paper as saying he himself was “angry.” Never said that — I was 10 feet away from him. But Jones never encountered this kind of pressure at the Metrodome, where the Twins had forgiving, small-market fans and a tight, family-like locker room. It was true culture shock for Jacque. Plus, after Piniella took over and buried him for half a season in 2007, he never recovered emotionally. He couldn’t talk about Piniella when I approached him early in ’08 for my “Sweet Lou and the Cubs” book when he had a brief stint with the Tigers. His Cubs experience burned him out of baseball, he was cooked at 32.
I appreciate your response...
…but that still doesn’t really explain the sentence in question. Jacque definitely had his fair (or, perhaps, unfair) share of problems with Cubs fans and Lou, but I still don’t see how he “folded quickly upon the first setback.” (I also don’t recall him “barreling in” – Jacque always seemed like a pretty quiet, self-effacing guy.)
That first setback would probably be his cold start in ’06 (.748 OPS in March/April), which he suffered through before hitting quite well over the next two months (.853 OPS in May and .896 OPS in June). He actually wound up playing quite well in that awful year, putting up a 108 OPS+ in 149 games.
His Cubs experience may well have burned him out of baseball – it certainly seems that way. But how exactly did Jacque fold? From my (admittedly distant) fan’s perspective, he appears to have done everything BUT fold – including suffering through fan abuse and a (probably deserved) benching. But did Jacque ever act out the way Milton Bradley has? It sure doesn’t seem that way.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
More on Jacque
Do you remember Jacque’s “intentional grounding” throws…and his getting doubled off second? He had some bad fundamental flaws that were probably made worse by big-market pressure and the fan reaction. Again, too bad, he was a real good guy, very much unlike Bradley. Still, the result was the same, a free-agent bust. The big problem is just what Bobby Keith Moreland sketched out — you need tough-minded players who can handle the fishbowl AND block out the 101-years stuff, much of the latter from cynical or sarcastic media accounts. That’s up to Cubs baseball operations, to scout character like they’ve never done before…to bring it up to the standards used by the likes of Bobby Cox and Ron Gardenhire for years.
by GeorgeCastle on Nov 25, 2009 10:06 PM CST up reply actions
That last comment is intriguing
Where is Randy Wells in all this? He comes from the Twins’ organization; doesn’t he look for those same standards?
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Nov 25, 2009 10:17 PM CST up reply actions
Randy Bush, not Wells
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Nov 25, 2009 10:18 PM CST up reply actions
I think I see what you're saying, George...
…but, again, I’m not so much upset about your portrayal of Jacque as a player as I am with your comparison of Jacque to Milton.
I still wouldn’t really call Jones “a free agent bust” because very few of us had high expectations of him to begin with. Jacque really had only one really good year with the Twins (2002) and then a number of decent ones and a few pretty mediocre ones. Expectations for Milton were much higher and, again, Jacque played through all of those challenges to give the Cubs a couple of good seasons of play; whereas, Bradley indeed “folded” by giving in to his own character flaws under the intense pressure of playing in Chicago.
Ultimately, all I’m saying is Jacque deserves better than to be lumped in with Milton.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
It's a fool's paradise to say this Cub team is capable of winning a World Series
Moreland can wax philosophically about playing with intensity and all that other stuff all he wants. He does carry a point, but the biggest point is the lack of talent on this team. Put down the Cubbie Kool-aid and this team as currently constructed is scary, scary, scary.
"Cubs will win 79 to 83 games." BLou (7/21/09)
I don't think Moreland is saying the Cubs will win next year
Given the current team up the middle noted above. Before he dies seems to be the qualifyer.
What bothers me about this current Cub team is it cries out for more payroll to be added to fix current problems. The right tweaking and a bunch of IFs (IF Soriano & Soto bounce back, IF the right players stay healthy, etc) could land us in the playoff hunt again, but I feel some sort of major move is needed for the 2010 Cubs to have a chance. If payroll cannot or will not be increased but slightly, might they be better off just starting the rebuilding process sooner rather than later?
My guess is they will play it middle of the road, tweak and tinker as indicated, and see where they are in July before adding or quite possibly selling.
"I'd rather hit home runs you don't have to run as hard." -- Dave Kingman
by BucknerKongCardenal on Nov 24, 2009 10:32 PM CST up reply actions
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