Mister Faded Glory

And you’re wrong. Every time, with this gutless, pathetic, inept, arrogant organization.

I want no part of any of this anymore. None. We’re all livid. We’re all pissed. We’re all fed up.

All of us. Days on end. There’s no sun coming up. It’s the breaking point. Scoffing fans of other teams said it couldn’t happen, but it’s here.

Those writers above are part of legions of Cubs writers and diehard fans everywhere. Sure, Mister Faded Glory is another (although probably not quite as effective of a scribe), but this isn’t a symptom. It’s an epidemic. And there’s no cure — not one imminent, and not on the horizon. Who caused all this? Who led us all here? Why? Why? Why?

Is it the Trib’s fault? Sure. They don’t enforce accountability or even innovation among their top execs…

Is it Andy MacPhail’s fault? Hell, yes. He encourages cronyism and failure to instill any sort of consequences for positive, negative, or any actions. Also, he doesn’t foster any sort of growth, or explanations, or accountability, or even results, from his handpicked GM …

Is it Jim Hendry’s fault? Precisely. He does not have quite the eye for talent as he should — nor an understanding of the market. The Cubs without fail overpay mediocre players yet fail to pony up for actual, known quantities. They attempt to heist teams without understanding the value exchanging hands. And he’s prone to acquisition of a certain type of player — fast, and athletic — regardless of baseball IQ or talent. In addition, he’s hitched his wagon to the dumbest motherfucker in baseball history, determined to prove all naysayers wrong before actually listening to outside opinion….

Is it Dusty Baker’s fault? Where the fuck do I begin? He makes excuses, he doesn’t give his players chances to succeed, but he doesn’t hold them accountable, either. He is arrogant. He doesn’t understand baseball. After loss after loss, with the Cubs outhitting their opponent, do they take more pitches? Make adjustments? Fix the game plan? No. They get more aggressive, and the manager switches around the lineup, in hopes that a team full of light-hitting athletes can somehow understand enough about situational hitting while moving up and down a batting order. What’s that? You say players like to play for him? You would like your boss, too, if he/she let you play on the Internet all day, didn’t question anything you did, and explained your lack of results away to luck. That’s a hell of any easy job to have. Plus, he likes hacking. And encourages it. Which is why he employs his buddies….

Is it Gene Clines‘ and Sarge Matthews‘ faults? Yes. There’s a reason that batters in and out of the Cubs organization prosper when elsewhere and struggle when here. And it’s not all the Clown Coaches’ faults, but they’re not part of the solution. You’d think that the coaches on the offensive side would understand the value of patience, since they watch opponents exact win after win using it against the Cubs pitching staff, led by…

Is it Larry Rothschild’s fault? Not if pitching coaches are allowed to bathe in mediocrity and coast on the success of a few scattered reclamation projects. But if pitching coaches don’t allow, or force, their pitchers to understand offensive and defensive tendencies, and pitch only for strikeouts? Then, sure, it’s his fault, too. Is that it for the coaches? Well, what about…

Is it the players’ fault? Sure. But baseball players are stupid. Ninety percent, at least. They understand “see ball, hit ball,” only, and any situational knowledge is typically a bonus. This alone is reason enough to stockpile OBP-friendly hitters instead of free-swinging track stars. At least you have a known quantity, you’re not basing a season on whether or not a struggling contact hitter will actually thrive at Wrigley. Do they play better for Dusty? Well, who knows. It shouldn’t matter, regardless, because they’re pros, just working for a manager…

Is it Dusty’s fault? Did we ask this already? Oh, I forgot something. The only reason legions of us Cubs fans signed off on the tactically-challenged Baker in the first place was because we thought he was a master motivator; that when faced with adversity, he would inspire fortitude within his players. Instead he makes excuses for himself first and his players’ second. It’s never their fault. It’s never his fault. The good streak is only an at-bat away. And while that can be a player’s mentality — it can’t be a manager.

It’s a mess. A complete, utter, hopeless mess.

There’s no plan and no future; and if we hailed Dusty and Hendry in the beginning as the purveyors of a probable culture of winning — they’re miles from that now. Excuse-making, condescension, and treatment of outside opinion as flaw has jaded even the hardest of us. We don’t care who goes. But it has to be soon. It has to happen. It has to get fixed. Rather than pats on the back for lording over the most inept franchise in the history of sports, somehow, some way, someday, the fans need to see heads roll, and some sort of plan put into action. That’s all we want.

No more of this.

FIX IT. NOW. WHOEVER.

Postscript: Today’s list: Cubs I want to see return in 2007.

1. Lee, Derrek. First Base.

That is all.

[UPDATE - Saturday, May 27.] Actually, I like Matt Murton enough to stump for his return, as well. (BAT HIM FIRST OR SECOND!!!) Still, not one member of the Cubs’ roster is untradeable. Not even Murton, Lee, nor Zambrano.