8/29/2005 12:50:00 PM by Rob

Out of kilter

Time to batten down the hatches!!

Good advice, whether you live on the Gulf, or whether you run the Cubs. Let Woody get his shoulder fixed, Aramis heal his groin, start getting rid of your unnecessaries. I'm not going to get into how Dubois begat Gerut begat Lawton begat a Class A pitcher. Dubois might end up doing squat, I think we can assume Gerut and Lawton already do squat, and the kid we have now may win for us someday, who knows?

Jim Hendry would like to do his job; namely, figure out how many players he has to buy/rent/trade for next year. He'd like to see Cedeno and Murton do their jobs; after all, the rest of the league seems to think those two kids are bank. He'd like to see some young arms. At this point, it's a win/win to play the prospects you have; if they perform well, they have trade value, or you may choose to use them yourself. If they don't, you can decide whether to give them more farm time, or cut your losses with them.

The left hand seems to know what he wants to do.

But the right hand, Old Number 12, the Dustbin, wants to win as many games as he can "for his veterans".

Which ones, Dusty? For Mark Prior, who sat out most of the first half? For Aramis Ramirez, who waddled around all year? For Todd Hollandsworth, who obviously cannot hit while wearing a shin guard?

For Neifi Perez? Neifi in Spanish means "below-average". For Nomar, who sat out all year? For the bat-slinging, short-arming Bayou Baby, Todd Walker? Shiiiit, Dusty, ever'one KNOWS you liked Grud better. For the volcanic Carlos the Z? When he's winning Cy Youngs for Atlanta starting in 2007, he isn't gonna give a fuck less what you did this year.

The only veteran you owe an explanation to is Derrek Lee, and he's smart enough to see the wisdom of trying out the kids this month. Plus, he knows you don't have anyone else to play first base, anyway, so he still gets to chase down his Triple Crown, and with the pressure off, he's getting pitches to hit, again.

Hell, Dusty, you may actually WIN a few more games with some young guys who haven't yet learned to sit on their asses, waiting for a three-run jack.

But, as most of us have guessed all along, Dusty and Hendry are NOT rowing in the same direction. How long has this gone on? How long is Hendry going to let his field manager fuck up his plans? Certainly, the field manager needs to have some input, but his unwillingness (or inability) to deal with young position players has lurked these past three years. It really HASN'T bit us, but it is about to.

It is vital that we see the kids in September, and if Baker is too stupid to see that, then maybe someone else should be chewing the toothpicks on the bench?

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