Dusty Says

It seems to me that Corey and Dusty are becoming scape goats for this years underachieving Cubs squad. In 2004 the scape goats were injuries, Latroy, and a little bit of Dusty, but the Cubs still finished with a better record than their 2003 division championship record so we couldn’t be so unhappy.

This year seems to be different. With the Red Sox winning the World Series last year it would seem Cubs fans, myself included, expect this team to win now. No more curse talk, its a realistic goal, just look at the Red Sox. With 38 games left, I still hold out hope that the Cubs can somehow slide their way into the playoffs although its not likely, the cubs are back to about a 1.6% postseason odds down from 2.8% after their brilliantly play against the Cards and Astros.

With our playoff hopes dwindling, I hear the incessant raving about “FIRING DUSTY” or “TRADING KOREY”, and it makes me sick. Maybe it is comforting to put the blame on somebody, that way we can direct our anger in their direction.

Dusty does have a very distinct managing style, and yes I have been critical at times, but I can not argue with the success he has had, even this season. Again the Cubs were plagued with injuries and we traded away are too biggest run producers in Sosa and Alou. We replaced them with Jeromy Burnitz and Todd Hollandsworth. Although Burnitz has performed beyond expectations, we all knew that Hollie shoud have been on the bench, because thats what he is best at. He provides that pop in a pinch that is essential for any Championship team, remember what he did to us in 2003.

Then came the injuries to Wood, Prior, Borowksi and Nomar. Dusty was forced to use a Neifi as a starter, and although Neifi! raised our hopes, he is not a starter he is a bench player. The injuries to the pitchers forced Dusty to make a choice and he moved Dempster to the starting rotation. It was a debateable choice, but Dempster had been great as a starter and Dusty took a gamble that Latroy would be able to defeat his mental demons. As we all know he wasn’t, and Dempster has been a great closer since being put into that role, but who knows what would have happened if he had been closer from the beginning. Maybe he would have failed too, maybe the starting helped with his endurance, the fact is no one knows what would have been had Dusty made some different choices, or has some of our big names not gotten injured. I’ll stick with Dusty and support him unless he does something really dumb like starting Jose Macias in place of Derek Lee at 1b for the rest of the year, that would actually prove he has lost his mind or that Jose has some really damaging pictures of Dusty.

Now onto the Corey bashing. This really hurts me. Corey is one of the good guys out there, he’s not outspoken, he’s quiet and seems to be uncomfortable in the spotlight. People seem to take this as meaning he doesn’t care. I haven’t seen anything about Corey that shows he doesn’t care, you never see him dog a defensive play like Andruw Jones once did. He’s not very showy like Jim Edmonds, Corey just goes about his job. Everyone seems to be on the trade corey bandwagon right now, I was once, I was frustrated by his constant striking out, but then I took a step back and realized he needs a chance. I remember the Corey of 2003 that carried that ball club offensively for awhile, he was the same Corey. I remember his 17th inning blast against the Brewers, which was incidentally Todd Wellemeyer’s best relief appearance ever and first career save. After I took my step back I realized he is only a year and a half removed from the injury and no doubt not the same player offensively.

I am not predicting greatness out of Corey, but I am preaching patience. I don’t expect him to become a superstar, but who knows he may be. Many guys have come up with a world of praise, faltered a little bit, only to be traded and become superstars. Other guys have come up and been world beaters, like Ken Griffey Jr., who Corey was most often compared to, and fallen off after a trade only to regain their superstar form later in their career. Let’s look at the positives here, Corey is looking a little better since being recalled, he even hit his first HR this year with a man actually on base, and I think Corey can be a solid piece of the puzzle that will be the Cubs future. Whether or not you agree with me is up to you, your opinions on my opinions are welcome and will be debated, the one thing that is certain for now, Corey is here to stay for the next 38 games as are most of the Cubs, barring any waiver deals or injuries, and I will be supporting each one of them including Dusty in hopes that they perform a miracle, or at least finish the year with another winning record. Then we can discuss the hypothetical free agent signings and what nots in the offseason. For now I will be rooting for my Cubs team, because its what I do.