Chicago Sports
Posting Date: November 11, 2009
2009 Wasn’t That Championship Season
Well, another World Series has concluded, and the Cubs didn’t win it.
Wait a second! Wasn’t that the lead in this space about this time last year? If it wasn’t, it could have been. Or (if this column existed) the year before that, or the year before that... or the decade before that... or the decade before that... or the century before that...
Yep, another year of futility for the Cubs. Who could have predicted that? Who couldn’t have predicted that?
Speaking of predictions, let’s take a look back at what this space predicted before the 2009 season began. Like the Cubs, it was not pretty.
Some of the more laughable prognostications centered around the number 90 — such as the amount of games the Cubs would win while cruising to another NL Central Division title and the number of runs Milton Bradley would drive home (he didn’t have nearly half that amount.)
Even more laughable was the prediction that the Cubs would acquire Jake Peavy in a trade and that he would “start the first game in the playoffs.” He might start the first game in the playoffs next season, but for another Chicago team.
Not much better was the prediction of the sudden emergence of Joey Gathright. (Joey Who?) This space was even wrong about Cincinnati finishing second in the NL Central. (Cincy was closer to last than it was to second.)
But as bad as those predictions were, they weren’t as bad as the Cubs.
Let’s review the 2009 season from the Cubs’ perspective.
First of all, there were a number of “Cubby Occurrences,” starting with Geovanny Soto flunking a drug test for the World Baseball Classic and then, some time later, straining an oblique muscle while taking batting practice. He then followed a memorable rookie year with a not-so-memorable second year. It made Cub fans want to smoke a joint.
Then there was Aramis Ramirez separating his shoulder while diving for a groundball. He missed more than 50 games due to this injury, and the Cubs flubbed due to his absence.
Then there was Ryan Freel (remember him?) suffering a hamstring injury before even playing a game for the Cubs after being acquired in a trade.
Then there was Ryan Dempster breaking his toe in celebration of a Cubs victory. (Toe, Cubs, Toe)
Then there was Derrek Lee suffering neck spasms after getting a congratulatory tap on his head upon returning to the dugout after a scoring a rare Cubs’ run.
Then there were the disabling injuries to Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano, not to mention the weekly meltdowns by Zambrano.
Then there was Bradley, who, when he wasn’t insulting Cub fans, was losing track of how many outs there were and was tossing balls into the stands. It was hard to take such guff from this dolt, especially because he didn’t produce for most of the season.
But the problems went far beyond Bradley and other Cubby Occurrences. There was the total non-usefulness of the $20 million Man, Alfonso Soriano, who was awful both at bat and in the field. There were the many blown save opportunities of Kevin Gregg, who was about as effective in 2009 as he was in 2008, which means he wasn’t very effective.
And there were the injuries. So many of them that it was hard to keep track. But the one to Ramirez was the worst. He had no adequate backup (Mark DeRosa could have filled this role), and the Cubs sorely missed his hitting — especially with the demise of Soriano.
And 2010 does not look much better. Ramirez will be back for the entire season (hopefully), but the Cubs are stuck with Soriano and his highly-inflated salary, plus there’s the imminent departure, in all probability, of Rich Harden, which will sap the Cubs of one its strengths — starting pitching.
Let’s hope General Manager Jim Hendry — who brought us Soriano and Bradley and traded DeRosa — has a better 2010 than 2009.
(Tom Danz is the sports editor of the Southwest News-Herald newspapers in Chicago. He can be reached at vonpub@aol.com.)