“It could be a lot worse. Like I said, if you could just reel off a few good weeks, you could find yourself in the middle of July under five games behind and then it’s back to ‘game on’ again,” Chicago Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry told the media before Wednesday night’s 6-2 win over the visiting Oakland Athletics.
“It’s just time to do it. We need a couple good weeks, and need to maintain some consistency,” Hendry later added. The Cubs are 8 games under .500 and 7.5 games out of first place in the NL Central, and most baseball gurus believe they’ll enter selling mode quite soon; if they haven’t already.
By Paul M. Banks
After all, this portion of the baseball season (the weeks leading up to the trading deadline July 31st) is all about whether a team is buying or selling, and a reporter asked Hendry that very question Wednesday night.
“I don’t ever plan direction either way on June 15th. If you start thinking about, are you going to be sellers then you’re hanging your head…I’d like to think these guys know the spot we’re in. They know the GM or the manager can’t pull them out of it. They need to pull themselves out of it. We’re there to be supportive, but the players win games,” Hendry responded.
These days, the Cubs have more detractors than supporters. The North-siders came into the season with a sky high payroll and equally high expectations. But instead they’ve disappointed; especially on offense. They’re 22nd in MLB in RBIs (193) and are only hitting .250 with runners in scoring position.
This Cubs-Athletics series is a rematch of the 1929 World Series, and current economic conditions are pretty much just as dismal as they were back then. Attendance is way down all across MLB, but the Cubs are one of the richest teams in baseball. This fact could work in their favor, should they decide to “buy” down the stretch. There could very well be a contending team out there looking to “sell,” if they’re strapped for cash. Because these days, cash is truly king.
Written by Paul M. Banks, President and CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest focused webzine. Banks is a member of both the Football Writers Association of America, and the United States Basketball Writers. He is also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, the Chicago Tribune’s blog network, Walter Football.com, the Washington Times Communities, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com