Note: These are guys that pissed me off when they played and make me cringe thinking back on them.
C - Todd Hundley
The roids didn't take for Hundley. He came to the Cubs after a couple good years in LA, but couldn't hit a beach ball with a tennis racket for the Cubbies. He was also a terrible defensive catcher and from all reports an all around jerk of a guy.
1B – Julio Zuleta
This position was hard because Mark Grace, Derrek Lee and Leon Durham have filled this spot for like 22 of the 26 season I've been alive. Zuleta kind torques me off because when came up he appeared to be a guy destined for some good things, but they never happened and then he simpy disappeared completely from baseball.
2B – Manny Alexander
This was Sammy Sosa's boy, which meant he didn't go away until Sammy went away. Alexander was a light-hitting, average defensive player that ended up in the lineup or in key late game at-bats way too often and never seemed to come through.
3B - Steve Buechele
Buechele actually had a solid season with the Cubs. Unfortunately they played him for three seasons. I think his batting average plummeted during those years from like .290 to .185. That's what you get for giving a long contract to a guy on the back end of his career.
SS – Neifi Perez
Perez was fine on the bench. Unfortunately, Dusty Baker didn't keep him on it. Perez seemed to play everyday even if it wasn't the same position. He'd occasionally get a big hit but for the most part he'd strike out and play with very little range out at short.
RF – Jacque Jones
Jone was decent in Minnesota and was decent at times for the Cubs. But the Cubs paid him to be great and he was never that. He was also one of those guys that thought he could throw every runner out at the plate. Jones barely could get the ball to shortstop on most days.
CF – Corey Patterson
Patterson had a lot of promise. But he never learned how to lay off bad pitches, hit to get on base, bunt, hit for consistent power, how to steal a base, etc. He was a pretty good defensive center fielder but that only gets you so far.
LF – Todd Hollandsworth
Ugh. It always amazes me to think Hollandsworth was once the NL Rookie of the Year. He was a decent bench player, but like always the Cubs saw a guy get a pinch hit or two and they'd try to play him every day. It didn't work out real well.
Bench
Utility outfielder - Alphonso Soriano
I know how can you put a 40 home run hitter on the bench. Well because he's a horrible fielding outfielder (yes he's got a good arm, but he throws a lot of guys out that would have been out if he would have just caught the ball). Plus he's to obstinate to realize that he's not a leadoff hitter. He can't run. He can't bunt. He can't get on base to start rallies. He can hit home runs, that is it.
Utility infielder - Jerry Hairston Jr.
This is the guy they got back for Sammy Sosa. So the Cubs made sure he played nearly every day and did nearly nothing. He's another guy with some skill but that doesn't seem to use any of it.
Utility - Jose Hernandez
Hernandez could play in a lot of spots, which made him valuable. But he was an all or nothing kind of guy. It was great to seem him homer 20 times a season, but the guys struck out 200 times with 180 of those coming with guys on base.
Rotation
Anthony Young
This guy had the longest losing streak in the history of the major leagues with the Mets. So the Cubs picked him up. He toiled a year or two with Cubbies and that was really longer than it should have been.
Jose Guzman
The Cubs got this guy when the Blue Jays had a Cy Young pitcher named Juan Guzman. I think for awhile that's who most Cubs fans thought they got. Instead they got a guy who won 12 games for the Cubs in 93 and 2 in 94. Not so good my friend.
Jason Bere
Not very good. This guy went 11-11 for the Cubs in 2001 and then 1-10 in 2002. Ouch. That's what you get for pitching a former White Sox.
Frank Castillo
Castillo was part of six Cubs rotations in the 1990s and never won more than 11 games. Most of his win totals were around 6. Granted the Cubs were real bad back then, but come on how did he keep his job that long.
Turk Wendell
Other than being really goofy, he didn't pitch very well for the Cubs. He held on longer than I thought with the Mets I believe. But if he had as many pitches and goofy superstitions, he be a Hall of Famer.
Closer - Anotonio Alfonseca
The six-fingered guy was given one big finger every time he came in and blew a save. There are a lot of former Cubs closers who could sit in this spot, but I don't think any of them were as bad Alfonseca could be at times.
Relievers
Bob Scanlon
I think Scanlon was probably the first Cub player I remember really not liking whenever he came into a game. He was guaranteed to give up a home run and three or four more runs every time.
Kent Mercker
This is the guy that got into with Steve Stone. Both guys were gone after that season. But my god they should have cut Mercker as soon as he started bitching. It's not like he was doing anything great out of the pen anyways.
Bob Howry
Home run Howry lived up to that name this last season. He didn't have anything left in tank. It seems Howry can only have one good year with a team before falling completely apart. We're still waiting for our one year.
Manager - Dusty Baker
I considered putting Baker and Don Baylor on this line. They were essentially the same, lets sit back and see if we hit any homers where out the rotation kind of guys. Baker just had a little more talent on his teams and more pitchers to use.
Pitching coach – Marty DeMerritt
This was the big, mean looking dude that didn't seem to do anything for Cubs pitchers in the late 90s. He'd fit right in with Dusty on the bench.
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4 comments:
Good list, I had forgotten some of those names like Manny Alexander. There really wasnt much of a shakeup between dusty and Don. considering Dusty didnt wanna clog the bases with runners. sounds like he would have liked Soriano. Still Alfonso doesnt belong on the bench.
Manny sucked that's for sure. All I'll say is there is a big reason why the Yankees, Rangers and Nationals were always putting Soriano on the trade block even when he was a 40-40 caliber player and that it took him being there 2-years with the Nationals before the Cubs took him. With leg problems increasing, watch his regular season stats start to decline and the Cubs be saddled with a huge back-ended contract for the next six years. If Cubs have a bad season next year or the year after, I don't even think they'd be able to dump him to a contender for draft picks.
I had a good rant and then it wouldnt post. Lou just needs to get tough with Soriano and make him hit down in the order and learn it or sit. I know money is a huge part of this sport/business but at the same time I think that is why you hired Lou to whip these guys. I know Kosuke isnt an established pro but he is worth some money. So I guess that shows promise. But with the leadoff spots sounds alot like Lovie talking about Rex the last few years. Just everytime it was brought up, Alfonso is our guy and we are gonna stick with him.
What Lou will say just like Lovie could with Grossman. Despite there shortcoming, the teams still won the division with those guys in their respective roles. All it would take is things work out better in the postseason for this discussion to end.
Once the Bears had a losing season with Grossman showing no signs of improvement, only then could Lovie finally put him on the bench for good.
My guess it will be the same with Soriano hitting first. Alhtough if his legs fall off much more, Lou will do it then also. It's doesn't help that there isn't another bonafide leadoff guy on the roster. At least people could point to Orton or Griese when asking Lovie and say well you could win with them too.
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