If it wants to, if it really wants to, there is a franchise here capable of captivating this city, of capturing Chicago’s heart, of helping us forget the sports nightmare that will be 1998.
Money will be required. Lots of it. So will luck, nerve, shrewdness and most of all, the ability to recognize an opportunity–in this case the opportunity to earn our trust.
So, Cubs, what do you say? Will you rescue us?
Think about it. The White Sox, whose owner conceded the 1997 season with 57 games remaining on the schedule, now are content to concede next season–so hints General Manager Ron Schueler.
The Bears, led by a nice man who can’t win, acknowledge that yet another rebuilding plan is scheduled.
The bumbling, bottom-line Blackhawks own luxury seats near the Central Division cellar.
The aging Bulls, led by a lame-duck coach and a basketball icon who might call it quits at season’s end, are making one last, creaky run at an NBA championship. And if that doesn’t work?
That leaves the Cubs. The same Cubs who haven’t won a division title since 1989, haven’t played in a World Series since 1945 and haven’t won a World Series since 1908.
Everyone is familiar with the sad, bloated history of errors. The countless, mind-numbing losses. The needless departure of Greg Maddux. The laughable College of Coaches. The wasted two-game lead to San Diego in the 1984 playoffs. The Lee Smith trade. The Mel Rojas signing . . . by the way, tell me when to stop.
But despite their many mistakes, too numerous to fit on a gigabyte’s worth of computer memory, the Cubs, and only the Cubs, are positioned for possible greatness. If they’re willing to gamble and spend.
You wouldn’t know it by their three-year rebuilding record, but the management tag team of President Andy MacPhail, General Manager Ed Lynch and manager Jim Riggleman quietly has given the Cubs a chance for a breakthrough. Some of it has happened by accident, some of it by actual design.
By accident: Finding a team (the New York Mets) stupid enough to (a) take Rojas and his salary and (b) include starter Mark Clark in the deal.
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By design: re-signing Sammy Sosa. Sosa can infuriate with his inconsistency, but he also can lug a team for days at a time.
By accident: signing free agent Kevin Tapani, losing him for half the season because of surgery, then discovering he can win even without repeated use of his favorite pitch.
By design: stockpiling starting pitchers. The Cubs now have Clark, Tapani, Steve Trachsel, Jeremi Gonzalez, Kevin Foster and eventually Kerry Wood.
By accident: stockpiling center-fielders–Lance Johnson and Doug Glanville.
What it means is that, for a rare change, the Cubs have options. They can deal Glanville or Johnson. They can deal Trachsel or Foster, even Gonzalez if they must. They can get quality and value in return.
The Cubs need an everyday shortstop, second baseman and left-fielder. Especially a left-fielder. They haven’t had the same left-fielder on Opening Day since 1987. That’s why they should do something very un-Cubs-like.
Sign Florida Marlins outfielder Gary Sheffield.
Sheffield won’t cost much in a trade, but his contract is huge ($6.1 million in 1997). That immediately would push the Cubs’ payroll toward the $40 million level, but imagine the possibilities: Mark Grace in the No. 3 spot, Sosa in the No. 4 spot, Sheffield in the No. 5 spot.
At last Sosa would have the protection that he needs. Sheffield, who can hit for average and power, would have his very own Wrigleyville launching pad. It would be Bash Brothers II.
The Cubs will dismiss the Sheffield scenario because of money. They shouldn’t. Sheffield would give the Cubs instant playoff legitimacy. And if the Sheffield courtship falls through, you quickly can revive the Jim Edmonds trade talks with the Anaheim Angels.
Next, a shortstop or second baseman.
The Boston Red Sox are looking for a center fielder. If I’m Lynch, I make a pitch for John Valentin, who can play shortstop or second. I offer Johnson first, Glanville next.
If the Cubs get Valentin, then they should make a run at Montreal Expos shortstop Mark Grudzielanek. Grudzielanek will cost Lynch a pitcher, but in return the Cubs get a guy with speed, deceiving power and an affordable salary.
The choice belongs to the Cubs. They can do the Star Trek thing and go where no Cubs team has gone since around the turn of the century. Or they can do what they usually do, which is spend just enough money to be disappointed.
For once, why not be Capt. Kirk? For once, take a crack at warp speed.