The Best and Worst of the Cubs

Baseball is soon to be here. I am a Cub fan. Who knew? Anyway, with that in mind here is a list of the greatest and worst Cubs since I am old enough to remember being a fan which would be about 1977. As you can see by this list it is easy to see why this team hasn’t won very much.

Greatest

1B Bill Buckner – It would be easy to go with most hits in the 90’s Mark Grace, but I just can’t. I always felt the Marlboro Man never was the player that the Lincoln Park Trixie’s thought he was. No, to me Buckner was the better player. In his 7 full seasons on the North side he never hit below .284 and he won a batting title in 1980 with a .324 average. He wasn’t a power guy but he did lead the league in doubles twice during his tenure and got MVP votes in 4 of his 7 seasons as a Cub. On top of that he was all heart. He was never healthy and always seemed to be playing on a bad leg. Watching him run was painful. But he never begged out of the lineup and was consistent beyond belief. It is really sad that all he is remembered for now is that damn ground ball in the 86 post season.

2B Ryne Sandberg - This one is a no brainer. There isn’t even a close second. From the time he took over in 83 he defined the position for all of baseball in the 80’s. He was an MVP in 84, an All Star 10 times, led the league in homers in 1990 and won 10 Gold Gloves. I mean really the only knocks on the guy were his choice in women and that ill advised retirement in 94.

SS Shawon Dunston – It is almost sad that I could not find a better shortstop then Dunston. I mean for the most part Shawon was considered a bust. However, he did make two all star teams and he did have a couple of nice seasons. Dunston was the primary shortstop for the Cubs for 10 years. I will say he always gave it his best and I never saw a better arm out at short. But, he never learned the strike zone and never lived up to being the first overall selection in the 1982 draft. A draft that after looking back on it was rather weak.

3B Aramis Ramirez – This one is pretty obvious. I know he tanked last year, but from July of 03 until the 2010 season this guy had been a godsend. To appreciate what A-Ram has done you have to remember just what a black hole the hot corner had been for this franchise. Since Santo, we had one really good third baseman in Bill Madlock who was traded away by the frugal Wrigley family. That was in 1976. From 77 until 03 it was a nightmare. It was a succession of Ken Reitz’s and Gary Scott’s. Ramirez stopped the bleeding. In 2004 he began a tear where his lowest OPS was .898. He drove in over 100 in 4 of the 5 years. Even last season in what was a miserable first half, he led the team in homers and rbi. For whatever reason he has never gotten the love from the Wrigley faithful and I have never fully understood why.

LF Dave Kingman – This was a tough one. Left Field has been a very troubled spot for the Cubs. From 1985 until 1998 the Cubs had a different starting left fielder on opening day. That is not a good formula for success. Really this came down to two candidates, Moises Alou and Kingman. Both were here three seasons. Kingman was an All Star in 79 and 80. His monster 79 season puts him over the top. He led the league in homers, total bases, runs scored and ops. Alou was solid all three years but Kong was out of his mind in 79. Of course Kingman was a butcher in the field and was as surely as they come in the clubhouse. I thought the pickings were slim in left then I had to take a look at center.

CF Bob Dernier – It is rather embarrassing that the best I could come up with for center field was Dernier. That speaks volumes. People want to talk about the black hole that we have had at 3^rd but when was the last time the Cubs had a Center Fielder to speak of? Hack Wilson? Dernier spent three uneven seasons at Wrigley. He was an essential cog in the 84 team as a leadoff hitter who swiped 45 bases. In 85 he was just ok and then the wheels fell off by 86 as he only hit .225 and worse only reached base at a .275 clip. I looked high and low for someone, anyone else to put here but I could not find a soul. If Marlon Byrd can put together another good year he is probably the guy the next time I make a list like this.

RF Andre Dawson – Let me get this out of the way right up front. Sammy Sosa was a cheater and a liar. Every record he has in Cub history needs to have a huge asterisk placed next to it. I bought into his bullshit and defended that jag for years. But, in the end he made a fool out of all us who cheered him on. I cannot and will not include him on any list with the word great on it. The Hawk spent six seasons with the Cubs and won an NL MVP in 87 on a team that finished 6^th. His 49 homer, 137 RBI season was a joy to watch. He was an All Star 5 of the 6 years he was here won 2 gold gloves and got MVP votes in 4 seasons. Beyond all of that though however, is the fact that Dawson was a complete and utter class act on and off the field.

C Jody Davis – Davis spent seven solid yet, not spectacular seasons with the Cubs. He was an All Star twice and was an integral member of the 1984 team. He was also pretty good behind the plate and won a gold glove in 1986. Davis was always good for 15-20 homers and a .260 average. Other then Davis it is pretty thin. Soto has put together two good seasons out of the last three. But the Cubs as a whole have a lot of Ric Wilkins and Damien Miller’s in their catching past.

SP Rick Reuschel - During my infancy of being a Cubs fan Big Daddy was pretty much all we had on the mound. He was about as un-athletic of a guy as you would ever see but he sure knew how to pitch. From 72 until 81 Reuschel only had one year where his ERA was above 4. He won 20 games in 77 and was an innings machine. He was traded away in 81 and made a comeback with the Cubs in 83. In 1984, Jim Frey (who knew nothing about pitching) decided he wasn’t good enough to pitch on a regular basis so he only got 14 starts as he yo-yoed between the rotation and pen. He left as a free agent and had a nice little resurrection pitching with the Pirates and Giants. All in all though his best years were as a Cub where he won 135 games on some bad teams.

SP Rick Sutcliffe - If for nothing else his 84 season alone puts him on this list. All he did that year was go 16-1 with an ERA of 2.69, win a Cy Young and pitched us to our first division title. He was hurt in 85 but had solid seasons in 87 and 88 finishing 87 with 18 wins and a second place finish in the Cy Young voting. (A tragedy in that Lee Smith blew at least 3 wins for him that year.) He also was part of the 89 team that got to the post season. In 8 years on the North Side he won 82 games and had an ERA of 3.74.

SP Greg Maddux – As good as he was with the Cubs I will always feel cheated. He should have been ours and never left. Until my dying day I will place the blame squarely on Larry Himes shoulders. Maddux was all set to sign an extension at the All Star break in 92. All parties had agreed to the deal in principal. For some reason Himes reneged on the deal and pulled it off the table telling Maddux, let’s see what you do in the second half. All Greg did was go 10-3 with an ERA of 1.95 and win the Cy Young only boosting his value more. In the end, he got away and pitched his best seasons in Atlanta and will enter Cooperstown with a Braves hat on and that sickens me. Anyway in parts of 10 seasons on the north side he won 133 games and had an ERA of 3.60. Plus the Cy Young in 92 when he won 20. He was an artist on the mound and is one of my all time favorite Cubs.

SP Carlos Zambrano – It is easy to forget just how good Big Z was before his recent troubles. Since 03 his first season in the rotation he has never finished a season with an era over 4. He has a .611 winning percentage as a Cub. From 04 to 08 he won 78 games (That is an average of 15 a season.) I remember in 2003 when we had a rotation that seemed like it was bound for greatness with Wood and Prior in it, thinking that Zambrano might wind up having the best career of the three, and he has. He has 4 all star appearances and Cy Young votes in 3 separate seasons. Plus he is a weapon with the bat as he has the record for most homers as a pitcher for the Cubs. Of course, the temper has gotten him in trouble and you could make a case stating it has kept him from reaching his true potential. I won’t argue that but he is still one of the best five Cub starters in my lifetime.

SP Ryan Dempster - I guess it speaks volumes about the Cubs that I couldn’t find a better option for the fifth spot on this list. Demp has only been in the rotation for three seasons. But he has been very good those three years. He has averaged 14 wins and has had not had an ERA above 4 in any of them. His 08 season when he went 17-6 with a 2.96 was one of the reasons we won 97 games that year. As per usual the Cubs bungled things and wasted him in the bullpen for a couple of seasons as they installed him as the closer, a role he was just ok at. He is clearly better suited for the rotation and has been arguably our best pitcher over the last three seasons.

RP Bruce Sutter – The Cubs have surprisingly had some good closers over the years. Lee Smith was a lot better than people seem to give him credit for. And Jim Frey’s trading of him was one of the worst deals the team has made in the last 25 years. Randy Myers came over as a free agent and in 1993 set a then NL record with 53 saves. Even Carlos Marmol as much as he causes indigestion when he pitches can be dominant when he is on. All of these guys take a back seat to Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter. For a 4 year run he was simply the best relief pitcher in all of baseball. His 1977 season was insane. He went 7-3 saved 31 games (rarely of the one inning variety by the way) and had an era of 1.34. His whip was an unheard of 0.857. Here is my favorite stat from that year. In 107 innings pitched he gave up a grand total of 21 extra base hits. He accomplished all this while pitching half his games at Wrigley Field. He won the Cy Young in 1979, no small feat for a reliever with a 37 save season. Of course the frugal Cubs didn’t want to pay him so they shipped him off to our main rival for some reason for a coke sniffing, ground ball booting Leon Durham and the corpse of Ken Reitz. And he then went into the hall with a Cardinal cap to boot.

Manager Don Zimmer – Over the last 35+ years the Cubs have had their fare share of skippers. And to be perfectly honest most of them have not been very good. This decision came down between Zimmer and Lou Piniella. But I really feel Lou mentally checked out last year so, I give it Zimmer whose managing job in 1989 was simply masterful. That 89 team had no business winning the division. A rookie platoon in left, a rookie in center, Vance Law at third base, two rookies for the most part behind the plate, somehow he got it to all meld together. I saw things that year that defy explanation. He called a hit and run with the bases loaded and it worked. Whitey Herzong a hall of fame manger, called Zimmer’s 89 season the best job of managing he had ever seen in his over five decades in the game. That’s good enough for me. Sure, that was his only winning year as manager in his 3 ½ years but it was so masterful it takes the top spot.

Worst

1B Hee Seop Choi – First base has actually been a position of strength for the Cubs for a long period of time. They went from Bucker to Durham to Grace and that trio manned the position for a combined 23 seasons. Hee Seop Choi was just another in a long line of Cub prospects that turned out to be a bust. Jim Hendry did trade him for Derek Lee so, at least we got something out of him. Choi was the next big thing in the minors for a couple of years and tales of his brilliance wetted Cubs Nations appetite. He finally arrived for a cup of coffee in late 2002 and did nothing. Still, he was handed the starting job the next season. He would get hurt in June and that turned out to be a blessing because who knows how long Dusty would have stuck with him otherwise. In 80 games that year he hit .218. He struck out 71 times in only 245 plate appearances. After leaving the Cubs he stunk it up in Florida and then for the Dodgers before returning to Korea after being cut in spring training by the Red Sox in 2006.

2B Mike Tyson – Sandberg was here for so long there were not a lot of candidates at second. Actually, for the most part the Cubs have done a nice job finding guys to fill in over the years at the two bag. This basically came down to two candidates. There was the immortal Joe Strain who hit .189 in 25 games for the 81 Cubs and Mike Tyson. Strain didn’t suck for a long enough time period so Tyson wins by default. Tyson spent two years on the north side in 1980 and 81. He hit a robust .226 and more embarrassingly reached base at only a .267 clip. He was simply an out machine.

SS Jeff Blauser – When Blauser was a Brave he was a Cub killer. He hit .268 in his 11 years in Atlanta. But against the Cubs he hit .351 over that time span, which is 83 points higher for you non math majors. So, I think a lot of Cub fans had an inflated perception of what Blauser really was. Ed Lynch the bumbling GM at the time also was under the Blauser spell and signed him to a free agent deal at 4 million per season. Blauser then went on to reward the Cubs with two seasons of pure mediocrity. For his eight million over two summers, Jeff hit .226 with a whopping 13 homers. In 2 seasons he had 34 extra base hits. I would love to have selected Nefi Perez as he was truly awful as well. But, after what Blauser did against us for so many years only to stink up the place once he put on the blue pinstripes he has earned a special place in my black heart.

3B Gary Scott – Ah, third base. Here was a position where the Cubs truly stunk and had number of stiffs for an astonishing amount of time. So many bums to choose from it was hard to pick just one. There was Steve Ontiveros who in four seasons hit 16 homers. Then there was Ken Reitz who spent one miserable season on the north side and hit .215 with 2 homers. Then there was Steve Buechele who hit .256 over 4 seasons. After him it was Todd Zeile and his one year and .227 batting average. They then tried Oriole washout Leo Gomez. Gomez did hit 17 homers but at a .238 while doing so. Then there was the next big prospect in Kevin Orie. He cost Kerry Wood a perfect game in 98 and hit .243 over three seasons. They then got around to bringing in Reds castoff Willie Greene. In his one season with the club he hit .201. I am sure I missing some other immortals but as much as they all were brutal with a capital B, none of them could out suck the utter incompetence of Mr. March, Gary Scott. Scott was going to be the next Ron Santo. Hell, Santo himself proclaimed him to be. He was drafted in the 2^nd round of the 1989 draft and shot through the minors. In 1991 in spring training he led the Cactus League in hitting and won the opening day job. He then went north with the club and hit .165 in 31 games. They sent him down to Iowa where he finished the year at a .208 clip. But the Cubs were not to be deterred. You see for the next season we again put our eggs in the Gary Scott basket and again in March he tore it up in Mesa. Hopes were high as opening day 1992 arrived that he wouldn’t hit .165 again. He didn’t, he hit .156 instead. After 36 games the Cubs gave up on him sent him back to Iowa eventually traded him and he never delivered on the promise he once showed. Yet another in a long line of would be phenoms who flamed out for the organization.

LF Candy Maldonado – Left Field is almost as bad as third base for the Cubs. There was Derek May whose numbers are better then I remember them but trust me was a lazy player who could not have given less of a shit. There was the Scott Bullet who hit .241 over two unproductive seasons. There was Ozzie Timmons who was supposed to be the next big thing. He hit .235 in two bad years on the north side. Brant Brown will go down in infamy for dropping that ball in 98 against Milwaukee. It didn’t help that he hit .262 over 4 seasons. Robin Jennings whose claim to fame was that he was part Indian, hit like Tonto with the Cubs to the tune of .210 over three years. Yes, all those guys stunk but no one stole money like Maldonado. Larry Himes went out, after not giving Maddux his cash and used the savings to bring in Maldonado. The Candy Man, had just come off a season in Toronto were he hit 20 homers and hit .272. The Cubs singed him to what at the time was a big contract and watched him butcher left field with the glove and hit .186 and slug a Nefi like .286 in 70 games. It got so bad that they eventually traded him in August to Cleveland for the roided up Glenallen Hill.

CF Corey Paterson – Let me start off saying there were probably worse centerfielders then Paterson. But for sheer unrealized potential no one could match Corey. There were the Doug Dascenzo and Tuffy Rhodes’. Or let’s not forget Damon Buford and Felix Pie. Yes they all were inept but, I don’t think I ever saw as big of a waste of talent as I did in Paterson. He could have been great but his stubbornness in refusing to learn the strike zone prohibited him from reaching his potential. Paterson hit .252 in parts of 6 seasons with the Cubs but that does not tell the whole story. In those 6 years he walked 111 times while striking out 552. That is almost impossible to do. He struck out nearly a quarter of the time he came to the plate. I lay part of the blame on the Cubs coaching and in Don Baylor and Dusty Baker for never getting through to him. On the other hand Paterson after leaving the organization never had success anywhere else. He was the third pick of the 1998 draft and never came close to being the player the Cubs thought he could have been.

RF Kosuke Fukudome – Right Field hasn’t been that bad for the Cubs over the last 35 years. Sosa was there for a number of them and Dawson before him. So, to pick an inept player was somewhat difficult. Then I looked at just how much money Fukudome is making and it becomes pretty evident. Before the 2008 season Jim Hendry looked to Japan to sign Fukudome who had won an MVP and a batting title there. He signed him to a 4 year deal worth 47 million dollars. For that we have gotten over three seasons a .259 hitter who has smacked a whopping 34 homers. Each season has been the same. In April he is a .335 hitter. He slumps to .276 in May and then the June swoon begins. He is a .211 hitter in June and an even worse .198 in September. I don’t know if he runs out of gas or what his issue is. But as soon as you see that spinning swing and a miss in the batter’s box you know he is in trouble. I will say he plays a good right field and does get on base via the walk. But for the money they have spent on him the Cubs have not gotten near the production they were hoping for.

C Todd Hundley - To ignore the ineptitude of Tim Blackwell, Barry Foote, and Steve Swisher is not easy. But, what Hundley did in his two years as a Cub far supersedes anyone else. This one should have worked. Hundley was part of the family in that his dad Randy had been an iron horse behind the plate in the late 60’s and early 70’s for the team. Coming off a year with the Dodgers in which he hit 24 homers and .284 Andy Macphail couldn’t resist and singed Todd to a 4 year 23 million dollar deal. Rarely in the history of man has 23 million gotten you so little. In his two years with the Cubs Hundley hit .199. He drove in 66 runs over the course of those two seasons. Maybe the pressure of playing at Wrigley everyday trying to live up to his dad got to him. Whatever it was he was a complete stiff and eventually somehow, Jim Hendry was able to trade Hundley to the Dodgers and get Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielank in return, two guys who played big roles in the 2003 season.

SP Danny Jackson – Jim Frey knew hitting, I would never deny that. But what he didn’t know about pitching just might fill the Grand Canyon. Frey was GM in 1991. Jackson had been good a few years back with the Reds but was coming off a 6-6 injury plagued season with Cincinnati. That to Frey merited a 4 year deal at 2.6 million per. (That was big money in baseball in 1991.) In his 2 seasons with the Cubs he went 5-14 with a 5.19 ERA. In 183 innings he struck out only 82 hitters. He was always hurt and when he did pitch he was more hittable then the Jugs machine. Eventually he was traded to the hapless Pirates.

SP Andrew Lorraine – At the time he was on the Cubs, I firmly believed I could have hit this guy. Here is all you need to know about Lorraine. He pitched 175 innings in the majors (93 with the Cubs) and 1,705 innings in the minors. The 1999 Cubs were in a word, bad. Things got so dire in the rotation that they turned to Lorraine. He rewarded them with a 2-5 record with a 5.55 ERA. Somehow, this was not enough for the Cub brass to release him. No, in 2000 he somehow was part of the rotation coming out of spring training. He went 1-2 over 5 starts with a 6.47 ERA before the Cubs “brain” trust saw enough and mercifully released him in May.

SP Willie Banks – Banks was never really that good for Minnesota over the course of three undistinguished seasons. But that didn’t stop Ed Lynch for trading for him before the 1994 season. No one expected much and Willie did not disappoint in his two years on the north side. He went 8-13 with a 6.18 ERA in 94 and parts of 95.

SP Kevin Foster – I don’t want to rip on Foster to hard as he passed away at the young of age of 39. With that said he somehow was able to last four mediocre seasons with the Cubs. He was a local kid out of Evanston who was a nice story in that sense. He came to the Cubs via a trade before the 94 season and actually pitched decent for them before the strike. The next three seasons were not good with a particularly brutal 1996 where he made 16 starts to the tune of a 6.21 ERA. He eventually got hurt and was released following the 98 season and jumped around the minors before his untimely death in 2008.

SP Amaury Telemaco – All I ever heard from the so called experts for years was this guy has amazing unhittable “stuff”. Well, once he got between the white lines he proved to be very hittable. The Cubs signed him out of Dominican Republic and developed him for five years in the minors. Eventually he got the call in 1996 and over the course of three seasons where he made numerous stops between Wrigley and Iowa he was never very good. In three years with the big club, he went 6-11 with a 5.36 ERA. Eventually the Diamondbacks did us a favor and claimed him off waivers as the Cubs tried to sneak him back to Iowa one more time. Eventually he found a home in the Phillies bullpen but he never lived up the hype.

RP Dave Smith – The Cubs have had a lot of bad closers over the years. They brought in an over the hill Goose Gossage in 88 and he was just out of gas. In 1996 they signed Doug Jones as a free agent and watched him go 2 for 7 in save chances. Mel Rojas was brought in by Ed Lynch in 97 and was so bad that by August he was traded away to the Mets . As bad as they were nothing could compare to the manure that was Dave Smith. Jim Frey made another great move in 91 and brought in Smith from Houston via free agency signing a 3 year 7 million dollar deal. He went 0-6 with a 6.00 ERA in 91. By 92 he had lost the closer role and got hurt. He later would admit that by the time he got to the Cubs he was an alcoholic. Nice due diligence Jim.

Manager – Preston Gomez – This was not easy as the Cubs have hired some doozies. Tom Trebelhorn had one glorious year in 94 where he led the team to a 49-64 record. Jim Essian took over the 91 Cubs and steered them to a 59-63 record. Don Baylor was truly overmatched. I’ve met paperweights that had more personality then Jim Riggleman and Dusty Baker might have been worse than them all with the way he burned out Wood and Prior. But for sheer incompetence I don’t think anyone could outdo what Preston Gomez did in his very short tenure with the Cubs. Gomez was hired before the 1980 season to replace Herman Franks. He had managed the Padres and Astros before he came to the Cubs. In 5 of the 6 seasons he was at the helm his teams finished last in 5 of them. He was 308-477 that is a winning percentage of .392. How he parlayed that into the Cub job is a mystery. The team got off to a wretched 38-52 in 1980 start and the Cub brass had seen enough and in July he was fired never to be left in charge of a major league team again.