Top Ten Cubs Disappointments of All Time
by
Asher B. Chancey,
BaseballEvolution.com
March 26, 2006
In his 2006 Chicago Cubs Preview, Eric kind of went out to orbit in terms of hyperbole with his assertion that Jeromy Burnitz was "the biggest disappointment in Cubs history." I kind of wish that Eric were a professional sports writer, so we could make him the Bonehead Sportswriter of the Year.
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| Dude, I Wasn't That Bad! | |
Eric's assertion is simply absurd. In fact, the assertion is so absurd that it could only be called an absurdtion.
Forget for a minute that Burnitz was not even really a disappointment last season. At the age of 36, coming off of a successful season in Coors Field, I wasn't disappointed at all with Burnitz playing 160 games, getting 605 ABs, and hitting 24 homers. Now, his OPS+ was 96, which is terrible, but this is a guy who two years ago had a .299 OBP and three years ago had a .215 AVG and a .676 OPS. I was not disappointed.
But assuming arguendo that Burnitz was a disappointment, would he really be the biggest disappointment in Cubs history? Well, Todd Hundley quickly dispels any notion of that being the case. But, in my mind, I don't even think Burnitz makes the Top Ten Biggest Disappointments in Cubs History.
And, oh by the way, we'll only deal with Off-Season Acquisitions, to spare Shawon Dunston and Corey Patterson any further humiliation. And Gary Scott. And Kevin Orie. And Derrick May. And Earl Cunningham. And Shawn Boskie. And Brant Brown.
10. Dave Smith
Smith came to the Cubs from the Astros in 1991. From 1984 to 1990, Smith posted a high ERA of 2.73, saved 23 or more games every year but one, struck out twice as many batters as he walked, and never gave up homeruns. With Mitch Williams having moved on, it seemed the Cubs would easily transition. It seemed wrong. Smith pitched only 33 innings, gave up a career high 6 homeruns, had a 16/19 K/BB ratio, and an ERA of 6.00, or 65% of the league average. Oh, and he was 0-6. He was out of baseball a year later.
9. Bill Mueller
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| Damn You Mueller!!!!! | |
Mueller hit in the .290s with an OBP in the .380s twice for the Giants in 1998 and 1999. He came over to the Cubs, promptly got hurt, and played only 70 games, though his OBP went over .400, and his average climbed to .295. He played 103 games with the Cubs the following year before being traded back to the Giants. The following year, after doing zilch for the Cubs in two seasons, he won the American League Batting Title for the Boston Red Sox, and finished with an OPS of 938.
8. Karl Rhodes
The Cubs acquired Tuffy Rhodes from the Kansas City Royals, for whom he never played, at the end of 1993, and in 1994 he made a huge splash, hitting three homeruns on opening day. He would only hit 5 more all season, finishing with a .234 average and an OPS that squeaked over .700 in 95 games. A little later, he was out of Major League Baseball, though he became a superstar in Japan.
7. Danny Jackson
Remember how excited we were when we got Danny Jackson? He was coming off of two injury seasons, but he was healthy, and when healthy he had won 23 games with the Reds in 1988 with an ERA of 2.73. I still remember the image of Danny Jackson injurying his groin on WGN. He was never any use to us, going 1-5 in 17 games his first season, and 4-9 his second season before we shipped him to the Pirates.
6. Lance Johnson
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| Hate You Lance!!!!! | |
In 1995, Lance Johnson led the AL in hits with 186 (strike shortened season). In 1996, he came over to the NL, and led in hits again with 227. From 1991 to 1996, he led his league in triples every year but one, and finished second that year. In 1996, he finished 4th in the NL in batting with a .333 average.
At the end of the 1997 season, Johnson joined the Cubs for 39 games and was decent. In 1998, he played on 85 games, hit .280 with only 8 doubles and 4 triples. In 1999, his AVG dropped to .260. A year later, he was out of baseball.
5. Antonio Alfonseca
Alfonseca had 45 saves in 2000 with the Marlins. In 2001, he had 28 saves, but lowered his ERA to 3.06, or 38 percent better than the league. The Cubs picked him up in Spring Training along with Matt Clement for Julian Tavarez and a guy named Dontrelle. Alfonseca's ERA in 2002 was 4.00, and he saved 19 games. His ERA in 2003 was 5.83, and he saved zero games. His ERA in 2004 was 2.57. Oh, but by '04 he was no longer a Cub.
4. Jeff Blauser
With the Braves in 1997, Blauser hit 17 HR with 70 RBI, and was almost a 3-4-5er (.482 SLG). He got HBPed 20 times, scored 90 runs, and won the Shortstop Silver Slugger in the National League. The following year he joined the Cubs – his average dipped to .219, his slugging was an appalling .299, he hit 4 dingers, he struck out 93 times in 119 games, and he only drove in 26. For the
1998 Cubs, a team on which everyone did well. He was out of baseball a year later.
3. Nomar Garciaparra
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| Nomar, We Hardly Knew Ya! | |
Nomar was acquired at the end of the 2004 season after having missed most of the year due to injury. After having scored 100 runs 6 times, driven in 100 five times, hit over .300 6 times, and having won two batting titles, Nomar was supposed to charge up the Cubs. Early in 2005, Nomar ripped his groin from the bone coming out of the batter's box in a game (steroid injury) and essentially missed the rest of the season. He is now the Dodgers first baseman.
2. Todd Hundley
The year before the Cubs signed him, Hundley had a .954 OPS and hit 24 dingers in only 90 games. The year before that, he hit 24 in 114 games. In the late 1990's, he'd hit 41 and 30 homeruns in consecutive seasons. He came to the Cubs in 2001 as a 32 year old catcher, seemingly ready to bash the ball beside Sammy Sosa and take the Cubs back to the playoffs. Shoot, if healthy, it would seem that Hundley could try for 50 dingers.
Instead, Hundley played 11 fewer games but struck out 20 more times. He hit .187, with 642 OPS. He scored 23 runs, and drove in 31. The following year was not much better. For his career with the Cubs, he hit 28 dingers, finished with an OPS below .300, and struck out 169 times in 171 games. Oh, and he made $10 million to do it. He was out of baseball a year later.
1. Al Spalding
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| You Call Yourself a Man?! | |
In 1875, Spalding went 55-5 with the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association, the second straight year in which Spalding would win 50+ games, and his fourth straight year of 400 plus innings, including 616.3 in 1874. The following year, he joined the Chicago White Stockings of the new National League and, as a 25 year old veteran, showed a bit of decline, winnings on 47 games instead of 55, more than doubling his losses total to 12, and giving up six times as many homeruns (6) as the year before (1). Not only that, but his ERA fell from 1.52 to 1.75, and he walked almost twice as many batters as the year before (26 vs. 14) in nearly 50 fewer innings. A year later, he was done with pitching, and a year after that, at the age of 28, he was out of baseball.
So, there you have it. And, with the exception of Spalding, all of these guys were from 1990 to the present, meaning there are probably many many more disappointments out there bigger than Burnitz.
Not that he was even disappointing, because he wasn't.
Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Asher resides in Alexandria, VA, and can be reached at asher@baseballevolution.com.
