I never liked the hiring of Dusty Baker as our manager. I thought he was the wrong manager to guide a young up and coming team, and certainly the wrong man to handle our pitching staff. I still feel that way to this day. I cant say for certain whether the injuries to the rotation are all because of Dusty, but i feared this happening before we played 1 single game under him. But that is like saying 1 day the rotation is going to have injuries, gee ya think?

I wanted Buck Showalter as our manager. Last year I posted on boards and various places about that and was made fun of alot. "Look at what Dusty has done with our team, and look what Buck has done with Texas. They have no pitching! hahahahaha."

Fast forward to today and which team is up and coming and which team is going down in flames? Buck Showalters prospect lead team is 52-27, 25 games over .500 and in first place. The Cubs are 49-42, 7 games over .500.

Correction: Apparently Yahoo standings were messed up and Texas was actually 52-37, 15 games over .500. Thanks for the info Tom!

This article from the Chicago Sun-Times sums up some key points.

For the Cubs, there have been too many guys going 0-for-4 and too few clutch hits. Part of the problem is the fact that the Cubs have no leadoff hitter and, aside from Patterson, little basepath speed. Another contributing factor: The Cubs are not adept at bunting or advancing runners, fundamentals that can come in handy during a pennant race. And scoring a runner from third with fewer than two outs seems to be a foreign concept to this team.

I cant help but ask myself some questions. Buck is known for teaching his teams good fundamentals and having an all around well rounded team. How many losses could he have prevented just by never hiring Wendell Kim? Would Rey Ordonez even be on this team if Buck was our manager? How many losses would have been prevented with Buck and his knack for teaching his teams good bunting, and base runnings skills? How badly do the Cubs need a manager to teach those skills now and then keep drilling them on it so they don't forget?

I still think Baker will be fired after only 3 years as the Cubs manager. And in that time he will accomplish nothing and leave the team worse off than where he found it. Older, slower, less talented. If the Cubs don't make the playoffs this year, the Dusty love fest will officially end, and next year you will hear whispers of him on the hot seat. Win or else. It might take another year of listless baseball to finally put this team back on track to where it should of been headed last year. To fielding a younger, quicker team, that is less reliant on hitting the HR and more reliant on getting a simple base hit or walk.