Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2013 14:09:25 GMT -5
Coming in to the 1954 season the Chicago Cubs were looking for signs of improvement after a 100 loss season in 1953. Fans were told by GM Matt Andersen to be patient as the system was thin on prospects and the major league roster didn't have much for talent either. However, fans were optimistic as there were signs of improvement at the end of last year. 3B Randy Jackson finished strong, the Cubs acquired pitcher Howie Pollett from the Pirates in a post trade deadline deal. In the off-season, they made some minor moves with the hope of improving the club, including bringing over Joe Collins from the Yankees and signing a couple of other OF's in Jim Delsing and gold glove centerfielder Johnny Groth. However, a third of the way in to the season and the Cubs are looking at another long summer. The Cubs lost their top returning starting pitcher Jim Baczewski the first week of the season to a season ending elbow injury, their young superstar SS Ernie Banks is suffering through a sophomore slump of epic proportions, struggling to hit even .200 this year after a rookie campaign that saw him hit nearly .300 with 29 HR's. The power seems to be AWOL as well, with Banks only hitting four long balls to date. The Collins trade looks like an epic failure, and the pitching staff is struggling, not surprisingly. The bullpen, which started the year about as bad as possible has improved lately with a few callups. Both Bob Zick and Tony Jacobs have done a better job than the men they replaced, Sheldon Jones and Turk Lown, and the Cubs finally called up closer of the future Don Elston, who after dominating both AA and AAA the last two years is pitching well with the big club. That being said, the Cubs still rank 13th in ERA. The hitting hasn't been much better. Despite career years from 1B Dee Fondy, who's 11 HR's already outpace his total from all of last year, and improvements from 2B Bill Serena, the offense ranks 14th in runs scored and dead last in both OBP and OPS, two areas the Cubs were really trying to focus on. Jackson has been a disappointment after a strong second half last year, Banks sophomore slump, rookie C- Carl Sawatski was sent back to AAA after struggling mightily. There have been glimmers of hope. Groth, who signed a 5 year deal with the Cubs which was met with some skepticism amongst rival GM's, has performed how the Cubs had hoped, hitting .304, and more importantly getting on base at a .358 clip while playing gold glove defense. Rookie Eric Rodin who the Cubs called up after a dominating AAA campaign to play as the righty half of an OF platoon has hit fairly well, despite not showing the power he showed at AAA, and he's shown he may be able to hit righties. He'll undoubtedly get a long look after the trade deadline to see if he's capable of being a full time player next year. Johnny Klippstein, who struggled last year in his first year as a closer, has pitched much better this year, only blowing 2 saves. The Cubs have one of the better minor league systems and there have been glimmers there also. One of the top starting pitcher prospects Joe Stanka who started the year repeating AA has been promoted to AAA after a dominating start and has held his own. OF Willie Kirkland, who the Cubs acquired last year from the Giants in a trade where they sent Bob Rush to New York, also has been promoted to AAA. After starting the year in AA hitting over .300 he's struggled at AAA thus far, but looks to be starting OF material in another year or two. First round draft pick George Altman has performed well at AA with an OPS of nearly .900 and may get an end of the year look at AAA pitching. A prospect not on a lot of the prospect lists at the start of the season was OF Lou Johnson. Only 19 years old Johnson was acqured from the Yankees along with Whitey Herzog in a trade last year where the Cubs sent SS Roy Smalley to the Yanks. Johnson, repeating A ball is destroying A ball pitching, hitting .379 with 16 HR's and 19 SB's and is now being noticed by all of the prospect hounds. Despite all of this, the Cubs seem to be on pace to be picking in the top 5 again after this year. Fans are losing patience. However, the Cubs do have much more system depth and help seems to be on the way, the question is whether fans or ownership are going to be willing to let Andersen see the rebuild through to it's completion. It was just nine years ago that the Cubs were hanging a National League pennant in Wrigley Field. Somehow that seems a very long time ago now.
