Young Chicago Cubs believe they can win now -- and they're right
My last at-bat in the big leagues was in a Cub uniform. In Miller Park on the last day of the 2014 season, I dug into the batter's box for the last time as a major-league player. I walked, fitting for a member of the "Moneyball" draft class. Reflecting back on my different experiences in different organizations, I visualize moments when I recognized things were changing. I can replay the sights and sounds of the game, the memories awakening feelings. These feelings traverse time and link different memories together. My final season reminds me most of the beginning of my career; the memories I made in Chicago also tell the story of a franchise on the rise.
Last year, while awesome for me (I was in the big leagues again), was not a great season for the North Siders. Our season highlights were few: Anthony Rizzo voted to the All-Star Game, Jake Arrieta emerging as an elite pitcher, me throwing bad BP to the Rockies at 1 in the morning. We weren't constructed for the playoffs, and the moment we said goodbye to Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel on July 5, we knew we'd been counted out. But 2014 was not all for naught, as last season gave us illuminating snapshots of the future. And now, ahead of schedule, the future has arrived.
Broad-shouldered, bearded and with a pensive stare, Arrieta first appeared before me at 5:45 a.m. in the locker room during spring training. I note the time because not many others were there. He didn't have to be there so early, but he was. He was consumed by the desire to fix a shoulder that didn't feel right; he was desperate to get back on the mound. Unwilling to continue listening to authority, Jake was doing his own research, solving his own problems. Gone was the player trying to fit a mold created by his previous organization. After I caught Jake and saw the cutter and curveball for the first time, I knew this was someone special, his stuff is so good it's hard to catch. His approach is now his own, the self-confidence bursting, my bruised palm a physical omen.
After grinding out a long at-bat in his MLB spring training debut, Kris Bryant lofted a towering homer to center field at Tempe Diablo Stadium. I saw it from the dugout. Click here, take four minutes and soak it in. The at-bat is symbolic; Bryant is just a kid, but being heralded as the next superstar, massive pressure and hype surrounds everything he does. He responds with ice in his veins, executes perfectly what he has practiced his whole life. Are his home runs really so surprising? That one at-bat was a glimpse into the now.
The first time I heard Kyle Schwarber hit a baseball, I knew. That's right: heard. Now, I don't have any scouting experience other than watching games -- granted, it's a lot of games -- but I've taken plenty of BP and heard a lot of hitters hit baseballs from right behind the cage. I've also been behind the plate for loud noises. That sound! Like C in altissimo, so rare and so beautiful. Giancarlo Stanton produces that sound, and the currently maligned Hanley Ramirez does, too. When Schwarber, a newly minted first-round draft pick, came to Wrigley for batting practice, I heard it again. I knew that sound. An audible presage of 2015.
The Cubs' greatest asset is the organization's fundamental strength. I played for six different franchises, and the Cubs exemplify the best aspects of the other five. They possess an intelligent front office that maintains open and honest communication with its players. With some of the same key people who brought two titles to Boston. Like the Moneyball A's (who drafted me), they are on the cutting edge of statistical analysis. Their amateur scouting department has leveraged a few bad seasons into the acquisitions of franchise players.
Remember when the Marlins took a second-round flyer on a football player from southern California named Mike Stanton? I do, and I also remember the initial reaction to the Schwarber pick last year: "He can hit, but he wasn't supposed to be in the top 10. And what about his defense?"
Pro scouting finds Arrieta, international scouting finds Jorge Soler. While they don't possess the same bank as the Dodger$, the Cubs can spend -- not only on top-tier free agents like Jon Lester, but also on minor-league free agents who will aid in the ultimate goal. Guys like Taylor Teagarden and Mike Baxter are well respected replacement-level players, guys who come up for a few weeks and contribute. Like the Padres under Bud Black, the locker room has become a family environment. The best aspects of the other organizations, all present in one. This team is built to last from the inside out.
What Rick Renteria started, Joe Maddon has taken into the next stratosphere. When the Cubs came to play the Giants in late August, I spent time with my old teammates. Maddon's influence is spreading into their own self-belief; they look forward to themed trips and out-of-the-box practice theories. They talked excitedly about the playoffs, about how they wanted so badly to win the first wild-card spot so the play-in game can be at Wrigley Field. They raved about the addition of walkup music to Wrigley and about how because of the fan support, they feel unstoppable at home. I heard about all the planned upgrades to the Friendly Confines -- smart walls, float tanks and infrared saunas.
Wrigley Field is being rebuilt, from the inside out, and its evolution mirrors that of the team on the field. The Cubs are having fun, they're excited about their future and they believe they can win. So do I. It just feels right.
