The Ferris Wheel Goes Round Again
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Buelller
On June 5, 1985, the Cubs lost to the Braves 4-2 in 11 innings to drop their record to 77-84-1. Pretty dismal considering they probably should have played in the World Series against the mighty Tigers the previous year, but were denied by Steve Garvey‘s bat and Leon Durham‘s glove.
Dallas Green, one of the best GMs the team has enjoyed, was still with the squad, having woven his magic and robbed the Phillies, his previous team, of a good few star players like Gary Matthews, Bob Dernier, and the aged Larry Bowa. He also added Dennis Eckersley and Rick Sutcliffe from other squads (Boston and Cleveland). George Frazier and Tucson native Ron Hassey arrived with the Red Baron and played significant innings for then-manager Jim Frey, who hadn’t yet exceeded his competency.
This formula worked very well indeed in 1984, and there was every expectation that the club could not only repeat but improve. Instead, the vaunted starting staff collapsed. Sutcliffe was on and off the disabled list, finally hitting it to stay July 28, after which he didn’t make another start. His record at that time was a respectable 8-8 with a respectable 3.21 ERA over 130 innings pitched. Scott Sanderson was 5-6 with a 3.12 ERA, but made only 19 starts. Steve Trout was 9-7 in 24 starts. Eckersley was the star with an 11-7 record in 25 starts.
The bulk of the starting work was split between Ray Fontenot (6-10, 4.36, 38 starts), Dick Ruthven (4-7, 4,53, 15 starts) and such stalwarts as Jay Baller, Derek Botelho, Reggie Patterson, Johnny Abrego, and Joliet’s own Larry Gura also logged starts. They were not incredibly successful, and the team suffered greatly as a result, wasting fine offensive seasons by Ron Cey (22 HR, 63 RBI), Jody Davis (17 HR, 58 RBI), Durham (.282/.357/.465, 21 HR, 75 RBI), Keith Moreland (.307/.374/.440, 14 HR, 106 RBI), and Ryne Sandberg (.305/.364/.504, 26 HR, 83 RBI).
The ageless Davey Lopes subbed in frequently as Matthews also spent considerable time on the DL, and excelled, stealing 47 bases and batting .284/.383/.444, with 11 HR and 44 RBI at age 40. Thad Bosley also contributed, especially as a pinch hitter (.328/.391/.511, 7 HR, 27 RBI, good for 2.3 bWAR).
Those numbers from the hitters were much what we expected this year from the current group. The problem is that the staff is worse. Shōta Imanaga keeps letting Mike pitch, and the meatballs are so tempting that he has allowed 17 homers after giving up 31 in 2025. Jameson Taillon has already served up 20 home runs to lead all of Major League Baseball.
Like it or not, the real ace of the pitching staff is Colin Rea. Ben Brown shows promise, but Rea has done this job at this pace for years since coming back to MLB from Japan. However, Brown has logged 1.5 bWAR, more than the rest of the pitching staff combined. That’s also 1.1 bWAR more than now-Padre Walker Buehler, who has won three and lost three in 12 starts. He’d be okay to have, and I wanted him to be in Chicago, but it didn’t happen.
I suppose what I’m saying is that time changes and perception changes. If Ferris Bueller went to Wrigley today, he wouldn’t be as exultant despite the current squad’s better record and potential. The bats have to warm up, don’t they? Cabrera and Boyd have to get healthy and stay healthy. Imanaga needs to go somewhere else. I see why the Cubs made him the offer, but I was against it then and still am now.
Cabrera looks bad right now and there are still so many question marks that it’s easy to see this team ending up just like its predecessor from 41 years ago.
