Chicago Cubs: No chicken and beer in the clubhouse

 Despite seasons of 92+ wins the last four years under Maddon, the front office has made this season about accountability. In that vein, a comprehensive list of changes has been put forth and accepted by both players and the front office to keep the focus in 2019.

The Chicago Cubs have been a successful, laid-back, and fun team since Joe Maddon showed up in 2015. Even in eternal loser-mode, fans and the team itself were always considered lovable. Zoos in the park, dress-up road trips, and parties after wins did nothing to dispel this notion, as the Cubs under the direction of Joe Maddon has been nothing short of a trip. However, the trip in 2019 may be less of a drunken, cross-country boys’ road trip in a Winnebago and a lot more of a sober, suits and ties business trip in a limo.

According to The Athletic’s (yes, you have to pay) Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma, the Cubs are taking some steps to make sure that accountability is a priority this season. This may be short-sighted of me, but it seems like the word “accountability” basically means “not fun.” And, I’m not sure I really agree with or understand the shift in philosophy given this team won 95 games last year with a lot of things going wrong. Winning is certainly fun and masks or cures a lot of issues, but we were winning, and winning a lot. As Jon Lester noted in the article, there certainly may be some complacency and stagnation, but was it enough for this new structural manifesto?

Maybe something is going on in the clubhouse we aren’t aware of. Maybe Tommy La Stella was too pranky with the front office last offseason. Maybe Theo Epstein is hoping Daniel Descalso is the new David Ross. Maybe Epstein and Jed Hoyer didn’t like the LaStella and Ian Happ show after home runs? (strangely, both guys won’t be on the Opening Day roster) Not that I feel like the gang’s going to hop in the Mystery Machine to foil some sinister plot by the Front Office to squash fun, but it does seem like a lot of talk and discussion about “what went wrong” is just overkill and should be chalked up to “things didn’t go our way in 2018.”