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.”

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While I’m just speculating here, the idea that something was irrevocably broken in the clubhouse or with the team isn’t something I really subscribe to given my limited scope. What I saw more than “complacency” in the second half of 2018 was a team that was getting worn down (playing 40 days in a row) and besieged by injuries (Yu Darvish, Brandon Morrow, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber at various points), trying like hell to use flex seal to keep the boat afloat as the Milwaukee Brewers zoomed by with their shiny new Christian Yelich outboard. The Cubs still won 95 games last year, something we all would have given our left arm for in 2012.

Instead of chalking up the failures and disappointments to growing pains and injuries in 2018, the Cubs have decided they will attack their deficiencies in an attempt to make sure there is more accountability in 2019.

Here’s how: there will be more BP, lineups will be released for entire series, players will have to spend more time in the dugout, the focus will be placed on 10 trap games, and, my favorite; postgame fast food and beer consumption will be limited.

The problem with these specific changes is that they all seem to be double-edged swords of sorts. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul if you will. While some of the changes and focus on accountability could very well lead to better results, the changes could have unintended (and possibly disastrous) consequences for a club that is already damn good and has seemed (at least from the outside looking in) to have great chemistry the last few years.

Chicago Cubs: Come on, no beer OR chicken?!?

Last, but not least, no beer and fried chicken. Or, at least, less beer and chicken. Supposedly, the players and front office want the players to be accountable, professional, and healthy. This leads me to believe there was a problem, akin to the problems another Epstein-led club experienced in between title runs. While I didn’t know we had the same issue of bloated-salaried, blase´ veterans they had in Boston during the beer and chicken scandal, apparently there’s an issue, or it wouldn’t be on the list.

Seems strange to think the club would build a specific party room in the new clubhouse for celebrations after games and then make it a point to limit said parties and festivities after the games. I’m not advocating for guys to be stumbling around the clubhouse or be crazy, but this one seems to be hinting at a problem that some players may have had, or had with one another regarding celebratory merriment in the postgame clubhouse.

If these changes bring about another trophy, I’m all for them- I just didn’t know there was a big problem in the first place with a group of players we’ve come to love the last few years. I didn’t know there was a big problem with some of the philosophies that helped us build a winner in Chicago. I really didn’t know there was a big problem with a few Old Styles and some KFC. However, Jon Lester and Theo Epstein have been down that road before and know what problems can arise with an unstructured, complacent, and talented team; let’s hope they know what they’re doing with this team.

While this accountability initiative could engender both positive and negative ramifications, hopefully, the Cubs will get off to a hot start in 2019, extend some of the young core, and give Joe Maddon an extension; oh, and put the bad taste of this offseason and any negative talk of these ideas behind all of us. We really need it. Start the season already!