Oct 15th. That is my son’s due date.
About a week ago my wife and I finished up cleaning the entire apartment. They call it ‘the nesting period’ according to our very expensive and nearly as informative child care/lamaze classes. Talk about thorough, it wasn’t short of a visit to the ER to make sure my thumb was ok after cutting it while, none other than…scrubbing the tub. After an hour in the ER, some hospital glue and a ‘have a nice day’, we were on our way home to finish up and situate the nest to a level classified: Ready For Baby. (I’m fine, thanks for asking).
Things were cleaned, arranged just so. Nightlights were placed, sheets were laid down and curtains were put up. All that needed to happen was the baby’s actual arrival.
AND THEN….the storm came.
It rained extremely hard last Thursday night here in NYC and apparently a drain on our terrace area was blocked. By about six leaves mind you. This was just enough to cause a flood in our bedroom and living room. Classification now: Nowhere Near Ready for Baby. All of a sudden there is a ton of work to do as all of the floors in our apartment need to be ripped up, gutted and replaced. Joy.
My employer was nice enough to allow me to work from home to supervise the activity. This is more for my wife to feel OK about everything as I think she feels better with me here. So, here I sit waiting for emails or calls from my boss, blogging about the Cubs, sitting in the middle of a flooring ripping whirlwind party all around me. You know those construction sounds you can ‘kinda’ hear from across the avenue, on the building next door and it just ruins your day? Now take that noise and put it fifteen feet away from you. Nice, right? Clink, clank, scrub, clink, clink, clink, hammer, clank, clink, clink, scrub, scrub, clink….all, day, long.
It did get me thinking though. A) I can’t believe this is happening so close to when the baby’s due date is. And I realize Oct 15th is still 11 days away, however, you know how babies can be. It’s all up to them. So, we can mark the 15th on the calendar all we want. Circle it, underline it, put stars all around it…it makes no difference. He is coming whenever he wants to and we have no idea what to expect. and B) If I think about the horrible timing of this all, I will go crazy so let’s compare the repairs going on here to the Cubs repairs necessary this off-season.
Considering the season ended just yesterday in disappointing fashion (losing to Houston resulting in a fifth place finish this year for the Cubs) I can only pinpoint so many needs. A power-bat, preferably at first to replace Lee. A stud in the starting rotation. Another couple arms in the bullpen. A quality second baseman (
maybe not this guy as rumored in recent years) and maybe a young third baseman with some upside in the scouting to have around to compete for the third base job after Rami’s gone whether it be figuratively or literally.
Oh yeah….and a MANAGER.
Or a decision re: the manager anyway. Quade has shown incredible skill with the youngsters (benching Starlin to make a point re: hustle/effort) and with the veterans (keeping them playing hard throughout the last 40 games of the season even though they were on the brink of or officially eliminated from post-season play). Lou Piniella is not the easiest act to follow and even though his tenure ended poorly, he did deliver two divisional championships while he was with the Cubs. Quade has one of the best records of a manager filling in as manager of the Cubs mid-season ever. I have a lot of confidence in him and wouldn’t mind seeing if he could do the same thing in 2011 that he has in his final quarter of the season in 2010.
Then again, Sandberg is a guy learning and having some success in the minors and is a fan favorite. A guy like Sandberg along with old successful vets like Torre, Girardi and LaRussa are the only other guys I think have a shot at this spot. I don’t foresee Wedge being the guy (and I really don’t see LaRussa here either). Who know if Torre wants to manage really. We don’t want another Piniella situation, aside from his ailing mother. And Girardi may stay with New York so it may be down to Sandberg and Quade. Between the two, I take Quade yet I’d be happy to root for Sandberg (again). Just not sure he has the experience it will take to be successful just yet (look how long it took Mattingly to learn under Torre before he got a shot) and Quade keeps saying ‘nothing replaces experience’ (and I don’t think that’s by accident either by the way).
I don’t think the Reds are going away anytime soon and I don’t think this season was a fluke. Their young pitching is a huge part of their success and if healthy they will be competing among the top teams in the Central for a while. The Cardinals are of course going to be competitive. Personnel wise, Hendry and Ricketts have a ton of decisions to make. A ton of work to do to make this Cubs team successful.
Notice I didn’t say competitive. We are competitive. Think about how many one-run games we lost this year. Think about how many games we lost to Houston and Pittsburgh. We have to win the close games and we have to beat the teams we are expected to beat. Where is it toughest to win, in theory? On the road. Quade’s road record was 17-5. Just saying.
A lot of decisions to make. A lot of work to be done. Let’s just hope it’s quick and painless. Unlike the way this last minute, unexpected floor construction in my apartment feels right now.
Clink, clank, clink, clink, clink, scrub, scrub, hammer, bang, clink, clink, clank, clink, clink…
Go Cubs Go!
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