Good Players Don’t Have Early Season Struggles

As you’re well aware, Milton Bradley struggled mightily in April. I wasn’t aware at the time, but doing so is an offense that cannot be forgiven. For example, Jack Jones got off to a horrible start with the Cubs. His sOPS+ was 92 while his tOPS+ was 77 in April, 2006. Although his sOPS+ in May and June was 122 and 132, he had already committed a crime that could not be overlooked. April wasn’t Jones’ worst month that year either. His sOPS+ in July was only 69. In Jones’ 2006 season, the one in which he became a hated employee of the Chicago Cubs, his sOPS+ by month was 92, 122, 132, 69, 129, and 135. That 92 was just unacceptable. Nobody gets off to bad starts. Good players are good because they’re good every single day. Or so these dumbass fuckwads think. Milton Bradley’s April was even worse than Jack Jones’ so he must be hated for life. Bradley’s sOPS+ by month has been 68, 110, 101, 139, and 144. You see? That’s why he’s treated like he is! He and Jones are the same! Good players never have bad months. NEVER! Except this one. His career tOPS+ by month was 6fucking6, 108, 114, 90, 106, 106. This terrible player only managed to play a few years before teams told him to **** off because you just can’t have bad starts. Maybe not. That player is Ryne Sandberg and he’s in the Hall of Fame. When I was a child watching the Cubs in April it became kind of a joke to Stone and Caray that Sandberg was so bad in April. It was funny. Everybody knew in May he’d turn it around. It was cute that he struggled like this. He hit .230/.295/.365 in his entire career in April and it was somehow acceptable. The fans didn’t mind it. For at least one player they decided that they would consider something called sample size. For guys like Jones and Bradley though, well, you know what has happened to them. Cubs fans can ignore what they’ve done to these guys as much as they’d like, but it doesn’t change the facts. JC put this together in the previous thread and I’m going to steal it for this. Exactly, it is unacceptable that a player new to a city struggles for the first 2 months. Completely and utterly unacceptable. It never happens to good players, Derek Jeter never struggles to start a season. JC also wrote this: Jeter’s 2004 April and May were terrible. He played almost every game in April and had a .468 OPS. let me just type that again to make sure that sinks in: A .468 OPS… a OPS+ of 29!!! He followed that up with an equally bad .716 OPS, but I’m sure his quality veteran leadership made up for that poor production while MB’s mercurial attitude makes him deserving of a lynching after his April .627 OPS. The reason I picked Jeter is because I was thinking of some slow starters and I remembered that Jeter has put together some real early season clunkers. Jeter and Sandberg are to be admired by all. They played the game the right way. While it’s true they sucked in April, it’s OK because they gave good interviews. It’s all about the interview. I’m sure glad the Cubs didn’t get rid of Sandberg after his first full April in which he hit a brilliant .203/.229/.304 in 84 plate appearances. He followed that up in April 1983 by hitting .187/.238/.240 in 82 plate appearances. If the Cubs had traded Sandberg for a bag of balls like they should have done in 1982 the Cubs would not have reached the playoffs in 1984 or 1989. The big difference between Sandberg and Bradley is that one was quiet and nice and the other speaks his mind and can probably be safely called an asshole. He is an asshole to the media at the very least. Oddly enough, Sandberg is loved these days for being a complete asshole as he’s trying to get back to the big leagues as a manager. Strange people these ******* Cubs fans are.