Aug. 17--The lines of communication between the Cubs front office and manager Joe Maddon are always open, though Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer don't talk to Maddon daily.
"Normally when there's something cooking if I'm on the road, they'll give me a yell," Maddon said. "Otherwise they normally come and visit me in the office back home. We're in touch often. It's not constant, but they're absolutely out there trying to make us better."
Do the Cubs ask Maddon what he wants to improve the team, or just keep him abreast of what they're working on?
"They'll ask me what I think," he said. "I don't necessarily come out and say we need things. More often than not it's (discussing) the overarching philosophy there, what they're thinking about, and then they'll say 'Well, what do you think about this?'
"And I kind of like that approach, because I'm so focused on what we're doing here right now and I rely on their ability to make the decisions, and then it's up to me to give my opinion when I'm asked."
Whether or not Maddon wants Chase Utley as an upgrade at second base is unknown, though the Cubs are among the teams interested in the Phillies second baseman.
Utley is 13-for-26 in seven games with five doubles since his return from the disabled list, and is much better defensively than Chris Coghlan or Starlin Castro, both of whom are new to the position. Coghlan has played only 11 games at second, including nine this season. Castro never played second in the majors until getting benched last week, and now has five games of experience.
The Cubs like Coghlan's left-handed bat in the lineup and are willing to sacrifice some defense at second for the time being. The left-handed hitting Utley would seemingly move him to the bench since left fielder Kyle Schwarber is too valuable to sit, while cutting into Castro's playing time as well. But Castro is hitting .229 against lefties and did not impress at second this weekend against the White Sox, including a missed tag on a stolen base Saturday night.
The question of whether adding a veteran like Utley to the mix makes sense is always valid, especially with a team as close-knit as this one. It really would depend on Utley's willingness to blend in for the sake of winning after being one of the Phillies' stars during their glory years. It's easier said than done.
Still, we've seen veterans come to the Cubs near the end of their careers and do just that. Third baseman Gary Gaetti looked washed-up in 1998 when the Cubs picked him up off the scrap heap. Ditto for Jim Edmonds when the Cubs claimed him off waivers from San Diego in 2008.
Gaetti and Edmonds were instrumental to a couple of Cubs' teams that made the postseason, and even became team leaders by the end.
Without naming names, Maddon has pointed to some significant acquisitions the Rays made during his tenure there that didn't work out. It's always a risk, and now Epstein and Hoyer have to determine if Utley is a risk worth taking. If they wanted to outbid the Angels or Giants, they could probably pull it off.
The Cubs obviously need to cut down on physical and mental mistakes, and were fortunate to win Saturday against the White Sox in one of their worst games in a while.
"We had a mistake-(filled) game, whether it was on the bases or something," Maddon said. "But we still won. I'd say we would not have won that game earlier in the season. That game would've gotten away from us somehow. We're not going to be perfect every day and I don't expect us to be. I like the fact that we made some mistakes and maybe played through it. Not that we're happy to make mistakes, but the fact that we were able to rebound from them, I thought, were all positive signs."
These are strange days for Cubs fans.
They waited patiently for five years for the team to go from awful to OK, and then watched the Cubs go from slightly above average to dominating in two weeks. It's baseball's version of "My Fair Lady," with Maddon playing the role of Professor Henry Higgins.
They now have the fourth best record in baseball, even if they're only the second wild-card team in the National League, 2 1/2; games behind the Pirates in the game's best division.
Adding a veteran like Utley would definitely improve the Cubs defensively at second, and perhaps offensively if he's back to normal. On the other hand, bringing up Javier Baez from Triple-A Iowa and playing him part-time at second would not only be a cheaper option and keep the same chemistry, but perhaps light a fire under Castro.
Either way, it's going to be an interesting stretch run.
Don't blink.
