|
St. LOUIS — When the Cubs hired Dale Sveum as manager, President Theo Epstein said Sveum was “as comfortable in his own skin as anyone I’ve ever been around.”
“When you have to deal with adversity — and in a market like this, you have to deal with some form of adversity on a daily basis — you end up falling back on who you are and how you feel about yourself,” Epstein said. “When Dale falls back on that, he’s going to like the answers he sees.”
Despite losing 101 games in his first season, Sveum got a pass from Cubs fans who determined he was not given enough talent to succeed.
But 2 1/2 months into his second season, Sveum is starting to feel the heat from fans upset with his handling of embattled reliever Carlos Marmol.
Before the Cubs’ 5-2 loss to the Cardinals on Monday, Sveum said he isn’t worried about fans’ perceptions of his managerial skills after Marmol’s latest implosion.
“No, that’s people’s prerogative,” he said. “I don’t really care what people think about me. That’s part of this job. You’re always going to be second-guessed. There’s nothing you can do about that. Players are put into positions to perform, and if they don’t, then obviously the decision-making is going to be second-guessed.
“It doesn’t matter what the situation is. If I would’ve put somebody else in that has never closed a game before and they give it up, you’re in the same boat.”
Sveum has the full support of Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer, who said the fan backlash was just “frustration” over the nightmarish ending to Sunday’s game, in which Marmol blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead for a 4-3 loss to the Mets.
With Kevin Gregg unavailable because he had pitched four straight games, Hoyer said bringing in Marmol “was the right call” by Sveum.
“He went with a guy that had closing experience, and it didn’t work out,” Hoyer said. “The backlash is part of sports, but it was a frustrating loss for everyone. Anger-inducing to that level was probably not where I stood on that, but I understood the fans’ reaction given it was about to be a four-game win streak.”
Marmol has three of the Cubs’ 14 blown saves and has been one of the more unpopular players in recent history because of repeated failures over the years.
Hoyer said it was the first time Marmol had been used in a closing situation since late April, and fans don’t always “understand which guys are available.”
“The fans can ask, ‘Why didn’t he use someone else?’ ” Hoyer said. “And that’s a valid question, and Dale answered it appropriately. And he’s right. The nature of that job is if Blake Parker goes in that game and blows the save, you ask why is Blake Parker thrown in a save situation.
“The nature of being the manager is when things go wrong, people ask questions. In our job, you always try to focus on the thought process more than the result. If Marmol had walked three guys and gotten through it, we’d probably be talking about a four-game winning streak today. ... Obviously the result was bad (Sunday), no question.”
_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
