Chicago Cubs Baseball

Ok, Chicago Cub baseball fans. The hand wringing and gnashing of teeth can stop.

Jim Edmonds is a Cub and it’s all right. It’s even better that he’s going to be manning center field whether at the Friendly Confines or any other major league ball park.

By now, all of Cubdom has read or heard the talk about Edmonds’ diminishing skill set. The bat speed has slowed down. A step or two has been lost in the outfield. Clubhouse social skills are lacking.

He’s the second coming of Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Listening to the pundits, Cubdom is left to wonder what is right about the guy? And what in the world is Chicago Cub gm Jim Hendry thinking?

For one thing, Edmonds comes cheap. The Cubs brass shelled out a mere $290K for a four-time all star with a .286 career batting average and a Gold Glove winner eight times in his 16 seasons.

Secondly, he’s a veteran left-handed bat with a boat load of post-season experience. Which is more than can be said about Felix Pie, the player he replaced on the Cubs’ roster.

In last season’s NLCS, Pie struck out in his lone at bat against Arizona pitching, pretty much summing up his big league career. Pie, who was Chicago Cubs top prospect a short two years ago, has gone from can’t miss to can’t hit to won’t miss as he returns to Triple A Iowa to hone his hitting skills.

Even at two-thirds speed, Edmonds will likely better Pie at the plate and experience alone should compensate for the difference in defense.

Can we expect Edmonds to return to his former self? Not even Cub fans are that naive.

What makes Edmonds a steal is not that his wrists will suddenly become quicker or he’ll automatically regain those steps he’s lost by throwing on a Cubbie uniform. No, the signing of Edmonds is a deal for one reason.

Pride.

As a Cub fan I may not always have liked Edmonds as a Cardinal. But one has to respect the three D’s he brought to the game - drive, determination and desire.

Edmonds strikes me as the type of player who will leave baseball on his own terms, not based on press clippings. He may not be the player he once was, but pride can cover a lot of ground.