Cubs Anger At Coach For Thames’ Comments Is Encouraging
Eric Thames did cool down over the weekend. He did not hit a home run in his last four games. I’m sure people are wondering if he’s in a slump, but that’s not the case likely. I’m embracing the Cards hate if Thames has a couple big games at Busch Stadium this week. Even thought it was two weeks, people still talked about Cubs coach Chris Bosio talking about Thames potentially using Performance-Enhancing Drugs in a local radio interview. Well, we’ve finally heard from Cubs front office, and they’re none too happy about this which is a really good sign for baseball. This from ESPN’s Buster Olney…
Chicago Cubs officials were infuriated when Bosio seemed to imply that the Brewers’ Eric Thames is using performance-enhancing drugs. Thames is off to a tremendous start, hitting 11 home runs through 22 games. The Cubs know first-hand all about this sort of thing; last year, it was Jake Arrieta, after his Cy Young season of 2015, who had to deal with suggestions that he was using PEDs, despite the fact that Arrieta has never tested positive nor been suspended. This is part of the reason why Cubs officials were so angered by Bosio’s comments. “It’s just the wrong thing to do,” said one staffer.
This is a good development from a team perspective. Cubs didn’t need to say anything, but they made it a point to get out to a major baseball writer that this type of stuff will not be encouraged. Some teams might let it go like nothing happened, but Cubs made sure they wanted people to know they’re as pissed as Brewers fans are with the Thames comments. It makes sense for them to feel the anger after all of the shit Jake Arrieta got a couple years ago which Olney points out. We need more teams who are willing, even anonymously, to go against their players and coaches when they say something dumb.
For the Cubs coach, I wonder if Bosio will have a gag order from the team at least for a couple weeks before he’s on local radio again. Or this is the final nail in the coffin about this story until Adam Wainwright says something fucking dumb about this week.
Charlie.