Burning Bridges

So, Corey Patterson has fallen back on the "I was misquoted" angle that all idiot atheletes fall on when they say something idiotic.

What's fun about this story is that Dusty Baker calls Corey a liar.

Remember the story? Corey said that no one had tried to work with him to shorten his swing. Baker said that every coach from Don Baylor to Jeff Pentland to Dusty's entire staff has tried to get Corey to shorten his swing.

Baker explained Monday that Patterson, who is on a rehab assignment in Class AAA Iowa to alter his swing and approach to the ball, said that his comments were mischaracterized in the Sun-Times story. He left a voice mail for Baker telling him that. Baker has yet to speak with Patterson on the phone.

"He called and left a message and said that story wasn't accurate," Baker said. "He said there was no way that whatever he said could be construed as that. He knows we know that's not true.

So, what we have in Corey is a stubborn bonus baby who never learned to be a baseball player despite ongoing training attempts by the Cubs. Despite this, he was promoted up the chain without ever really justifying promotions. And, when he finally failed is a disastrous, public fashion, what does he do? Blames everyone but himself.

Most likely this is a gambit to force a trade. But, it could backfire. Corey may not even get a September call up if he is still in the organization if he keeps this crap up.