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I am speechless. I am without speech. First, all around good egg Bruce Miles goes off on Andy MacPhail. Today? Phil Rogers takes his turn.

What was unique about this article was that it enumerated flaws in Andy's management style in terms of oversight.

where was MacPhail when Hendry needed help?

Where was MacPhail to help him defuse the Baker-Steve Stone mess down the stretch in 2004? Cooler heads should have prevailed on that one, especially since the melodrama played out as the Cubs were falling out of the playoff picture? Where was MacPhail when the Cubs were planting the seeds for the mess that would be their 2006 season?

Perhaps it didn't make a difference, but the club shouldn't have allowed Baker to return for '06 without job security. That's the wrong message to send, especially for a franchise with such chronic instability. I said it then and I'll say it now: The time to change managers or extend Baker was last fall. Yet MacPhail allowed that issue to bubble just under the surface into spring training and then into the season. It is Hendry's call on Baker, according to MacPhail, but Hendry couldn't resolve anything until he had his own extension, which didn't come until March.

Why not? Baseball's business is best done before the bats and balls come out, but the Cubs never seem in a hurry. MacPhail should know better.

This is what those of us in the reality-based Cub Fan community have understood for a long time. There has been a long line of continuity at the top of the organization. That there has been chaos below is the fault of the man on top.

There is a key reason why MacPhail has his job. And that is because the Cubs have been immensely profitable and have increased the franchise value tremendously for the Tribune (value that soon may be monetized).

But, as Phil closes, despite the good job on finances, there are other stakeholders being left behind:

MacPhail was hired as a builder of a baseball team, not an expander of bleachers nor an advisor of labor lawyers. He has done a good job for his company, yes, but what about the fans?

Oh, Phil. Some of them don't care. But 25,000 no shows suggest some of them are starting to figure it out.