Dusty Baker isn™t the only Trib employee wondering where they™ll land next season, as an apparently chipper Trib CEO Dennis FitzSimons dropped in on his œBaltimore Sun staff to let them know he holds their work in even less regard than Kerry Wood™s arm:

Witnesses said that FitzSimons (above) had a conversational tone and even cracked a couple of jokes that went over surprisingly well, despite at least one staffer suggesting that the company sell the Chicago Cubs instead of its newspapers and television stations. FitzSimons responded by noting how much the value of the Cubs franchise has grown in recent years.

Uh, “grown?” I’ll check my Baseball Encyclopedia, which is just chock full of Cub post seasons stats from œrecent years, but the sad thing is only the Cubs could “grow” and finish dead last in their division. And how nice of FitzSimons to shrug off firing suggestions of firing the worst team in baseball over the œSun. Anyway, FitzSimons’ Don’t Fix It If It Ain’t Broke attitude explains a lot about his stewardship of The Tradition. At least Phil Rogers has something on his mind other than Dusty — booting Jim Hendry and Andy MacPhail. Go, Phil, Go …

If injuries explain a 94-loss (and growing) season, then why does that explanation excuse the two guys above the manager but not the manager? Hendry was under pressure in the winter and made some shaky moves. He never will complain about anything, but 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?