The NL Central is far and away the biggest surprise in all of baseball. Some will say the Devil Rays, but it’s not like nobody saw it coming. They were the pre-season darlings of Baseball Prospectus, whose article was featured in the pre-season edition of Sports Illustrated. Nobody, and I mean nobody, expected that at the all star break, the three teams with the best records in the NL would reside in the Central Division. (Like in the NFL, the West has disappointed immensely, but that’s neither here nor there.) Those three teams, the Cubs, Brewers and Cardinals, are the subjects of this blog and will be addressed in team-by-team format.

The St. Louis Cardinals-
This team is a little bit strange. They win, and do it pretty often, but how is unclear. They don’t score all that many runs, tied for twelfth in all of baseball (with the equally surprising Tigers) in runs scored with 415. They aren’t all that good preventing at runs either, ranking fifteenth in the league with 339 runs allowed. If you haven’t figured it out yet, their run differential is merely +16.

Offense- Their offense is built around the best hitter on the planet, but as good as he is, he is only one man. His supporting cast of Troy Glaus, Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel is nice, but the latter two have never maintained success over a full season, and the former is just a shell of his former self. Ludwick’s underlying stats show that he is a good player, but although his power is real, his average is probably going to drop and he strikes out once every four at bats. Ankiel is similar in the way that his power is very real, but he probably won’t hit any higher than .270 or get on base at a higher clip than .340. Troy Glaus’s skill set is a very known one. He has some power left, walks a lot and strikes out a bit more often, and that’s about it. All three are decent, but not good enough to be your second, third and fourth best hitters. Yadier Molina will hit for average, make consistent contact and take some walks, but hits for no power. No other offensive players warrant a mention.

Starting pitching- Their pitching staff, kind of like their offense, is made up of reclamation projects and rejects, but with Dave Duncan at the helm, have done quite well. Wainwright is undoubtedly been their best starter and is the only starter to not fit into the above criteria. His peripherals point to a slight regression, but outside of his BABIP, he hasn’t been overly lucky. Kyle Lohse, who foolishly rejected a real juicy deal from Philadelphia, has made the most of his time in St. Louis with Dave Duncan. He, like Wainwright, has been a bit lucky in the BABIP department, but make no mistake about it, he is a better pitcher this season. He has reduced his fly ball rate drastically and has become a successful ground ball pitcher. Braden looper appears to be exactly what he has been this year, a decent back of the rotation starter who’s ERA will be in the mid four’s. Todd Wellemyer, another Duncan re-invention, is nothing more than your typical number four or five starter. His current ERA is respectable, but it will regress as more balls in play fall for hits, and they will. In fact, his regression has already begun. Since his outstanding May(2.19 ERA), he has been atrocious, posting a 5.02 ERA in June and a 10.8 ERA in July. Joel Piniero, their fifth starter, has no business being a starter for a contending team. He should be nothing more than an insurance policy for your staff or a long man in the pen.

Bullpen- Their bullpen, already rocked by the ineffectiveness of former stud closer Jason Isringhausen, is merely average. Ryan Franklin has been all right, but he is due to give up a few more home runs and a lot more hits. He doesn’t have closer stuff and his weak 6.1 k/9 shows it. Kyle McLellan is their best reliever and I fully expect him to become their closer when Franklin loses the job, which he will, or at least should. Chris Perez has good stuff and is their third or fourth best pen arm, but he is way too wild and shouldn’t be used in high leverage situations just yet.
Overall, the Cardinals have a nice team with a bunch of solid players and a few good ones, but not enough really good ones. This team may hang in ther due to the same luck that has gotten them this far, but I doubt it and expect them to fall out of the running over the next month or so.

The Milwaukee Brewers-
The Brewers, just like the Cardinals, don’t have overly impressive numbers. They rank fifteenth in runs cored and fourteenth in runs allowed. Their run differential is only +11. A plus for them is that they have played a slightly tougher schedule, but with that being said, they still have outperformed their Pythagorean by four games. Obviously, what makes this team an immediate contender is the acquisition of CC Sabathia. But what should worry Brewer’s fans is that A) Ben Sheets can fall apart at any given time and B) Without Sabathia the team was merely mediocre when considering run differential, a very telling stat,

Offense- Everybody knows about the offensive studs on this team, but not enough people are aware of just how top heavy the unit is. Ryan Braun, Corey Hart and Prince Fielder are all huge talents and make up a fearsome trio, and JJ Hardy can get hot for stretches, but nobody else on the team is a viable offensive weapon. Weeks will hit some home runs and steal some bases, but not even his great walk rate can make up for his terrible average, which is very, very real. He strikes out way too much and makes too little solid contact to be a leadoff hitter. I imagine his .134 line drive rate ranks among the worst in the league among regulars; it’s downright embarrassing. But Weeks isn’t the only Brewer among the worst when it comes to hitting line drives. Mike Cameron, who has managed to strikeout more than once per game, is barely better than Weeks and has a .151 line drive rate which is the primary reason for his awful .227 average. Jason Kendall gives his team a decent average and takes his walks, but he hits for almost no power and is not the defender he once was. Bill Hall, Russell Branyon, Craig Counsell and Gabe Kapler are the others with significant AB totals, and to they stink would be an extreme understatement.

Starting Pitching- Before the very recent acquisition of CC Sabathia, their rotation, featuring ace Ben Sheets and youngster Manny Parr, was just as top heavy as the offense. Ben Sheets is an ace and Manny Parra looks like a future ace, but Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Carlos Villenueva/Seth McClung have been awful and have no business being in a major league rotation. None have an ERA lower tyhan 4.18, and three own ERA’s 4.71 or higher. The Brewers obviously suffered a huge setback when they lost Yovanni Gallardo, but it’s pretty safe to say that if they still had Gallardo they would not have gone after Sabathia, rather after a better back of the rotation starter like Gil Meche, AJ Burnett or Randy Wolf. But now that they have Sabathia, they are on front of the rotation ace up on the Chicago Cubs. Manny Parra and Ryan Dempster, at least for this season, are a push. Carlos Zambrano is as good as either Sheets or Sabathia, but no other pitcher on the Cubs’ staff ranks with either 1A or 1B of the Brewers. The Brewers are now in unknown territory. They have a relatively injury prone ace.

Bullpen- The soft underbelly of this team is the bullpen, and that can not be debated. This unit has blown leads that nobody could have dreamed would be blown, and have done it in magnificent fashion. Soloman Torres, their best bullpen arm, is uncharacteristically having a strong first half and may end up having a good season, but if he is your closer, you are in big trouble. Brian Shouse and Mitch Stetter have pitched well, but the rest of their pen, Mota, Riske and Gagne, is awful. Stetter, who gives up way too many fly balls when you consider that he plays in Miller pArk, is due for some really rough outings. His low home run rate is not sustainable. Shouse is better and gives up very few fly balls, but his BABIP is unusually low and he is also due to regress a bit. That being said, Shouse should be somewhat reliable down the stretch. Still, the Brewers currently have two reliable relievers, and until they get more, their will be many tough plane rides home for this team.

The Chicago Cubs-
As you can tell from my name, I am clearly a Cubs fan, but make no mistake about it, I am objective a Cubs fan as you will find and I think I have been fair to both teams in my assessments, and the same goes for the coming one. Statistically, this team is the cream of the crop in the NL. They rank second in all of baseball in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed and first in run differential, fourteen runs higher than the next best team, their AL counterparts from the South Side.

Offense- This team is pretty stacked offensively. Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto and Mark Derosa(yes, Mark Derosa) are among the best at their positions. The first four need no introduction, but DeRosa doesn’t get the publicity he deserves. He has the fifth highest OPS among all second baseman and does everything well offensively. He can also play almost all defensive positions semi-adequately. Anyhow, what makes this offense so good is that it has almost no easy outs. The five aforementioned guys are obviously very good, and Kosuke Fukudome, Ryan Theriot and the rejuvenated Jim Edmonds are very good complementary players and fill their rolls very, very well. The bench is also very deep, with pinch hitter deluxe Daryl Ward, Ronny Cedeno and Reed Johnson all very capable of doing damage. What’s more is that none of the starters seem to be overly luck and should be able to maintain their current levels of production over the duration of the season. Lee’s power should regress a bit, but his average should rise. Edmonds seems to have his stroke back and has pretty good peripheral stats. Soto is legitimate and always seems to be making great contact, and his numbers confirm that. Theriot has improved his batting eye and with the extra rest Piniella has given him seems to have stepped up his game. Soriano has been just outstanding when healthy and despite what Cubs fans will tell you, they are not better without him. That is absurd. This offense is stacked and shouldn’t let up.

Starting Pitching- This is where the Cubs don’t rate among the elite. The staff as a whole is solid and above average, but as presently constructed is likely no World Series Champion material. Carlos Zambrano is a stud, and a very good option at the front of the rotation. The problem is who fills in as the number two behind him. Ryan Dempster has performed number two, but he still doesn’t feel like one. The main reasons for his improvement are his slightly improved control, solid strikeout rate and low fly ball/ high ground ball rates. He has been a bit fortunate in the BABIP department, but even with the appropriate regression his numbers would still be respectable, if and only if he can continue limiting fly balls and inducing ground balls. Lilly’s overall numbers aren’t great, but he has been his old self since April, when he posted a 6.46 ERA. He is a solid third starter. The loss of Rich Hill has really hampered this team. He was counted on to improve into a decent second starter but instead finds himself pitching in rookie ball. It’s doubtful he makes it back up at any time this season. Sean Marshall and Jason Marquis are both fifth starter types and shouldn’t be counted on to win. Jim Hendry needs to make a move to bolster the front end of the rotation. Zambrano is undoubtedly among the NL’s best, but in a playoff series, Dempster and Lilly don’t scare anybody. Their offense could be enough to make up for the lack of another first tier starter, but offenses aren’t as powerful in the playoffs. Jim Hendry must go out and get a very strong starter, someone like Erik Bedard or Rich Harden. The minor league system isn’t nearly as loaded as that of the Brewers’, but Hendry needs to find a way to bring in a reliable playoff starter. Greg Maddux, Gil Meche and Randy Wolf won’t cut it, and neither will Steve Trachsel.

Bullpen- This is where the Cubs have a real edge over the Cardinals and Brewers. Kerry Wood is only in his first year as a closer, but relieving seems to suit his body type well and has arguably been the NL’s best closer. Carlos Marmol has hit a rough patch as of late and has given up a number of home runs, but with his extremely high fly ball percentage, that should have been expected. He was extremely lucky in the HR department last season and is not benefitting from the same fortune this year. That being said, his stuff is electric and when he keeps the ball down, he is among the best setup men in the game. Bob Howry isn’t as good as he used to be but he has historically been much better in the second half and his numbers at this point are better than they were last year. He is a solid third arm out of the pen. Behind him are Neal Cotts, Michael Wuertz and Jon Lieber. Lieber is a very capable long man and serves as insurance for the rotation. Wuertz hasn’t come in and locked down the opposition like he did last season, but he is walking less hitters and giving up less fly balls and home runs, so his lower k rate is easier to stomach. His BABIP is low when you consider his line drive rate, but he is a good arm out of the pen. Neal Cotts is a decent lefty who walks too many batters but is striking out more than one batter per inning and has been giving up more home runs and hits than his peripheral stats say he should. He is only going to get better.

All in all, my home team bias aside, I feel that the Cubs have the best oerall team in the division. They feature the best, most complete and established offense in the division and have a great bullpen to go with a slightly above average rotation. Milwaukee has the better pitching staff, but I don’t think that will be enough to beat out the Cubs for the crown. If they acquire another bullpen arm, preferably a closer, that could change.

With all of the good feelings flying around the North Side, the biggest Cubs related news should not be focused on Alfonso Soriano, but with the way things are being run on Clark and Addision, it is difficult to find anything in which Alfonso Soriano is not it's epicenter. The Cubs are off to a superb, if not almost unprecedented start to the season, owners of the top spot in the central and tied with the Diamondbacks with the third best record in all of baseball. Gone under the radar are Aramis Ramirez's superb start, Carlos Zambrano's unbelievable start and Derrek Lee's return to stardom. Ryan Theriot's hot start and Mark Derosa's excellent play have also not been given proper attention. Why? Because Alfonso Soriano and his extreme highs and lows have not just grabbed the headlines, but have surely given Lou Piniella many sleepless nights and have now necessitated stadium ejections for excessive jeering in the left field bleachers.

This morning, on ESPN 1000, an old interview with baseball insider Buster Olney was replayed in  which he "revealed" that a ninth inning replacement of Alfonso Soriano might put him down for the next two weeks. It's not that Soriano's over the top sensitivity is a secret or anything, it's just that it is strange to actually hear those sentiments from any baseball insider with knowledge of the situation. Judging from what Cubs players and management have said about Soriano, it seems like Soriano is as sensitive as Lou Piniella is subtle, which needless to say is not in the least bit. What makes all of this tough to stomach is that Soriano is no spring chicken. He is a veteran and is completely set in his ways. He will never be consistent, will not learn how to work the count and wait for his pitch and to top it all off, has already peaked, and that peak most likely was reached before he came to the Cubs. From the looks of things, the Cubs are now stick with five and a half more injury riddled seasons from a player who in a year or two will most likely have worn out his welcome.
So all this begs the question: Is Alfonso Soriano and all of the accompanying baggage worth it?

    With the recent all around struggles that have suddenly befallen the Cubs, a few problems with the current roster have stood out more than others. For starters, there's the leadoff man, or lack thereof. Personally, with the current roster, I have no problem with Alfonso Soriano leading things off. However, that has less to do with Soriano's skills than the lack of a real leadoff man on the present day Cubs. The alternatives to Soriano are Reed Johnson, Ryan Theriot and Kosuke Fukudome. Mark Derosa has the OB skills to do it, but Piniella will never put a guy that slow atop the lineup. Reed Johnson, as long as he is as good as he was early on, is a solid option, it's just that he already has reverted to Reed Johnson-fourth outfielder. Ryan Theriot has the speed to pile up stolen bases and his recent run of CS's are nothing to get worked up about, but his track record says he doesn't have the OB skills to leadoff. That being said, he has been much more selective so far and his walk rate has been much better as well, so even if his average drops, and it most likely will, he could still be a legitimate leadoff option. The last option, Fukudome, would be underutilized in the leadoff spot. Sure he could h get on base and even steal a few, but his super bat control and doubles power would be better suited in the two, five or six spot. As is, the only player I would consider using at the leadoff spot outside of Soriano is Theriot. But seeing as I doubt Theriot can keep up his current pace all season long, the best thing for the Cubs to do is to try and bring in Brian Roberts again, who not only would immediately be the Cubs best leadoff hitter, he would also give them that lefty bat they have been looking for.
    If the Cubs do not succeed in bringing in Brian Roberts, i would like to see the lineup built like this, even if Theriot reverts to his 2007 form, although i believe he will fall somewhere in between where he ended off last year and where he is now, with a line of .290/.355/.390:
- Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Mark Derosa, Felix Pie, Pitcher.
     With Brian Roberts, things would be a little more clouded, seeing as Mark Derosa will kind of be the odd man out. Either way, here is the w/Roberts lineup.
- Brian Roberts, Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, Felix Pie, Pitcher.
    The last position player mentioned, Felix Pie, has also been the subject of debate as of late. He has been struggling, but has gold glove ability in center field and is very toolsy offensively. Personally, I feel like Lou needs to give him at least 4 starts a week and allow him to work things out, kind of like the Sox did with Brian Anderson two years back. If he doesn't work out, his numbers won't end up being all that much worse than Reed's and at least he'll end up playing great defense. If he does work out, that would just be gravy for this already stacked lineup.

    On to the pitching. Carlos Zambrano has been outstanding, Ryan Dempster has been very good and Ted Lilly has bounced back from a rocky start. On the other hand, Jason Marquis has been, well... Jason Marquis, which is a nice way of saying bad. Last season, at least he started off hot before going back to being the Godawful pitcher he is, but this season, it looks like he has other things on his mind, perhaps paying back the Cubs for benching him in the postseason(Thats not serious). Rich Hill is back in the minors and as I write this, his replacement, Jon Lieber, is being beat around like a donkey. Hopefully, Hill resonds to this demotion like he did his last one, by pitching lights out for the remainder of the season. I know it's just one start, but Lieber looked like horse s@#$ and the sooner Hill comes back the better. In his first rehab start, Hill only allowed one walk, so hopefully his control issues are behind him. He did allow 7 hits,  but his biggest issue is his control, so it's nice to see his walks down. The bottom line is that even if Hill comes back and posts numbers similar to those of last season, the Cubs will need another starter to take over for Marquis whenever Lou deems that necessary.

    The other pitching issue lingers in the bullpen. By now everybody knows about Carlos Marmol, Kerry Wood and the speculation that Marmol may supplant Wood in the near future. While Wood's shakiness has been a real issue and will continue to be, the real problem in the pen is the (quality) depth, which coming into the season looked like a real strong point. Michael Wuertz had a tremendous 07 campaign and after a shaky first half Bob Howry joined in on the fun too, but so far both have been pretty bad, although the former has been much, much better than the latter. Wuertz has better stuff than Howry, so his chances of rebounding are much better, although Howry does have a track record of starting slow, and thats putting it nicely. The good news is that when Hill comes back, Lieber will head back to the pen, where has been great so far and should add some depth to the pen. However, for the Cubs to succeed, they will need for Howry and Wuertz to turn things around quickly.

         While baseball has managed to stay atop American Sports for the better part of one and a half centuries, the fact that baseball has lost some of it's luster to America's other sport, football, is indisputable. When was the last time andybody said anything along the linees of "So and so might have saved football?" Meanwhile, in the late nineties, baseball was in need of saving, and the unprecedented home run battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire arrived just in time. Don't let anybody fool you, while baseball's stadiums were and still are getting filled at a very respectable game, the game is nowhere close to where it should be, or where it, for the most part, has been. TV ratings are way down, and even during October, when the football season is still in it's infancy and baseball is in the thick of the playoffs, TBS and FOX recorded putrid viewing numbers, some of which were all-time lows.

          Now imagine a game where pitching is dominant and 60 home run seasons are as unlikely as undefeated seasons are in football. With today's instant gratification mindset and the way fans crave the long ball, the casual fan would be extinct. Now imagine what Bud Selig and baseball's owners were up against when the allegations and accusations came about in the early part of the twentieth century. They could do like other sports and set up a real steroid policy at risk of losing the casual fan base, which would devastate a game already reeling from it's losses to the NBA and NFL, or they could turn the other cheek and hope steroids went away. In hindsight, the decision looks pretty easy to make, but was it, and is it, really so? Selig, as it is right now, has put himself in a position where he has no choice but to beef up the steroids policy and severely punish violaters. Ten game game suspensions will become 50 game suspensions and two time violaters will get one or two year bans. Selig has no choice anymore. By setting up the Mitchell investigation, which finally gave real, documented evidence pertaining to the undoubtebly enormous influence of steroids on baseball, Selig has cornered himself and is now forced to do what he didn't do a number of years back. The question now isn't whether or not Selig will toughen up the doping policies. Rather the question is, will baseball be better off for it?

In his article Jay Walking, Tracy Ringolsby ripped into the Blue Jays, and more specifically, their manager JP Riccardi. No one can deny that the Blue Jays have been playing third fiddle to the Yankees and Red Sox for the last decade plus, put to put the blame on Riccardi for a few bad draft picks and his "small" payroll is unfair. Althoough Ringolsby didn't mention it, its hard to get around the fact that the Jays play in Toronto, and given the options most top tier free agents get, they probably dont light up at the idea of moving to Toronto. Also, if you take a look at Toronto's roster, it happens to be pretty good. They have a number of strong power hitters, a strong rotation and a solid back of the bullpen.
Well, if they have so many good players, why do they struggle? Well, when projected starters like Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus underperform and suffer from injuries, teams usually find themselves in deep holes. Wells, fresh off a huge extension, played like garbage. He was moved up and down the order, but nothing really shook him out of his funk. Overbay, a solid slugger and a strong on base guy, couldnt shake off his injuries and never got on a roll. Troy Glaus posted really good numbers in his 385 Ab's, but missed too many games. Alex RIos, Frank Thomas and Aaron Hill all did their best to make up for their gimpy teammates, but in the end they finished well behind Boston and New York.
As far as their pitching goes, Jays fans have real reason for optimism. Halladay was his usual self and the same goes for Burnett, although he missed his usual ten games or so. But starters Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch al had really impressive seasons. McGowan, in his first "full" season, pitched well very well in 27 starts. He struck out almost a batter per inning and ended the year with a 4.08 ERA and only 14 HR's allowed. Marcum posted similar numbers overall, but he struck out 20 less batters and gave up 27 HR's. Still his WHIP and BAA were very respectable. The main difference between Marcum and McGowan was that McGowan improved in the second half, while Marcum regressed quite a bit. Litsch, the youngest of the trio at only 22 years of age, pitched brilliantly in his 20 starts. Hes more of a finesse pitcher and seems to already have a firm grasp on how to pitch, as opposed to young fireballers who really just try to throw by batters. I see no reason why this staff shouldnt be better than the one the Yankees will trot out next year, barring injuries of course.
The third component of the Jays, their pen, also looks to be strong. Although they lost Ryan early on in the year, they saw just how good Jeremy Accardo is. Accardo got much, much better as the season rolled on, showing that he learned from experience and should be really good next year. If Ryan returns to form, that should be a 1-2 punch just a shade behind that of Papelbon and Okajima. Scott Downs and Casey Janssen were also brilliant last year. If their starters can get to the sixth or seventh with the lead, there is no better bullpen in the game more capable at bringing home a W.
All in all, i dont think the Blue Jays are in as much trouble as Ringolsby does. Again, barring injury, i don't see why they cant compete with the Yankees and Red Sox for the division title or with intraleague foes for the wild card.

The recent events in Chicago remind of the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry becomes Kramer and Kramer becomes Jerry. You know, the one with Roger's Chicken. Anyway, it seems as Kenny Williams has taken to the way the Cubs have done business the last few years. You know, just throwing money around without paying attention to whom it it is going to. First he trades Jon Garland. Not to say that i have such a big problem with trading Garland, i just dont understand the timing and the return on the trade. Yeah, Cabrera is a solid player, but in a FA market in which Carlos Silva is the big fish, i cant imagine that Cabrera was the best the Sox could get in return for Garland. Garland was never really a good fit for the Sox. He was too laid back for Ozzie, and his fly ball tendencies weren't a good fit in the launching pad that is US Cellular Field. Plus, the Sox just lost their second best starter, and they dont really have any viable replacement for him. John Danks did nothing to inspire last year, and the same can be said for Gavin Floyd. Lance broadway pitched well in his final start, but he is very young and raw. Maybe one of them could work out, but i dont see it happening. With the continuing decline of Jose "im only 30 years old" Contreras, the Sox pitching staff will struggle nect year. Also, Garland was going into the last year of his deal and Kenny has made it clear that he wont have enything to do with long term deals, which Garland is sure to demand. But thats where i have got a problem with Kenny. Fine, if your gonna take that stand, take it. But dont turn around just a few days later and throw 20 million over five years at a guy like Scott Linebrink, who Bruce Levine, ESPN Chicago's baseball guy, said has just signed with the Sox for that amount of money. Not only is Linebrink coming off of his worst year as a relieve, but in offering him that deal kenny went aginst the principal that he so often sites as his main criteria in making offers. Considering that he posted an ERA in the high 3's the last two years while pitching in cavernous Petco Park, the move to the Cell will only make him less efective. His strikeouts were way down in 07 and his WHIP was way up. He is also 31 years old, but with relievers, 31 isnt as big of a deal as it is with hitters and starting pitchers. P

Overall, i dont really like the moves that Williams has made. He signed Uribe, then traded for Cabrera. He would have to find an absolute #### to take Uribe and his 4.5 million that he is owed this year. The Sox would probably have to eat at least half the contract anyway, nullifying the cash they got in the deal for Cabrera. And now, with the rumor that the Dodgers have offered Torii Hunter a six year deal worth 102 million, the Sox chances at landing Torii look really slim. Kenny has got a lot of work to do, and i dont particularly like the start he has gotten off to. They have no left and center fielder. Jerry Owens is OK, but hes already past the prospect age, and still hasnt shown anything outside of speed. Dye is old is not going to repeat his 2006. Konerko is older, and Danny RIchar is also way too raw and hit very poorly last year. To me, it looks like Kenny is trying to patch everything up in one postseason, but there simply arent enough good players avilable to fix all the problems on the South Side. If he continues making desperate and ridiculous offers like the one he has extended to Linebrink, he is only hurting his team.

Jime Hendry has done it again. Fresh off an offseason in which he assured the Cubs of having the most frustrating leadoff man in the game for the next seven years, Hendry, for one reason or another, decided to be for the Tigers what Dave Littlefield has been for the Cubs, a fan. Hendry has just pulled the trigger on a deal that sent Jacque Jones, who in having his worst season as a pro finished with an acceptable line of .285/.335/.400, and put together a second half to the tune of .332/.374/.458, to the Tigers for Omar Infante, who couldnt beat out Brandon Inge(.241/.304.394) for the job at 3b. Infante's career best average, OBP and SLG% are .277/.325/.449. He has played just 407 games over the last four years.
Jacque Jones, despite having his worst year in 07, is making just 5 million this year and the Cubs should have waited until the market for outfielders thinned out and the demand for Jones would have increased. I feel that Hendry, fresh off of a first round sweep, made this move just to make a move. I understand that Jones was maybe the most frustrating Cub of 07 and hit only five home runs, but if the Cubs fail to get their hands on a premier outfielder by opening day, Jime Hendry will rue the day he traded Jacque Jones.

While writing my respnse to a comment, i realized that not only is Hendry giving up Jones for a lesser player, but he is giving up Jones to acquire a player who will in no way shape or form help bolster the team. Infante presumabbly was brough in to be some sort of utility guy, not a starter, and mainly sub in at SS and 2B. The Cubs already have themselves one of the most durable infielders in the game, Mark Derosa. Derosa played 1B,2B and 3B last season(not to mention LF) and did a great job at all three. Theriot, who i believe can be one of the best 2B/SS bench guys in the game, can do everything Infante does, except Theriot does it better. In watching Ryan play every day last year it was pretty clear that a) He wasnt good enough defensively to be a starting SS and b) He coudlnt handle the wear and tear of a full time gig at SS. If relegated to bench status, Theriot would perform at a higher level with all of the rest he would get and would provide some rest here and there for Derosa. Also, if the Cubs were to acquire Kaz Matsui(and his injury history) and play him at SS, i would feel much safer with Theriot behind him than i would with Infante.

Someone, please help me out. There was a vote taken yesterday at the winter meetings to try and get Selig to approve instant replay on home runs and the vote was 25 to 5. Whats worse for me is that my favorite team's #### GM, Jim Hendry, said after the vote that he like the idea of "leaving the game in the hands of the ump." It is decision making like this, at all levels of the baseball heierarchy, that puts baseball miles behind the NFL. Hendry in essence said, "because the game has always been in the hand of the umps, why not allow the possibility of wrong home run calls to be made." He is rooting for bad officiating. The same can be said for the four other bozos that voted against the replay.

I could already see their reasoning: "It would take away form the tradition of the game. The games would take too long. How often is it a problem anyway?" As stupid as some of those claims sound, dont be surprised if the five guys that voted aginst replay use them.

-"It would take away form the tradition of the game." A continuence of stupidity just because stupidity has been used in the past is sheer madness. By that logic, the wheel would never have been invented. Makes you wonder what kind of guys are running the show.

-"The game takes too long. How often is it a problem anyway?" How often is there a questionable home run call. I would be surprised if there has ever been more than 10-15 home runs that have given an ump trouble. Considering the fact that a fatass like Bruce Fremming is making home run calls from home plate, that says something about how easy most home runs are too call. So if they are so few and would impact maybe 10-15 games per season, whats the big deal? An extra minute here and there never hurt anybody, but a bad home run call has.

 

Things are not looking good in the Chi nowadays. No team, aside from maybe the Blackhawks, playing good ball, and none of them really have bright futures either. Hers a breakdown, with a few solutions here an there, for the four big teams in Chicago, the Bears, Cubs, Bulls and Sox.

The Bulls: John Paxson and Scott Skiles really have to take a step back and look at the team objectively. The team, as presently constructed, need to be evaluated. Is the core of Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon a championship calibur one? Are they at the height of their developmental process or do they still have room to grow? The answer to both questions is no. The Bulls have some intriguing prospects and some pretty good players, but collectively they dont have what it takes to raise another banner in the UC. Ben Gordon is too small and too defensively deficient to start. Kirk Hinrich is too ordinary and has been around long enough to learn how to stay out of foul trouble. Luol Deng, despite his sudden rise to superstar status(which i think is utterly ridiculous), is a good player and fun to root for, but he doesnt have that much more room to grow. He can get better, but only a little better. Ben Wallace is all but washed up. Can he grab rebounds, yes, but a team so reliant on outside shooting can not afford to have an offensive zero on the floor in case they go on cold streaks. Tyrus Thomas is athletic and entertaining, but i would take LaMarcus Aldridge back in a heartbeat. Thomas has work ethic problems and no offensive game to speak of. Put backs dont count. Chris Duhon is a backup, and the same goes for guys like Andres Nocioni and Joe Smith. The player with the most upside on the Bulls is Thabo Sefolsha, but Skiles doesn't seem willing to play him.
The Bulls need to do whatever they can to bring in Kobe. Nobody is untouchable. Bulls fans are scared to mention Kobe and MJ in the same breath, i am not. The Bulls, if unchanged, are just a a nice team that could do some damage in the playoffs, perhaps win a series or two. With Kobe, they can get some rings. Give away Deng and Gordon, i dont care.

The Cubs: This team has some major holes. The outfield, Alfonso Soriano included, is bad. I think Soriano is a below average baseball player and does little to help his team. Solo home runs are nice, but whether you drive yourself in or someone else drives you in, its just on run. His OBP sucks and so does his effort. The LSU guys, Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot, despite their strong starts, are not starters. Theriot can take up a bench spot on my team any day, but Fontenot isnt big league material. Felix Pie doesnt appear to be ready. A piece of ice in hell has a better chance of staying frozen than Pie has of hitting a curveball. A platoon of Murton/Jones could work for me in right, but i wouldnt mind seeing Murton traded for a shortstop like Johnny Peralta, which SI says is a real possibility. The pitching staff is in decent shape, but i dont know if Marquis will be a Cub come opening day. He was left off the playoff roster and that may have soured his realtionship with the Cubs and more importantly Lou Piniella, who by the way is just an ok manager at this point. The Cubs need to get an oufielder or two, a decent shortsop, some bullpen help and find a way to fortify the back end of their rotation. There are some in hous options, like Ronny Cedeno, Sean Marshall, Mark Prior, Kevin Hart, Tyler Colvin and and a few others, but some of those might not be ready for full time play in the bigs. Jim Hendry has a lot of work to do.

The White Sox: This team is in big trouble. They play in a very good division and dont have much young talent in their farm system.I like Josh Fields and the return of Joe Crede should be of some help, but the offense is very old and very, very slow. They already have kissed Erstad goodbye and will probably do the same to the oft-injured Podsednik, and in doing so will wave goodbye to two of the biggest "grinders" in Sox history. Good Riddance. But in doing so, they open the door for the biggest grinder in tyhe history of sports, Aaron Rowand, known in Chicago as Superman. The Sox, like the Cubs also will need a new shortstop if they let go of the big bellied Juan Uribe. The guy has underperformed his entire carreer and after playing in both the Cell and Coors field, thats saying something. As many offensive problems as the Sox have, they have a lot more in the pitching department. The bullpen, aside form Bobby Jenks, needs a complete overhall. A few guys had some nice second halves last year, but in reality they need to start from scratch. The rotation is also in trouble. Jon Garland might be their best trade chip, and considering the poor free agent class of SP's, he could be used to acquire a few prospects and some major league ready players. Jose Contreras is a liabilty, and neither Gavin Floyd or Jon Danks impressed last year. Perhaps Lance Broadway, who had a nice outing to finish off the season, might be the answer. Like i said, the free agent class is thin, so the Sox will likely go into the '08 season with some question marks at the back of their rotation. The good news is that Beuhrle is a good pitcher and Javier Vasquez had a very good season. Even if things go relatively well on the south side in '08, its hard to envision them finishing ahead of Cleveland, Detroit or even the Minnesota Twins.

Chicago Bears: This team is in some serious trouble. The thing with the Bears is that there isnt just one thing that needs to be fixed, there are multiple issues that will need to be addressed, and most likely they will go into '08 with at least one hole unplugged. On defense, there are several issues. First off, the safeties stink. Adam Archuletta is not an NFL starter anymore, period. On the other hand, Danieal manning is an excellent athlete that has all the tools to be a solid safety. Perhaps with another season under his bel, he could at least be adequate come '08. The linebacking core is not without question either. Brian Urlacher's back problems are well documented and the Bears likely will not be able to retain Lance Briggs. The Bears think that Jamar Williams can replace him, but thats wishful thinking. Lance Briggs is an all-pro outside linebacker and the Bears will sorely miss him. The reason the Bears will not be able to resign Briggs is Tommie Harris. Harris is invaluable. He is top five defensive tackle in this league and already has supplanted Brian Urlacher as the most valuable player on the defense. Mark Anderson, who had a fabulous rookie year, hasnt been able to handle full time duty. It appears that he is at his best when used as a pass rushing specialist, like the Packers use KGB. Adewale Ogunleye and Alex Brown are both solid players that can play the run and pass well, but neither can do either one spectacularly. The big question mark is who will play alongside Tommie Harris. Darwin Walker is a fabulous pass rusher, but when he, Harris, and Anderson are on at the same time, the other team will be able to run easily against the Bears. thats where Dusty Dvoracek comes in. Can he stay health? His first two season have ended with him on the IR, and the Bears would do well to find an adequate, run-stuffing backup for Dvoracek.
On offense, the Bears have endless question marks and holes. Quarterback, reciever, running back and O-Line. That about sums up all of their weaknesses. The only position the Bears are set at is at tight end, where Olsen and Clark do a good job complementing eachother. The Bears will most likely give both Grossman and Orton looks in the second half, but i have a feeling neither will ever end up being (decent)starting QB's in the league. This is it for Benson. He has eight games left to prove he can play at this level. He appears to be slower than last year and isnt finishing off his runs as well as he has in the past. His lack of visible passion is also concerning. He needs to show the Bears something in these final two months of the season. If he doesnt, hello Michael Turner. The recieving core also needs work. Bernard Berrian broke out last year and is having a decent season, numberswise that is. He has dropped too many balls and the Bears may not want to resign him, but they may not have a choice. If they dont resign Berrian, you could be looking at a WR group consisting of Rashied Davis, Devin Hester, Mike Hass, Mark Bradley and a very old and slow Muhsin Muhammad next year. Speakin of old, check out the offensive line. The starters are all above thirty, and what makes it worse is that they have no competent youngsters waiting in the wings. Josh Beekman hasnt been sighted yet, and John St. Clair hopefully wont be sighted. The O-Line, starting with Ruben Brown and Fred Miller, needs an overhaul.

Thats about it. If you didnt know better, you would think these teams have been bad forever, but what makes it even worse is that the Cubs, Bears and Bulls are all coming off seasons in which they made the playoffs and the White Sox are just two years removed from a World Series victory.

Is there anything worse than the hit and run blogger? I have seen numerous blogs on this site where someone posts something absolutely controversial and just when i get worked up enough to drop a comment, i see the writer has disabled the comment option. If you are gonna take time to write an article and post in an online forum like FoxSports, odds are you wanna get some feedback. If not, why post at all. Just had to voice my opinion, because these hit and runs just get under my skin.

When, not if, the Red Sox win the series(I predicted in 5, but a sweep is more likely), there are going to be some half-assed excuses thrown out there on the behalf of the Rockies. The eight day rest BS was already used by everybody analyst from Corlorado to ####ledesh, and there are probably more to come. But before people start mistaking the Rockies for the Yankees of the 90's, realize just how mediocre this team is outside of their offensive studs. The fact that their pitching staff is so mediocre speaks volumes of how poor the NL is as a whole. Everybody knows the NL is bad, but to have the NL reps go out and lay three straight eggs like the Rockies have makes the NL look like the minor leagues. In reality, could Colorado contend with any of the AL playoff teams? The answer is most likely not.

Boston is stacked up and down their lineup, is strong 1-5 in their rotation and has an excellent back end of the bullpen. Colorado has some really good offensive players and a solid defense, but Francis, Jimenez, Fogg and ??? will never, ever win a series against Beckett, Schilling, Matsuzaka and Wakefield. Never. The scariest part about the Sox is that they will probably get better next year. Ellsbury will probably take over in center, Pedroia will have a full year under his belt and both Lester and Bucholz will be upgrades in the rotation. Baseball may have a dynasty on it's hands.

The Cubs have been, and still are the most inept franchise in pro sports over the last century. The Cubs, regardless of which players are on the fiels, seem to get a laugh out of kicking their own fans in the stones on an annual basis. But this past season was different. The Cubs have always sucked, make no mistake about it, but they have never sucked with such little effort like they did just a few weeks ago against an Arizona team that got demolished by the Rockies. Maybe the sale of the Cubs will trigger a chain of events that somehow leads to the world series, or maybe it wont, but if Cubs management wants to put an end to the drought, here is what they need to do before next year starts, position by position.

Very rarely does a team completely need to clean house and virtually rebuild from nothing, and this Cubs team is no exception. They have a bunch of very good players who are locks to play at their respective positions, and these are the locks:

1B- Derrek Lee- Despite putting up fairly respectable numbers, he had a dissapoining season for a guy with his power potential. Nevertheless, he will be at first on opening day.
2B- Mark Derosa- Although he will be remembered for his double play ball against Arizona in the DS, he did have a pretty solid year.
3B- Aramis Ramirez- Mr. Clutch, like the rest of the Cubs, forgot how to swing the bat in offseason, but is still a top 5 third baseman.
C- Geovany Soto- Yes, he is young, but from the looks of things, the Cubs will put all their eggs in the Soto basket after being named MVP of his AAA league.
LF- Alfonso Soriano- No matter how bad this guy plays, Lou Piniella seems to see things in Soriano that nobody else sees. He stinks, but with his fat contract, he will be stinking as the starting left fielder for the Cubs for a very long time.
SP- Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Hill- The only really good thing the Cubs have is a strong top of the rotation. HIll will only get better, Lilly will be steady and Zambrano will be Zambrano.
RP- Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry, Michael Weurtz, Kevin Hart- Those four guys were really good last year, but aside from them, i dont feel comortable with anybody else in the bullpen, and neither should Cubs' management.

These are the needs for the Cubs:

SS- I kind of got sucked into the Ryan Theriot lovefest, but as the season winded down, it was clear that this guy is not the answer at SS. His OBP% is bad, his fielding is decent and he seemed to wear down badly as the season went on.
RF/CF- The Cubs dont have a viable starter at either of these positions. It would be foolish to enter the 08 season banking on Felix Pie and Jacque Jones, especially consider the fat free agent class of outfielders that will be out there this offseason.
SP- The back end of the rotation is up in the air. Rumor is that Steve Trachsel might be resigned to be the fourth or fifth starter. The minute that happens, the season is over. Jason Marquis was what we expected, but his terrible second half killed the Cubs. If the Cubs can find a taker, pull the trigger get Marquis, and his 7 million per, out of town and I thought Sean Marshall did a decent job and is one of the better fifth starters in the game, but Lou doesnt seem to have faith in him. Why, i have no idea. Mark Prior is also due for a comeback, but management knows better to rely on him, but if he shows flashes of the old Prior, he needs to be in the rotation. At this point he is an insurance policy.
RP- Ryan Dempster needs to be traded. He is terribly inconsistent and doesnt have closer stuff. If the Cubs could get a decent bench player for him, do it. Will Ohman and Scott Eyre need to go to, and maybe they can take Lou's lefty-lefty matchup lovefest with him too. Righties CAN get lefties out.

Some Possible Replacements:

SS- The free agent class at SS is very shallow. There are no good shortsops in the group. Eckstein, Uribe and Vizquel are all below average, and there is some Cuban kid that nobody knows about as well. The other option might be Ronny Cedeno, who had a great year at AAA. If the Cubs cant get a replacement for Theriot, I would give Cedeno a shot. His defense is much better than Theriot's, and he has much more upside.
RF/CF- The free agent class is chock full of outfielders. The Cubs need to end up with at least one of the following players: Milton Bradley, Mike Cameron, Torii Hunter, Kenny Lofton, Aaron Rowand, Jose Guillen or Bobby Abreu. I like Bradley. He will probably be on the cheaper side and he is better than advertised. Lofton still has another season left in the tank and would be great influence on the Felix Pie, who has similar tools to those of Lofton. Jose Guillen wouldnt be a bad option either. Odds are thet Hunter, Jones and Rowand will be too pricey for the Cubs, and they arent all that much better than those other guys. The Cubs really need to tap into the outfelders market, bigtime.
SP- Not much doing here in free agency. Like i said before, i wouldnt mind having Marshall take the mound every fifth day. I dont wanna see either Trachsel or Marquis at the fourth spot, and a possible replacement could end up being Prior or somebody from their Minor Leagues. They could try and sign either Josh Fogg, Jason Jennings or the new steroids man, Mr. Byrd from Cleveland. Something nees to be done at the four spot, fast.
RP- Free agency is not the way to go for relief pitching. They are too unpredictable and there is no way they wanna end up with another money eating nobody like Scott Eyre. Looks like the Minor Leagues is the way to go here. That or either trading for another cheap, youngster, perhaps danglig a guy like Jacque Jones as trade bait.

The Cubs have some serious work to do, lets get after it and do something for a change.

Upon actually thinking about the playoffs and its ability, or lack therof, to crown the team in each respective sport, I couldnt help but be reminded of something I read in Moneyball, where Billy Beane is quoted as saying that "My #### doesnt work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the play-offs. What happens after that is #### luck." For anybody that hasnt read the book, it basically sums up the idea that over the entire regular season, luck evens out and a superior lineup will almost always, win more games than any lesser teams. But over  the small sample size that is the playoffs, a lesser team can beat a better team because in a short season, luck can very easily tilt heavily in one of the team's favor.

On the other hand, that exact reason is why the playoff games provides a greater level of excitement for fans. Over the regular season, the greater teams shine through, but in the playoffs, its quite simply a crapshoot. Is this the right way to go about crowning the rightful champion? I dont think so. Is there another way? I dont know, but if anybody that reads this does, feel free to comment.

For all the people that wonder why baseball is in such bad shape rightnow, take a look at the headlines. Dusty Baker, a guy that shouldnt be in radio booth, let alone a dugout, is now the manager of the hapless Cincinatti Reds. I for one thought that the Reds were headed in the right direction under their interim manager. They had a record slightly above .500 after they switched managers and they reward the new coach by replacing him with a tooth pick munching, cliche spewing poor excuse for a baseball coach? From what i have heard, Cincinatti Reds fans are livid about the hiring, and rightfully so. In his first public address since signing the deal, the BS bonanza has already begun. After watching him refuse to play young players for years on the north side, he had the audacity to say that he cant wait to work with the young pitchers and position players that Cincinatti has to offer. I extended my deepest condolences to Reds fans for the hiring of Baker. The Reds have a large number of stud prospetcs, headlined by Homer Bailey, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. In my opinion, i think that Baker will cement his position on my all time baseball #### lists if, and most likely when, he stunts the development of those aforementioned up and comers and benches them in favor of has beens like Neifi Perez and Randall Simon, some of his favorites from back in Chicago who are sure to be on the Reds' roster come 2008.
Its a real shame that on a team brimming with young talent will be run by a guy like Baker. Just a year removed from a coach of the year performance, while coaching perhaps the youngest teams in baseball, Joe Girardi is still available. Hopefully, some team that will be searching for a coaching replacement, such as the Yankees or Cardinals, will wisen up and not make the same mistake that the Cubs and now the Reds have made, that being chosing an old, washed up manager without much fire left in the tank, as opposed to going with a young, passionatemanager that has proven himself capable in even the most bleek of situations.

Disclaimer: I personally do not put much stock in who is the manager o####iven baseball club. In my opinion, the most important positon, aside from those on the field itself, is manned by the general manager. Logically, who has more power when determening the success of a team: The guy that brings in the players, or the guy that tells the players to play. Billy Beane has got it right. A manager really isnt necessary, its just that in a game that is laden with old fashioned baseball dudes, a decision to go without a manager would be blasted from here to Khazakstan.
Still, if i had to pick a manager, i would lean(heavily) towards taking Joe Girardi over Dusty Baker, the king of the double switch.

This is just gonna be a pure rant. Some nutjob called up the MJH(A hell of a show by McNeil, Jurkovic and Teinowitz) show in Chicago and exploded on the radio, and i cant tell you how right he is. The Chicago Cubs suck, their culture sucks and everything else about them sucks. There is something about the Cubs that changes people, for the worse. Lou Piniella, one of baseballs most notorious hotheads, blows up once. And then after his team gets swept in one of the most disgusting playoff performances in baseball history, Piniella shrugs it off and says "This is just the beginning," which is just a different, more elegant way to say "wait till next year." Kiss my #### Lou Piniella. The guy's brain has turned into oatmeal. No manager in all of baseball could botch a double switch like Lou does.
Jim Hendry is a whole different animal. With the Cubs in the thick of a playoff race and on the verge of their first post-bartman playoff appearance, he acquires Steve Trachsel. Steve #### Trachsel. Is Jim Hendry retarded? Bring back a guy that blows like Trachs does for a playoff race? His cracked out minor league scouts and developers havent churned out a good position player in the last decade. Every decent offensive player on that team didnt originate with the Cubs. Jim Hendry can go to hell.
Now to the players. Carlos Zambrano is a freakin nutjob. He drives the Cubs best offensive catcher in the last 15 years out of town. After Barrett was shipped out Zambrano played great and it started to look like Barrett was the problem. Uhh.... no. Zambrano went back to the BB Era(Before Barrett) and pitched like a schoolgirl when the Cubs needed him most. But at least this kid showed up in the playoffs. The same cant be said for pussied like Derrek Lee, Ryan theriot, Mark Derosa, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, just to name a few. Geovany Soto, a chubby rookie in the playoffs for the first time did more damage than Lee, Soriano and Ramirez combined. Thats pathetic.
Derrek Lee sucked. Not just in the playoffs, but in the entire second half. then, after the Cubs go through one of their patented losing streaks, he gets upset at the fans for booping Zambrano. Derrek Lee should eat horseshit. Aramis Ramirez couldnt get one #### hit in the entire series. He gets an extension in the offseason and rewards the team with that??? The guy blows, and losing some weight couldnt hurt either. Same goes for that stupid looking mustache.
This brings me to the most frustrating player since Corey Patterson burst onto the scene, Alfonso soriano. I hope on the first play next season, a fly ball gets hit to him and when does that retarded hop skip to catch the ball, he comes down with a broken ankle. I would sever my own pinkie toe if Jim Hendry got rid of this guy. He looks like he hasnt played baseball ever before. Go back to Japan you douchebag.
I am sick of Cubs fans slobbering over that David Eckstein look alike Ryan Theriot. I myself fell in love with him but i have learned better now. How a guy with a .270 BA and 330 OPP becomes a god in Cubs lore is beyond me.
If i see Jacque Jones laugh after striking out again, i a m gonna tick that very bat in his hand you know where. If there is one thing hendry can do, beside for ridding the Cubs of Soriano, it is getting rid of this ####. Seven million for 5 home runs????
The only guy that i wont beat up on is Soto. The Cubs recent failure has shed some light on what the Cubs really are. I figured them out. They never win because they dont want to win. If you want to win, you dont swing at 50 foot curveballs. You dont go 0-12 in your biggest playoff appearance of your career. You dont yell at the fans for booing. You go out and win some #### games. If the Cubs cant win games, then so be it. Go ahead and gimme another 100 years of losing. I dont give a #### anymore. I wanna clean house. Just give away the players, i dont care.