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.