With the Cubs floundering and appearing like a rudderless ship, the question arises if the clock is ticking on manager Lou Piniella's job.
Mired in mediocrity, a $146 million roster seems to be going nowhere fast.
Is the leader at fault? Have the players tuned him out?
The Cubs just finished a stretch of 29 games against teams with losing records last year. Their record was a miserable 13-16, including a six game road trip with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati they just concluded where they were 1-5.
They were swept by Pittsburgh. Let me repeat that because I still can't believe it. They were swept by Pittsburgh.
Piniella seems ...
With such a rich and lengthy history, the Cubs have seen roughly 2,000 players don the Cubbie blue over the years.
Because of that, I thought it would be fun to name who I feel are the top five players for all 26 letters of the alphabet, going by last name.
To qualify, the player needs only to have played at least one game for the Cubs. However, only stats and accomplishments that took place while the player was with the Cubs will be considered.
Because of that, you will not find someone like Lou Brock on the following list, despite the fact ...
Starlin Castro, the current Cubs narwhal , has become the subject of much cyber man-love due to his breakout performance, but is he really the Cubs' next savior, or will he be Corey Patterson circa 2010? Certainly enough, Cubs fans are already putting too much pressure on the top prospect.
Castro made the (questionable) jump from Double-A to the big leagues, and while he showed excellent bat skills, his eye came into question. Let's look at some of his plate discipline numbers so far. Castro has yet to earn a walk, so far, but that is certainly not ...
After winning back-to-back division titles, the Cubs now appear on the brink of having two straight years of October golf. The Cubs' core players are quickly passing their prime as the ballclub becomes increasingly more inconsistent. Now it's still early in the season and a Cubs run to a Wild Card spot isn't mathematically impossible, but even if the Cubs make the playoffs, it is very, very clear they cannot compete with the Cardinals and Phillies in the National League or the Yankees, Devil Rays, or Twins in the AL.
The Cubs are not going to be competitive with those ...
You look at the Cubs' record, and you can't help but grimace. Their record, 14-17, is right in line with their Pythagorean Record, 15-16. The Cubs struggle somewhat in one-run games, going 3-6 in such contests. The Cubs struggle mightily on the road, going 7-11 on road games, as opposed to 7-6 at Wrigley. Let's gander at their pitching. The Cubs are actually pitching very well. They are first in the league in strike-outs per walk, and boast the best Contact Percentage. The starting pitching has preserved the bullpen well, limiting the relievers to the fourth ...
Sunday May 9, 2010 - Happy Mother's Day
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Week four: Recap
The Chicago Cubs struggles continue. They started the week out on a positive note, defeating the D-backs 10-5 Sunday, but then they went to PNC Park where the Pirates swept them in grand fashion.The Cubs scored a total of five runs in the three games series but seemed to turn things around Friday night, hammering the Reds 14-7. Unfortunately, the Reds repaid the favor last night, 14-2!
On Wednesday, May 5 the Pirates kept the Cub hitters off balance, limited them to five hits, and ended Ryan Theriot's ...
If you've been paying any attention to the Cubs recently, you probably have a pretty good idea about the current state of their roster.
Eight players (Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, and Carlos Silva) are making over $10 million, combining for $113.625 million this season alone. Seven of those players either have no trade clauses or 10/5 protection rights.
Soriano, Lee, and Fukudome are 34 years old; Dempster and Lilly are 33; Ramirez and Silva are 31; and Zambrano is 28.
Then there's John Grabow, 31, who is making $3.75 million this season; Xavier ...
Okay, it's only one game. I get that.
And, as Cubs fans, we tend to go overboard in our hype of Cubs' players, especially ones from our own farm system.
It is with this in mind that I cautiously state the following:
Retire his number now.
Look, just give Starlin Castro the Wayne Gretzky treatment and don't make him wait the traditional five years.
Put the kid in the Hall of Fame now.
I'm joking, of course, but what a debut this 20-year-old shortstop phenom had last night! I know RBIs are overrated, but no rookie in the history of the major leagues had ever driven ...
Starlin Castro had Chicago Cubs' fans licking their chops since they first caught wind of his Arizona Fall League performance and while they watched his spring training. The newly turned 20-year old Dominican made his major league debut on Friday night.
To say he did not disappoint would be like saying Cubs' uniforms aren't blue.
The wunderkind joined the exclusive club of 104 others by popping a shot over the wall off of his new best friend, Homer Bailey, in his first major at-bat.
The three-run bomb easily cleared the right field fence in the Cubs' 14-7 win over the Reds.
In his second ...
At seven o’ clock this morning, Chicago Cubs top prospect Starlin Castro , a 20-year-old shortstop, received a call from the big club. His baseball life was about to change, and his dream was about to come true. He was told to travel to Cincinnati, where Chicago were to take on the Reds that afternoon, and did so giddily to find out he was in the starting lineup batting eighth.
Castro began in the Cubs organization at 18, shot through their rookie league in 2008, breezed through Single-A in 2009, possessing the speed, glove, and offensive ability of a talent near ...
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