Cubs Return From All-Star Break Hoping for Something Better
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 14, 2011 9:20PM
The second half of the baseball season began ten games ago, but for Cubs fans it's been another round of "wait 'till next year" since, well, spring training. Few expected manager Mike Quade and his squad to contend for the NL Central crown. Joel Reese, in his preview of the Cubs, qualified the success of the 2K11 Cubs with a lot of "ifs" that have been replaced by "what you haves."
What you have is a ballclub that has started a MLB high ten different starting pitchers this season. That, coupled with injuries and an inconsistent bullpen forced to work more than it should thanks to Quade's quick trigger, has resulted in a team ERA of 4.65, giving up a major league-worst 349 walks and only one complete game by a starter. Randy Wells, Andrew Cashner, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Garza have all spent time on the DL, giving spot start opportunities to players like James Russell and Doug Davis. The Cubs may have been better off simply setting up a tee for opponents to bat with those two. Russell's ERA as a starter is 9.33 and, before he was released last month, Davis was the equivalent of having Yankees star Robinson Cano's father pitch to opposing players. The ERA for Cubs starters is a "we had to do a double take" 5.29.
As for the everyday lineup, their .263 team batting average is good enough for eigth in the National League. But it isn't what they aren't doing that stands out. Like drawing walks: the Cubs' 223 BB is also the worst in the major leagues. They also aren't very good baserunners. Tony Campana has as many stolen bases in 76 at-bats as Starlin Castro does in 381 - 10. The rest of the Cubs team has two more stolen bases combined as Castro or Campana do individually. it's only been in recent weeks that certain players have started to perform to expectations - Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena come to mind. Pena leads the Cubs with 19 home runs, while Ramirez tops the club in RBI with 51, but both sluggers only started finding their power strokes in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Alfonso Soriano has hit only four home runs since tearing the cover off the ball in April. It also says a lot about your hitting when Reed Johnson and Zambrano are first and third, respectively, on OPS. With 77 fielding errors, the Cubs are the worst-fielding team in baseball.
See a pattern there? There's a lot of "major league worst" going on at Clark and Addison that not even Ryne Sandberg could fix if GM Jim Hendry had given him the manager job in the offseason instead of Quade. The Cubs would probably be in the position they're in even if their players didn't lose a collective 350 games to injury. The talent level just isn't there to compete with the Brewers, Reds, Cardinals and surprising Pirates in the NL Central. Castro has emerged as a foundation for the future. He's on a pace to become the first Cubs hitter since Juan Pierre to record 200 hits in a season, but his 18 errors have fans in the first base grandstand bringing gloves to the game for an errant throw, a la the heyday of Shawon Dunston.
The Cubs kick off the remainder of their season tonight against the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field. (7:05 p.m., WGN-AM, Comcast Sports Net)