By Paul Schmidt
So as a general rule I have been the most pessimistic Cub fan I know. Outside of the loss of Mark DeRosa (which every Cub fan hated this past offseason), I hated every single move the Cubs made both with their offense and with their pitching staff. I felt as though they completely weakened the team from a season ago in a reaction that could only be described as knee-jerk.
Not to bite former Arizona Cardinals head coach Denny Green, but the Cubs are who I thought they were. They are who I thought they were. This isn’t the same team that won 95 games last season. They aren’t as good. Now, it’s not going to matter a lick, because the rest of the division is worse this year as well, probably even more so.
And while the Cardinals are dominating early, and the Brewers are showing a little bit of life, it would seem that they don’t have the talent to hang in the long run.
Even still…what is wrong with this team so far?
Overcompensation – I figured I’d get my last gripe (for the length of this article) about the mismanagement of the franchise by GM Jim Hendry while I’m trying to get this noose off from around my neck.
Look, I love Jim Hendry. I do. But the things he did this offseason…he just tried too hard.
It sort of reminds me of the new White Castle commercial. You know, the one with the stripper pig, dancing around on stage? Then getting doused by barbeque sauce? It’s a push for everyone to learn about their new pulled pork sandwich…but it turns out just being really creepy. Excessively skeevy. 
And the worst part was it was completely unnecessary. Everyone already loves White Castle. They will never lose business. And hey, if I’m in the mood, I might try some pulled pork sliders. Why not? I like sliders. I like pulled pork. I might give it a shot. But probably not if you show me a stripper pig pole dancing, getting doused by Sweet Baby Ray’s and then slopping it all over the audience. I’m just saying.
The point is, Jim Hendry did much the same thing this past offseason (without the gross imagery). Not enough lefty bats off the bench? Let’s ship out solid fielders and good right handed bats for subpar fielders and hitters, just because they hit from the left side of the plate.
The lineup is too right-handed? Let’s ship out the most versatile player on the team (Mark DeRosa) and get quite literally nothing of value in return. Hey, while we’re at it, let’s sign an injury-prone, temperamental, stone-handed designated hitter to replace him (Milton Bradley). Great call.
Point being, sometimes you can over-compensate for perceived problems. And really make me mad/skeeved out by doing so.
BULLPEN: This is a really bad problem. Bad, very bad. Going-to-cause-heart-attacks-across Chicago-before-the-end-of-the-season bad. Naming Kevin Gregg the closer over Carlos Marmol not only sent millions of fantasy baseball players scrambling to the waiver wire, it immediately weakened the ‘pen (the combination of Gregg-Marmol in the 8th and 9th instead of….say…Marmol-Wood is already a step down, why just flip the two and make the problem worse??).
Then you have a situation where you have too many pitchers for roster spots, so obviously, you keep the rule 5 draftee who has never played above High A ball (David Patton) instead of the established long reliever who can spot start for you (Chad Gaudin). Because why would you need a spot starter for the North Siders’ rotation, when, historically, they’ve been sooooo healthy, and have a pitcher named Rich Harden whose arm could detach at the shoulder on any pitch.
Plus you have Angel Guzman pitching as though he is bringing gasoline and matches to the mound and lighting himself on fire ever time he pitches. PLUS you have Neal Cotts – the only lefty in the pen, mind you – throwing as though he has money against the Cubs every time he pitches. I hate this bullpen. I need a drink.
OFFENSE: Perhaps a lot of the offensive woes could be attributed to injuries to Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto and Milton Bradley. I get that. It does make sense, as two of them, along with Alfonso Soriano, are your teams’ biggest three weapons.
It doesn’t excuse the following stats, though: Derrek Lee, 1 HR, .205 AVG; Soto .143 AVG 0 HR; Bradley 2 HR, 2 RBI, .128 AVG; Aaron Miles .167 AVG; Mike Fontenot, .250 AVG.
The offense has been, at times, putrid, and is being carried for long stretches by Kosuke Fukudome (one thing I was right about) and freakin’ Ryan Theriot (I LOVE The Riot, I do, but when you’re relying on him to hit a grand slam for you to win a game…well, that’s not a good sign folks. Not a good sign…).
STARTING ROTATION: These guys cannot be blameless either. Everyone thought Ryan Dempster would take a step back, but at 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA and a K:BB ratio of 25:14, he’s been downright awful.
Rich Harden is another matter. He’s striking out a ton of guys, leading the team in Ks despite averaging less than 5 innings per start. When healthy, Harden is one of the best pitchers in the major leagues, but he absolutely does not look good so far this season. The Cubs need him to turn things around quickly, especially if Ryan Dempster is turning into the Ryan Dumpster of Cincinnati fame.
All in all, things could be worse. The offense will get better quickly as everyone GETS healthy, meaning the pitching staff won’t need to be great to keep the team in games. However, the larger issue is that, at 11-11 after 22 games into the season, we as a fandom should probably scale back our expectations of running away with the division. Maybe 87 or 88 wins, and a fight to the finish against the Cards and/or the Brewers.
I’m as big of fan as anyone, I swear to you, but when my friends and I took a Vegas trip in mid-March, we made some future bets on win totals in baseball. We saw the Cubs number at 92.5, my buddy Mark and I did, and we looked at each other.
“The under?” Mark, another die-hard Cub fan, asked.
“The under,” I agreed.
They are who we thought they were.
