Kuzul

The Chicago Cubs currently are 23-26, good for third place in the National League Central Division. They are six games behind the Cincinnati Reds and five behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cubs are truly struggling this season. A loss today put’s them on pace to lose 88 games. That’s right, 88 games. To make matter’s worse, in games that have not been started by Carlos Silva, the Cubs are 15-25, a .375 winning percentage!

Silva has consistently been the Cubs’ answer. They have won his last eight starts and look to continue that streak today against the Cardinals. Silva is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA against the Cards, who will throw Adam Ottavino. Ottavino is replacing the injured Kyle Lohse and will be making his Major League debut.

Ottavino is a former first-round selection (2006), but has not pitched all that well at Triple-A Memphis where he was 4-3 with a 4.17 era. The Cubs need to take advantage of this, extended Silva winning streak, and avoid what could be a devastating loss.

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In November 2009, Tyler Colvin moved to Arizona to train with Cubs strength coach Tim Buss.

The training program add 25 pounds of muscle and Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella was very impressed with him early this spring.

“We noticed right from the start of spring training at Fitch Park that he was taking some really good batting practice and driving the ball to left-center, right-center,” Piniella said.

Colvin had an impressive spring and made the ball club. Now he is quickly becoming the offensive leader of the Cubs. In only 69 at bats he has five home-runs, 13 RBI and is batting .319 (team high) with a .652 (also team high) slugging percentage.

On May 27 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colvin came up with his biggest clutch hit of the season. He came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with one out and Fontenot on third. Colvin hit a game-winning double, driving in the game’s only run.

The Cubs outfielders have played well all season. Both Soriano (.307) and Fukudome (.304) are hitting above .300, and Byrd is hitting .299.

In addition, these three have shown good power (Soriano team leading nine home-runs, Byrd has seven and Fukudome has six), but the Cubs need to find a spot for Colvin when facing right-handed pitching. He’s batting .352 against them with a .722 slugging percentage.

I do not know what the answer is, but maybe a trade for some much-needed bullpen help is in order.

GO CUBS GO

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In June 2005, the Cincinnati Reds selected Sam LeCure (pitcher out of the University of Texas) in the fourth round of the first-year player draft.

The Reds immediately sent him to Billings (rookie level ball) where he was impressive, going 5-1 with a 3.27 ERA and striking out 44 and walking only 15 in 41 1/3 innings. From 2006 to 2009 he demonstrated good command while working his way up through the Reds system. This season at AAA Louisville he was 5-2 with a 2.55 era before getting the call to Cincinnati.

MLB.com reports that LeCure took stock of his emotions on his drive from Louisville to Cincinnati and thought, I’m about to arrive.

Now that he has arrived, the question is will he stay. He is replacing Homer Bailey who has struggled and was placed on the 15-day DL with shoulder inflammation.

Bailey broke into the rotation last season going 8-5 with a 4.53 era, but has struggled in 2010 going 1-2 with a 5.51 era in his nine starts.

LeCure should get a few starts while Bailey is out and if he pitches well it would be difficult for Dusty to remove him, but where would he go with Bailey? The pen?

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992, and it does not appear that will change in 2010.

However, with a strong core of good young ballplayers already on the club and another group working their way through the system, the streak of losing seasons could be nearing an end.

The group in Pittsburgh is led by Zach Duke, Ross Ohlendorf, Paul Maholm, and Andrew McCutchen. Include Pedro Alvarez (third base, Indianapolis), Brad Lincoln (starting pitcher, Indianapolis), Jared Hughes (starting pitcher, Altoona), and Tony Sanchez (catcher, Bradenton), and the future looks bright in Pittsburgh.

The big hurdle is, the future has looked bright before, only to have management disassemble it. If management will keep this group together, a winning season should not be too far off.

The potential lineup and rotation of this group gives the Pirates’ future the look of a winner.

POTENTIAL LINEUP AND ROTATION

Pos.   Player       

C      Sanchez

1B     Steve Pearce

2B     Akinori Iwamura (if he can get his bat and glove back)

3B     Alvarez

SS     Brock Holt

LF     Lastings Milledge

CF     McCutchen

RF     Garrett Jones

SP     Duke

SP     Ohlendorf

SP     Maholm

SP     Lincoln

SP     Hughes

The offense may not impress you so much, but the rotation could be one of the best in baseball and is where I place my hopes for the Pirates’ future.

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The 2010 season started off poorly for the Cincinnati Reds. They lost 11 of their first 18 games, including a five game losing streak which saw the Pittsburgh Pirates sweep them.

They have now turned things around winning 17 of their last 24 games and are on pace to win 93 games. This club has the look a team heading for the post season and possible into the fall classic.

World Series talk may come as a surprise to Reds fans but those of you old enough to remember the 1990 team should understand. That club won only 91 games but went to the World Series and sweep the heavily favored Oakland’s A’s.

I believe the 2010 ball club is as good if not better than that club. Look at the comparison below and decide for yourself.

1990 Reds                                                 2010 Reds (projected)

Pos.  Player          Ave.   HR’s  rbi’s  SB          Player         Ave.  HR’s  rbi’s  SB

C      Oliver          .231     8      52    1          Hanigan      .344     8      68   0

1B    Benzinger     .253     5      46    3           Votto         .310   40    124  24

2B    Duncan        .306    10     55   13          Phillips        .262    20     68  12

3B    Sabo           .270    25     71   25          Rolen          .285    32     92   0

SS    Larkin          .301     7     67   30          Cabrera       .275    12     80  16

LF     Hatcher       .276     5     25   30          Gomes         .304    24   108   4

CF    Davis           .260    24    86   21          Stubbs         .190    16    76  36

RF    O’Neil           .270    16    78   13          Bruce           .257    16    64  16

Rotation

       Pitcher          W  L  era   whip saves    Pitcher          W   L  era   whip  saves

       Browning       15  9 3.80  1.26             Arroyo          16   8  4.85  1.26

       Rijo              14  8 2.70  1.16             Leake           16   0  2.91  1.18

      Armstrong      12  9 3.42  1.27             Harang          8   20  6.02  1.49

      Jackson          6   6 3.61  1.36             Cueto          12    4  3.67  1.20

      Charlton         12  9 2.74  1.30             Bailey           4     8  5.21  1.45

Bullpen

      Myers             4  6  2.08  1.12 31        Cordero         0     4  3.67  1.20  56

      Dibble             8  3  1.74  0.98 11        Rhodes          4     4  0.52  0.63    0

GO REDS

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On July 22, 2009 the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Adam LaRoche to the Boston Red Sox, opening up the first base position. The next day they called up Steve Pearce and on the 29th they traded Ian Snell and Jack Wilson to the Seattle Mariners for Jeff Clement and Ronny Cedeno, creating a competition at first between the two college superstars.

Jeff Clement was named the everyday first baseman coming out of spring training, but the recent call up of Steve Pearce indicates that John Russell may be entertaining the idea of platooning these two.

The Chart before shows that their major league career numbers are very similar. However, Pearce’s college career was a bit more impressive.

Player:     Steve Pearce      Jeff Clement

DOB:        04/13/1983        08/21/1983

Height:     5-11                 6-1

Weight:    209                   210

Bats:       Right                  Left

MLB avg.   .237                 .237

Power       42.75                31.29          (ABs/HR)

RBI         9.24                   8.42         (ABs/RBI)

Speed        5                        0

Fielding %  .995                  .995

SLG%        .385                  .371

K’s/AB       4.44                   3.32

Range       10.96                 10.62

College

Ave          .348                   .315

HR            11.69                 13.82

RBI          3.69                  4.24

When you look at these numbers and the fact that Pearce bats right-handed and Clement bats left, you can only conclude that the platoon idea is the direction to go. However, their career numbers indicate otherwise. Pearce hits .298 against left-handers and .206 against right-handers while Clement hits .264 against left-handers and .209 against right-handers.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. At this point, neither player is showing Russell they belong in the everyday lineup.

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