Kuzul

If you are a true Chicago Cubs fan, then by now you know that this team is quickly heading nowhere.

Although they are still within 10 games in the division, the chances of them making up any ground is highly unlikely.

So what are the next steps this franchise needs to take?

It is simply to try and move veterans with the high salaries, and to build from the minor league system.

Honestly, if you look at the guys on the Cubs’ 25-man roster, most of them were acquired from other teams, rather than brought up through the system. Maybe the Cubs should take a page from the Tampa Bay Rays’ playbook on building a winner.

So, who exactly should the Cubs get rid of?

Well, I would start by a hobbled Aramis Ramirez, but then who wants a beaten up third baseman that can’t hit anymore? Derrek Lee is also a candidate for being dealt with. He has had an off year so far, but he still could be a player for someone wanting to add a bat down the stretch.

Carlos Zambrano is my top choice to be sent packing, but who wants a guy that throws more temper tantrums than strikes?

Also you could add Kosuke Fukudome, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, and Alfonso Soriano to the list of guys who could be dealt with if the right offer comes along.

Marlon Byrd, even though he leads the team in hitting and has been the lone bright spot, could be gone. He is unhappy with his current contract, and is trying to get the player’s union to help him void the deal. But, at least we’ll get something for him, right?

The big problem with unloading a group of guys that have not came through over the past several years is the massive salaries these guys carry.

Here is a breakdown of the top ten Cubs salaries in 2010, according to FOXSports.com .

In this bad economy, who wants to pay that for a group of guys that have barely won 30 games at this point in June?

The short answer is, nobody!

I will go out on a limb and say that the Cubs may be able to deal Lilly since he is a left handed starter and those can be a hot commodity coming down the stretch.

Zambrano will be dangled, along with Ramirez, and maybe Lee, but nobody will bite. I think Fukudome could end up out West with a playoff contender, as could Xavier Nady.

Dempster may be on the block too, but he is not a young gun anymore, and I doubt anyone will want to take on his contract.

The bottom line is that it is all about waiting until next year again.

But before next year begins, the organization needs to decide how it wants to prepare for the future. Will they stay with the same stale product out on the field, or bring up the future Cubs in guys like Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin.

Finally, I think that Cubs manager Lou Pinella will step down by mid August. Sweet Lou can’t throw enough fits on the field to get these guys fired up. I think it would be wise to retire and move on to the next stage of his life before this club gives him a heart-attack.

As always, we hope that next season will be the year, but a lot of next season depends on who the Cubbies can unload by July 31. This core group simply did not get it done and their time is up.

It’s time to bring up the kids in Iowa City along with their manager for 2011.

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I’m a Mariners fan, and also a Cubs fan. People that know me are well aware of this. I can often be seen at work with a dirty Cubs hat, and a similarly dirty Mariners t-shirt on at the same time. Baseball is my favorite sport, and for whatever reason, the only sport where I hold two allegiances.

If the Mariners and Cubs were ever both in either the National or American League, I’d have to make a touch decision as to who to root for. But until Tuesday, when the Cubs made their first appearance in Safeco Field, I’ve never had to make the distinction.

Tuesday was the also the first time I’d ever seen the Cubs live, but not for lack of trying. Last July I went to Atlanta to reunite with a friend of mine from elementary school that I hadn’t seen since the end of junior high. It was my birthday present from my mom, and along with the trip, she’d bought us two tickets to the Cubs game against the Braves.

Carlos Zambrano was scheduled to start (he’s my favorite present Cub) and it seemed as though the baseball gods had given me the perfect scenario for watching my first ever Cubs game.

But you see, the Cubs and I have had an oft-ill-fated relationship. As a youth, I loved Dusty Baker. I said several times that I wanted him to manage the Mariners. When I really started to get into the Cubs more heavily, it was because I’d watched the highlights of Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout game. Wood’s history of arm injuries is no secret, and suffice to say, I feel like I levied my own curse against the team.

Then Baker stepped in, a happy day.

My bad luck didn’t end there. Halfway through my sophomore baseball season, Mark Prior made his debut. I was fascinated by how smoothly he moved all of the moving parts in a pitching motion. I pitched, and apart from the dreaded “Inverted W,” I tried to emulate him (and Joel Pineiro, for what it’s worth).

He quickly became my favorite player in all of baseball. I copied the deliberate move to the plate he made with his legs, and his arm angle. I began to use my own curveball in the way he did. Rather than throwing it for a called strike, I threw it in the dirt for a swinging strike. I learned to throw a change up.

Two years later his arm would basically spontaneously combust, and his since-derailed career hasn’t found the tracks since 2006.

The baseball gods don’t like me liking the Cubs. So why would my trip to Atlanta be any different?

It was obnoxiously warm and obscenely muggy my entire time in Atlanta. I had really good company, but I could take a shower, step outside, and have a lather of sweat almost immediately. I’ve spent very little time outside the Seattle area in my lifetime, and most of that time was spent in a similarly moderate climate. But it is great baseball weather.

Two hours before game time there were clouds in the sky.

Because my mom knows her son, and knows the type of friends he keeps, she also got us reservations at a hotel in town. She didn’t want us drinking and driving, and if anything characterizes my trip to Georgia, it’s the countless empty pint glasses and cans of the most average beer money can buy.

On the freeway it started to rain. Once we got into town it started to pour.

There is rain in Seattle, and a lot of it. But our rain spreads out over time. In Atlanta, apparently, when it rains it fills the street with six inches of water in a matter of minutes. I needed to use the bathroom when we got into town, but I may have had to swim to any convenience store, so I held it.

Sitting in the hotel bar, too many beers deep for that time of the day, we found out the game was cancelled.

So when I sat down in my right field seats at Safeco on Tuesday (bleachers are the best seats in any house, in my opinion), not a cloud in the sky, I was ready to find out that a storm front was coming and the roof was malfunctioning.

What I wasn’t ready for, though, was the miserable feeling of sitting in the stands and rooting against my own team. You see, for the first time in my life, I’d adorned the opposing team’s colors.

With the same Carlos Zambrano jersey as I’d worn in Atlanta, I sat in a sea of Mariners fans, with whom I’ve shared many sober victories, and many less-sober losses, and was the enemy.

I was with some of the best company I’ve ever been to a baseball game with, a Mariners fan, and was clapping in her face in the first inning when Marlon Byrd singled to lead off the game.

But when Franklin Gutierrez hit a home run to scored the only two runs of the game, I was halfway out of my seat when my eye caught the blue pinstripes on my jersey, and my mind remembered the half-dozen Cubs fans to my left, and I sat back down. It was awful.

I had said before the game that the pitching matchup favored the Cubs. Ryan Dempster’s biggest problem was the home run, and the Mariners are really bad at hitting home runs. And the Cubs mash left-handed pitching, and Jason Vargas is left-handed.  

Well the Cubs didn’t mash Vargas, and Dempster gave up a home run. I went home a loser.

The following day, I watched the Cubs try to figure out Cliff Lee. No easy task, but yet another lefty that seemed beatable for them. Randy Wells is a pitcher who the Mariners should struggle with. He doesn’t walk many hitters, and his platoon splits don’t indicate he’s completely unable to get left-handed hitters out.

Again, my theory was worthless. The Mariners reeled off six runs and ten hits against Wells in six innings. Lee completed the game, in what may be his last start in blue and teal. But at least, for this game, I was wearing the victorious colors.

Then, for Thursday’s game, I left my house for work in the seventh inning with the scored tied. When I arrived at work, it was the 11th inning, still tied. We had a 401k meeting, and afterwards I was informed that the Mariners had lost to the Cubs in the 13th.

That my investment portfolio has begun to bounce back held no candle to the fact that I’d missed the only Cubs victory I’d have had the opportunity to see live to this point in my life.

But what really sucks is that the Cubs have a reasonable chance of making the playoffs, but with an ugly series loss against the Mariners, those chances just got dimmer. 

I guess the baseball gods want me in Wrigley, though my present record with Cubs luck may make the fans’ opinions slightly different. 

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Over the past several years Carlos Zambrano has been the keystone to the Cubs starting rotation, leading the group as the ace since the days of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

The fact of the matter is that Zambrano hasn’t posted an ERA under 3.50 since 2007, and for a “power pitcher,” he has only exceeded 200 strikeouts twice in his seven year tenure as a starting pitcher.

Zambrano has always dazzled fans with both his electric fastball and temper, but the fastball that reached the mid-90s and posted positive win values each year of his career is showing signs of decline.

Zambrano’s fastball is averaging 90.9 mph, down from his career average of 92.1. He is also throwing it 52.4 percent of the time, far down from the 62.7 percent last season, as well as the +70 percent seasons of 2003-2005.

Correlating with the decline of fastball use is the increased use of his split-finger fastball, which has been just a slightly above-average pitch, contrary to popular belief.

The fastball, once a plus-plus pitch is currently posting a run value of -7.0, easily the worst of his career.

Perhaps one reason Lou Piniella chose to pitch him out of the bullpen was to focus on his fastball more, and less on his secondary pitches.

Moving forward, Zambrano is owed $17.87 million this year and next year, $18 million on 2012, and holds a player option for $19.25 million in 2013 if he receives Cy Young consideration, according to Cot’s Contracts.

Zambrano has to be a starter for the Cubs to get the most value out of him, and his contract, and he must focus on improving his fastball in order to succeed in the coming seasons.

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This article was originally published at The Daily Cub.  Visit TheDailyCub.com for game recaps and opinions about the Chicago Cubs

Last night, Carlos Silva got another quality start, pitching six innings and allowing two runs to drop his ERA to 3.35 and improve to 5-0 on the season.

On a night when we learned that Carlos Zambrano will be returning to the starting rotation shortly, a different Carlos was able to steal the show by pitching six scoreless innings before allowing a two-run home run without recording an out in the seventh and being taken out.

After going 2-9 in an 11 game stretch, the Cubs have been able to pull off three strait wins after taking the finale against the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates and sweeping a two game series against the Colorado Rockies.

The Cubs were helped offensively by young shortstop Starlin Castro who put the Cubs up 2-0 on a fielders choice in the fourth to help give the Cubs some early insurance on the Rockies.

Then, in the eighth, he knocked in Tyler Colvin, who scored twice and stole his first career base, on an infield single to put the Cubs up 4-2. Later in the inning, the Castro scored on a Ryan Theriot single along with Geovany Soto to give the Cubs the final score of 6-2.

The bullpen, which has been an issue for the Cubs this season, pitched very well last night, allowing just one hit and one walk over the last three innings.

After Silva was pulled, Esmailin Caridad came in and walked Miguel Olivo. Caridad was immediately replaced by James Russell, who struck out two and finished the inning.

Sean Marshall pitched a scoreless eighth and Carlos Zambrano pitched a perfect ninth while striking out two and finally having a good outing in the bullpen.

Zambrano received more good news when he found out later that night that he would be returning to the rotation after a few long relief appearances.

With diminished velocity and poor performances, the bullpen experiment has been a complete failure. The only problem is, who will Zambrano replace?

The starting rotation has been the only positive for the Cubs and the only reasonable suggestion for the Cubs may be to move to a six man rotation. Although there is no definitive ace on the staff, there is also no weak spot in the rotation either.

Adding Zambrano, will likely give the Cubs one of those two things.

Zambrano’s velocity has been his mark in the past, but over the past two seasons his fastball has dropped from the mid 90’s to the high 80’s, reaching the around 90-91 on occasion. Without his fastball, he has lost his edge and hitters are taking advantage.

This season, Zambrano came in laid an egg in the season opener against the Atlanta Braves, getting pulled after just 1.1 innings and allowing eight runs.

That one start, however, was seemingly his only bad start. Over his next three starts before getting put in the bullpen he pitched 18 innings and allowed eight runs. That isn’t ace material, but it’s an ERA of 4.00 through three starts, which isn’t worthy of being put into the bullpen.

Since going to the bullpen, Zambrano has allowed six runs in 9.2 innings, but five of those runs came in two appearances while he has six scoreless appearances.

Zambrano was moved to the bullpen in hopes that he could find his velocity and give the Cubs a legitimate set-up man for Carlos Marmol. It appears that Marshall will be moving into that spot for the remainder of the season.

Although Zambrano is no ace, he will get a chance to prove that he should be a starter when he gets back into the rotation.

It was a great night for Cubs named Carlos, now it’s time to see if guys named Carlos can make a great season for the Cubs.

I’m Joe W.

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When asked what his team needed to do to turn it around after a fifth-straight loss to the Pirates, Chicago Cubs skipper Lou Piniella had this to say:

“If we start doing the things that we’re capable of doing, I won’t have to answer these questions all the time.”

But the question remains, can this team turn it around in time to make any noise in the post-season picture?

The quest to find this answer began today with a 4-3 comeback win over the Bucs.

Down 3-1 in the seventh, the Cubs found a way to claw back and tie it. In the eighth, Soriano stole his way over to third, and Xavier Nady knocked him in with a single. Marmol was able to hold the one run lead in the ninth.

The win puts the Cubs at 16-22, and gave Lou Piniella his 1800th career win—something only 13 skippers before him have done.

Could this be the turnaround that the Cubs so desperately need? If you go back to the 2007 season it took a Piniella outburst in which he assaulted the third base bag during a late May game against the Braves. The Cubs would get hot in June and eventually catch and surpass a struggling Brewers team down the stretch.

The keys to getting this team going are simple. Sweet Lou needs to rekindle the fire that has made him one of baseball’s great managers. No offense to the calm 66-year-old that is having fun, but that isn’t what got him 1800 wins.

The next thing that has to happen is that big boppers Ramirez and Lee need to get it going. Ramirez is still hitting below the Mendoza line, and D-Lee is hitting a measly .230 and is second to only Ramirez in strike outs.

The final piece, and the one that has cost them the most games is the awful bullpen. Perhaps the biggest joke out in the pen is the $60 million ace that hits gatorade dispensers just as hard as opposing batters hit him. At 1-3 with an ERA of over 7.00, Zambrano has proven to be the poster boy for woeful Cubs pitching.

Also earning the nod for being a bullpen liability are former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, Esmailin Caridad, and John Grabow. I know both Notre Dame and Caridad have only thrown a combined seven-plus innings, but a combined ERA of over 14.00 doesn’t help keep you in the majors.

Earning honorable mention is Justin Berg and Jeff Gray. The only thing keeping them from being picked on is they are a combined 1-0, even though their ERA’s are just under 7.00.

The few bright spots—and I do mean few—are the pitching performance from Carlos Silva, who is 4-0 with an ERA under 3.50. Dempster and Gorzellany haven’t pitched horribly, but in most games get no run support, and Lilly has looked decent in his few starts. Finally Marlon Byrd, who I thought would be a waste of money is leading the team in all of the triple crown categories.

Earning honorable mention is Soriano, who is hitting over .300 with seven homers, the newcomer Castro, who had seven RBI’s in his Cubs debut, and the bullpen performances from Marshall, Russell, and of all people, Marmol.

The bottom line is that anything coud happen in a division where the Cardinals are clearly the best team. What could help the Cubs is how mediocre the other teams are, and how many times they get each team the rest of the way. But it is gonna take a fire being lit to get this team going.

So what is the future of the Cubs in 2010? I think it is going to be a team looking to sell and get younger by the All-Star break.

If the Cubs can find any value in unloading veterans like Ramirez, Lee, Zambrano, Soriano, Dempster, and Lilly—they should do so. By now it is apparent that this is not the nucleus that will provide the North Siders with their first World Title since before the Great Depression.

However, in these tough times, there will be a lot more sellers than buyers, and moving the high salaries of these older players may be tougher than it once was.

The future of Cubs teams for years to come will depend on what management does with this year’s underachieving team. It could be the difference between rebuilding now and for the next two to three years, or sitting with a group of veterans that have yet to even win a playoff game.

Also, when Lou Piniella retires either at season’s end, or resigns before season’s end, look for the next Cubs manager to be Ryne Sandberg. He has spent several years in the minor league system now and already knows the players that will eventually get called up, in case the Cubs elect to rebuild.

To sum it all up, if the Cubs can’t get it together,they will look to rebuild, dump salary, and Ryno will be the skipper in 2011.

I am sure there are many Cubs fans that will disagree with me, but as Dennis Miller would say: “That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”

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Look, Carlos Zambrano makes a hell of a lot of money. If he is going to provide any return on that investment, it has to be as a starting pitcher, not a reliever.

You don’t pay relievers $18 million per season. Plus, he isn’t doing a good job in that role anyway.

If the Cubs had listened to my advice two years ago and again last year, they would have traded Big Z when they had the chance.

When I wrote the articles, many Cubs fans said no way you trade Zambrano. And even the ones who thought it made sense wanted a king’s ransom in return.

My premise was to move his contract and not care about what they got in return. At the time, I was vilified for suggesting that.

Well, how badly do you think the Cubs would love to make such a deal now?

Hey, this isn’t an attempt to write “I told you so.” Rather, it’s a plea to Lou Piniella and Cubs GM Jim Hendry to end this silly and pointless exercise in futility and move Zambrano back to his rightful place as one of the five starters in the rotation.

Why? Let me count the ways.

First, Tom Gorzelanny is not a very good starting pitcher. Neither is Carlos Silva, but since he is pitching well, Piniella can leave him in the rotation for now. But replace Gorz with Big Z, please.

And when Silva inevitably returns to form, and he will, you will need someone to fill the void. Hopefully, by then, Zambrano will have re-adjusted to the role.

I understand that Zambrano may pitch just as badly in the rotation as he has as a reliever. But at least the Cubs would be utilizing their investment in the manner in which you paid the big guy to perform.

And, if he pitches well and the Cubs continue to fall out of the race, at least they may have built up his trade value and can move him before the deadline.

Meanwhile, no matter how he pitches as a reliever, they will never convince another club to take on his immense salary.

Hendry really has to answer for creating a situation where Piniella has to resort to such a drastic move as this. It is Piniella’s way of calling out Hendry’s inadequacies in providing him with a right-handed relief pitcher who can set-up Carlos Marmol.

What a mess. If I was the Cubs new owner, I would have come in with my own general manager.

If Tom Ricketts is the Cubs fan he claims to be, how can he not know how badly Hendry has performed?

It really boggles my mind.

I have tried to remain positive in the face of the Cubs early season struggles, but I can’t help but question whether this team will be buyers or sellers at the deadline.

And if they are sellers, it would be helpful if they could sell Zambrano as a starter as opposed to an $18 million dollar set-up man.

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Underrated. Players like Alex Rodriguez, Jason Heyward, and Stephen Strasburg have never really known that assignation.

Yet as highly touted as any one player may be, there are just as many, if not more, that prove better in the long run.

Just ask Dustin Pedroia and his five and a half foot frame.

Underrated is a fantasy baseball player’s dream.

Finding that diamond in the rough that others have discarded makes one’s draft.

It’s the same for real General Managers.

The joy of watching that first round pick fall apart while your supplemental pick flourishes.

Must be amazing.

In any case, I’ve taken it upon myself to rank the top 10 most underrated players in Major League Baseball.

Some are old, some are young.

All deserve more respect.

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