Yeah, the Cubs are a little better than what their record shows. They've had good pitching from Dempster and Garza (Samardzija to a lesser degree), but Volstad, Wells, and Malholm are garbage. Also, they don't have any relief pitching. Rafael Dolis is a promising reliever, but James Russel and Casey Coleman are horse shit. Kerry Wood is past his prime. Carlos Marmol terrifies me every time he goes out. He could either strike out the side or walk the first four batters he faces. He's an enigma. You just never know with him, and that's not really an attribute you want in your closer.
This league is all about good pitching, and for the most part, the Cubs don't have it. St. Louis, Cincy, and even Milwaukee have much better staffs than Chicago. Compound weak pitching with the fact that they have a very weak offense (only 1 HR from an OF all year long), and it's going to be tough to win ball games. I would love to jettison Soriano. I don't even care what we get for him. I'd trade him for a bucket of baseballs and some Big League Chew. Unfortunately, nobody is going to want that ridiculous contract that Hendry signed him to. At this point though, I'd even pay him to play somewhere else.
I like Starlin Castro. I like Darwin Barney. I like Ian Stewart. I absolutely love Tony Campana in the the leadoff spot. If he gets on base, he's going to score. He's just so goddamn fast. I liked Steve Clevenger playing over Soto (who has been awful since his rookie year) at catcher before he had to go on the DL. Geovany Soto has seriously been useless since 2008.
I still say it's going to be difficult for this team to not hit triple digits in losses. I still enjoy watching the Cubs. Occasionally, they surprise me and actually win the game. Granted, that's not going to happen every game, but they're at least playing hard for Sveum. That's more than you can say for last year's team under Quade.
