The Cubs can never seem to get the right combination of pitching and hitting. Their Coach Lou Pinella is more of a complainor than a motivator. The signing of Kosuke Sukodome really burried them last year as much as Pinella's insisting to start him over Reed Johnson and Fontenot. .257, 10 homeruns, 79 runs won't cut it on a contender- he's not even particularly adept on defense. On top of this mess they just traded a rock of a starter, Mark Derosa. A second basemen that can put up 20 homers, solid defense and a .290 batting average is invaluable at this very thin position. True, Fontenot deserved better, then trade Him, not one of your veterans and team captains. Between Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster, Jason Marquis and Jeff Samardzija/Ted Lilly, the Cubs look formidable on the outside but on the inside their substanceless. Marquis is a junkballing journeyman, Carlos Zambrano plain isn't a competitior, Ryan Dempster is solid but no ace and Ted Lilly is as ugly as he is ineffective against righties. Their bullpen looks solid between Samardzija, Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol and but the offense looks old--too old to win 100 games. The up and coming Geovany Soto looks to be the leader of the Cubs, but can a 20 homer a year catcher really carry a team? Where will the Cubs go, and in that weak of a division should they really be worried. St. Louis? ugh. Houston? Forget they exist. The cubs' will make the playoffs alright, but they'll be shot down by some better team, maybe the Giants if they get a bat.
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