The Chicago Cubs have been an abject failure as a team this 2010 MLB season. Cubs tickets to Wrigley Field have been far less about baseball than the theater of a team futilely grasping at the wall as they fall farther and farther down a sink hole. Carlos Zambrano lost weight, but did nothing to keep his anger in check. Aramis Ramirez has fallen out of favor with his teammates, ownership, and fans, tuning out all around him and settling for a .211 batting average. Worse yet, a solid pitching staff (even with Big Z) have had their valiant efforts squandered by a impotent offense.
This offense has produced the fourth worst run total in the National League. They are not a good game or two from entering that middle tier either; they need a month of scoring at will to just begin the trek back to respectability. Despite these desperate team struggles, individual players have managed to have years worth cheering.
It figures the season Alfonso Soriano would turn things around the rest of the team would fail. He is batting just .275, but has 16 homeruns, 47 RBI, and runs. He may not be a leadoff threat anymore (he never really was), but he is a good bat to have at five or six in the batting order.
Soriano's rejuvenation overshadows the play of center fielder Marlon Byrd. Byrd is hitting .315 with a respectable 9 homeruns, 49 runs, and .368 OBP. Those numbers are not too gaudy, but he was tearing it up earlier this season, threatening to take the batting title in the National League.
One of the exciting gimmicks owners of underachieving baseball teams like to highlight are the emerging prospects who will be the stars of tomorrow once they go ahead and put signs and begin the fire sale in the second half of the season. In 2010, the Cubs are featuring shortstop Starlin Castro and right fielder Tyler Colvin. Castro hit a three-run homerun in his first at bat, jumpstarting the hype machine in Chicago. Interestingly, he is also the first player in the MLB to be born in the 1990s. Now I feel old.
Colvin had a much more meager debut in 2009, going 1 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and a single. He made the opening day roster after a strong spring and has quietly played very well. His batting average has dipped at mid-season, plunging to .268, but he has shown a knack for hitting the ball out of the park, with 12 homeruns.
The Chicago Cubs pitching staff has been terrific. Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny, and Ryan Dempster are a solid front three in the rotation. Ted Lilly has been a passable starter since coming back from injury and Randy Wells is the fifth starter likely to head to the pen if Carlos Zambrano is ever allowed back on the mound at Wrigley Field.
Carlos Marmol is the closer every Cubs fan wanted after last season. He has 16 saves and a 2.16 ERA. Sean Marshall is the best setup man on the team, but Andrew Cashner, James Russell, and Bob Howry have not been awful. If this team is considering competing this season, the team needs to add another long reliever for the bullpen.
