It's a month in a half into the 2011 baseball season and this is my first blog. I wanted to give it some time before I posted about being on the bandwagon or just rip this team to shreds. Let's see where the team is and where I am at in support at this point in the season.
The team has two bright young players who should be the heart of this team for years to come. Darwin Barney and Starlin Castro are good young players who will only get better. My problem with Castro is he needs to play better defense and can't relax on each throw. Should Castro be moved to second, maybe but let's see how it plays out over an extended period before a rash decision is made.
My problem is what they are doing with him in the lineup. Castro is being moved around like a yo yo and it is not good for his growth as a player. Castro is a good hitter but is still young. He needs to leadoff or hit lower in the order to keep the pressure off of him. When he matures a little bit and hits for more power then third will be the spot for him. But this is not the time to hit him there.
Aramis Ramirez has gone for a great clutch RBI guy to just a guy swinging out of his shoes to hit a homerun. He should no longer be the guy in the fourth spot. Move him to third to take advantage of his ability to hit for average and put less pressure on him to hit for power and RBIs.
Carlos Pena is starting to come out of his slow start. He has not been good but it is too early to tell if he can hit. I like him defensively though.
Marlon Byrd is the second to last person on the team to hit 3rd. Why? That's because he can't seem to handle it. He has done to do his best impression of Derrick Lee by hitting into double plays in key situations.
Tyler Colvin needs to get more oppurtunities or be sent to the minors. Fukudome is playing for a contract that he probably wont get from the Cubs. He got off to his usual good start but time will tell if he has figured it out and will continue to play well the whole year. Quade needs to figure out how to get Colvin more starts to get his timing back. It may be time for Quade to start giving guys days off and let Colvin move around the field so he can get some at bats. Colvin has to then take advantage of those at bats and hit. If these things don't happen then Colvin needs to be sent down to play regularly.
I am going to skip to the most disappointing part of the team and that would be the starting pitching. Who would have thought that Zambrano would be the best pitcher at this point of the season. Dempster and Garza started out awful but have gotten better recently. Who knows how Wells and Cashner would have pitched if they had not gotten injured but it couldn't be any worse than their replacements. Coleman has been ok but certainly not great. Russell should never have been given the chance to start.
This brings me to the manager Mike Quade He has been lauded for his openess and lucidness during his press conferences. Quade decisions regarding lineups has a lot to be desired. As stated above moving Castro around in the lineups is too much for that kid to handle this early. He needs one spot to thrive and he has the talent to do it. Byrd is not a three hitter and has proven it over the last month. Quade should never have started him and the fact that he continued to do it is stupid. After the first one they should have brought someone up from the minors who has been starting on a regular basis there to take the starts. I just feel that Russell is better suited for the Bullpen. He did well there last year. Failure like this can ruin one's confidence and it may not be able to be recovered.
The Cubs spent much of the first month at the .500 mark and is currently 3 under and is four games out of first. Between the lack of consistent clutch hitting and the problems with the starting rotation I think this is impressive. If the team gets better pitching and more clutch hitting I believe they can contend for the wild card or even the very average NL Central division. Only time will tell if any of this will happen but there is hope.
