My Thoughts On The Cubs

First off, I'm a Brewers fan (obviously) but I'm a baseball fan first. I'll share my thoughts on the Cubs.

The Cubs are a LOT better team then what they have been showing. When you have a rotation that consists of Zambrano, Wells, Dempster, Lilly, and Silva you should be a good team.

Well, where are they struggling? Let's take a look at some of their team stats:

Hitting

AVG: .264 (12)
OBP: .334 (17)
HR: 45 (10)
SB: 20 (24)

Pitching

ERA: 4.17 (17)
WHIP: 1.32 (12)
.BAA: .252 (11)

Looking at these team stats, they aren't that bad. The Cubs should be a lot better team then what they are now.

Basically, the reason why they are doing so bad:

1. Carlos Zambrano

I don't care what team you are, but when your ace struggles this bad, you aren't going to be a great team. Zambrano has a 6.00+ ERA so far this season. Your ace is supposed to go out, and eat innings and produce great numbers. He isn't getting the job done. Maybe his second stint in the rotation can be better, but if the cubs want to start winning again, he NEEDS to be the pitcher we all know he can be.

2. Cubs Bullpen

The Cubs bullpen isn't that great at all this year. In 15 save opportunites, the Cubs have blown 6 of those. So they are 9/15 or 60% which is ranked nearly 20th in the league. Somehow they need to get better in that aspect as well.

Do I think the Cubs will get better? Yes, I do. The Brewers are pretty much in the same situation as the Cubs. I don't think neither team is as bad as they are playing right now.

Brewers and Cubs compare quite well (besides the Cubs rotation being way better)

The Cubs are averaging 4.5 runs per game so far this season. The Brewers are averaging 5.18 runs per game.

The Cubs pitching has given up 4.6 runs per game, compared to the Brewers pitching staff of 5.8 runs per game.

So I think we both need to wait it out, and both of our teams will be better the rest of the way.

Zambrano isn't our ace, He's IN teh pen, but he;s coming back,

What Chicago team are you a fan of? Hawks?

None lol, Rush told me to help out in the other sports section etc, plus I don't mind a little trash talk.

Zambrano WAS your ace starting this season, you guys NEED to have him pitch well to have any success the rest of the way.

I know, but Dempst is now our Official Ace, and he's been good.

The Bullpen consisting of Grablow and Homerun Howry is what is costing us.

Howry hasn't had a chance to show us his worst yet, and that's scary.

Well, of course, he has only thrown .1 of an innning.

Dempster isn't an ace, he's a #2-3 pitcher at best. An ace is a pitcher that you can count on day in and day out (when he pitches). Felix Hernadez, Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Chris Carpenter etc those pitchers are ace's.

Yovani Gallardo isn't even an ace yet imo, and Carlos Zambrano IS an ace when he is on and effective.

I just think there is bad chemistry within the core of the team and they should blow it up and start over. Sure that would mean no WS for a couple years but hey, it could be worth it in the long run.

Big Z will come back and win 12 i bet....Dempster is quality number 2 SP and i stilll think Hendry going to get really good 8th inning guy.. Lee and A-Ram will start to hit and with sori and soto doing good the offense should start to take off

BigP50 said:

I just think there is bad chemistry within the core of the team and they should blow it up and start over. Sure that would mean no WS for a couple years but hey, it could be worth it in the long run.

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Hell we've already waited what 102 years?

BrewCrewFan said:

Dempster isn't an ace, he's a #2-3 pitcher at best. An ace is a pitcher that you can count on day in and day out (when he pitches). Felix Hernadez, Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Chris Carpenter etc those pitchers are ace's.

Yovani Gallardo isn't even an ace yet imo, and Carlos Zambrano IS an ace when he is on and effective.

Click to expand...

Using your criteria, then Dempster is indeed the Cubs ace. He has been by far the most consistent and effective Cubs pitcher for the last few years. I'm one of the bigger Zambrano supporters but I'm not sure he's "the guy" anymore.

Zambrano needs to come back strong....

Also, we cant lose to the Pirates anymore

^^^seriously the pirates???

have we really come to this?
i hope not

Its embarrasing that we have lost to them so much already

i think the cubs are going to pick it once we really start getting into summer

The Cubs seem to already have picked it up.

They swept the Rox (last year's NL Wild Card), Split with Philly (1st in NL East) and Took 2 of 3 from Texas (1st in AL West)

The thing that pisses me off about the Cubs right now is we can beat the good teams, but the bad teams we can't seem to score any runs off of them. I hope soon the offense gets going with runners in scoring position and we don't look so bad against the lesser teams.