The Goat's On You

The Goat's On You

Jesse Cook

We are now 49 games through the regular season and The Chicago Cubs find themselves at 25 – 24 (4.5 games behind Milwaukee).   As a born and raised Chubs fan, I find myself struggling from anxiety, throwing up daily, and attempting to host “Down with Soriano” rallies.   This is the team that went 97 and 64 last season, obliterating the NL Central.  This is the team that punished pitchers with an irreplaceable offense while still managing to keep runs off the board.  The strange thing... The team really didn’t change from last year to this year, and yet we find ourselves behind Cincinnati.  (Cincinnati!?  Dusty Baker is to Mike Dunleavy, as Mike Dunleavy is to Dusty Baker... Or something like that)

Without further a do...

Problems for the Cubs:

Alfonso Soriano:  I’ll be honest, I absolutely despise Soriano.  His 30 + solo home runs are getting old, especially when 12 come in a three week span.  His lack of speed and plate discipline makes me question GOD whoever preached to sign him.  And, he is the worst postseason player since Alex Rodriguez.  Why is he the focal point of our franchise?  Doomed isn’t the right word, but with Soriano on the team, it is close. 

Milton Bradley:  Take a guy with an absolutely terrible mental state.  Sign him after his career year.  And over-pay for him.... This sounds like a recipe for success.  I mean, could they not have shown any interest in Bobby Abreu?  I was all about Raul Ibanez coming to Wrigley far before he started his Holocaust on starting pitching.  But no, we take the mentally and physically fragile Milton Bradley, who has already blamed his early season troubles on a conspiracy between the umpires against him...  Sweet.  (oh ya, he’s batting .224)

Rich Harden:  Everyone knows the story.  Not going to go into too much detail.  He has filthy stuff, very little control this year, and oh ya, he gets injured once a week.  Dammit.

Salvation:

Aramis Ramirez:  AramRam, one of my favorite Chitown heros, has been limited severely this year by a dislocated shoulder.  Placed on the DL on May 9^th, Aramis is still weeks away from a minor league rehab assignment, and may not be back until after the all-star break.  “I’m working to get the strength back and, hopefully, I won’t need surgery,” Ramirez said. “If at the end of the season, if it is still bothering me, then I’ll have to do something.”  We need Aramis back.  I did not realize how influential he is until this season, but without Aramis, our line-up lacks intimidation.  We go from Great Danes to Toy Poodles.  Hopefully he will make it back healthy enough for a late season march (Judging by our past history in the months of August and September, this does not look good.)

Geovany Soto:  What Happened?  Well the rookie of the year has fallen into the Sophomore Slump.  In 40 games, he has produced a .216 AVG with 1 homer...  This is the same guy who in 141 games last year hit 23 homers and batted .285.  Why?  Strangly enough, his strikeout/walk ratio has improved, drastically, from 2:1 to a 1.2:1.  This looks like a sign of maturity, improvement, and yet he is stranded near the Mendoza line.  This must change.  Soto hit .363 two years ago in Triple-A.  He is a much better hitter than his numbers suggest.  Look for a huge spike when Aramis and the summer winds come back. 

The Starting Pitching:  Arguably one of the best in the major when healthy, this rotation has come out of the box very shaky.  Anchored by Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden, Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster, and Sean Marshall/Randy Wells round out the staff.  Already noting the Harden injury, Big Z spent time on the disabled list and is currently serving his six-game suspension for his latest tantrum.  (Poor Gatorade Dispenser)  For the record, I think Big Z had a good argument here.  He still is a lunatic.  But he is our lunatic.  ANYWAYS, once everyone returns, this rotation can carry any offense. 

 

*I don’t believe in Curses.  But I don’t believe this is our year either.  We will not win a championship until we remove Soriano from the line-up.  Unfortunately, no one will want to take on his ever-so large contract.  We are stuck with him.  Now that is a curse.