Apparently the guys who frequent Desipio -- and Desipio spin-off Hire Jim Essian -- are not particularly fond of being mentioned in other places.  A couple of days ago I did just that in this article, where I highlighted the debate on the value of Kosuke Fukudome which had been started on the Desipio forums.  

A loyal Goat Reader who wishes to remain anonymous EMailed me the following discussion:

Bort  "Pretty awesome of Kurt to take his bitchfest to GROTA."
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater  "Kurt is such a douche."
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater  "He seriously cried wee wee wee all the way home to his queercastke* of wrong at GROTA."

(*I think he meant "queercastle")

ChuckDickens  "F**king Kurt posts a rebuttal at GROTA?"
ChuckDickens  "Is that a canard to get me to read his site or something?"
SKO  "and then he name drops you and Pre like anyone there would know who the f**k that was"
T to E to C  "he posted the rebuttal at GROTA because he figured no one would read it if it was over there"

I'm not sure if T to E to C meant to say that GROTA has no readers, or I was expecting nobody from Desipio to notice.   Either way I posted the "rebuttal" because it's an interesting debate topic about the Cubs** in which a pack of idiots -- that would apparently include you, T to E to C -- took a ridiculous stance apparently for the simple reason that I took the opposite one.  The response to my post, ironically a major bitch fest by several individuals, is pretty damned funny.

(**GROTA, being predominately a content-hungry website that covers the Cubs seems like the ideal place to debate the merits of a player like Fukudome, incidentally)

RV  "Kurt just wanted to make sure there was absolutely zero doubt that he's an insufferable pudleak."
SKO  "i used to feel sorry for Kurt. i thought he was an awkward but well meaning guy that everyone mercilessly attacked."
SKO  "i see now that he's just a completely oblivious twit"
Mr. Tank  "There's nothing more interesting for the readers of you blog than a recap of an internet discussion you've had somewhere else"
T to E to C  "I used to read GROTA regularly like three years ago. Now I wonder what the hell was wrong with me back then."

Thanks for all the love, guys.  Again, stay classy with the sniveling hatefest directed toward me.  All I did was highlight a ridiculous stance ChuckD had on the value of Kosuke Fukudome on this, a Cubs blog.  All you did was rattle off insults highlighting what tremendous folks you are.  And while I'm sure that some Goat Readers have never heard of any of you, the Cubs blogging community isn't so big.  Surely some people here know "who the f**k that was" and have their own bad experiences with your crowd. 

Anyway, I bring the topic up again for two reasons -- first because it obviously annoyed the holy hell out of them, and second because the fallacy of their Fuku-love is hypocritically contrasted by their lukewarm feelings toward Ryan Theriot, the topic of this article.

Theriot, you may have heard, is an average-at-best shortstop with no base running skills and a terrible defensive ability.  

For example -- we learned last week that Fukudome's season, as determined by wRC, puts him in elite company (ignoring the 70-or-so players who have better wRC than him this season).  Theriot at this moment has a very similar wRC to Fukudome -- 65.3 to Kosuke's 67.7.  Since we've already established that some people mistakenly feel that Fooky's wRC is something special, then I'm sure these same jabrones have a similar appreciation for the year Theriot is having.  Except, they might argue, Theriot's defensive value detracts from his contributions compared with the stellar-gloved Fukudome.

But Fangraphs tells us something interesting -- according to the UZR stat, Theriot is a Top 10 defensive shortstop in all of baseball with an UZR/150 of 3.2.  For comparisson's sake, Fukudome is 11th amongst all center fielders, with an UZR/150 of -5.2***.  In the NL alone, Theriot is 5th best defensively, while Kosuke is 7th best.  

(***-5.2?!?  So much for being near Gold-Glove caliber)

Mix that in with Fangraphs' estimated value of Theriot compared with Fukudome -- $11.4 to $13.4, (with a WAR of 2.5 to 3.0).  In other words, while Fukudome has been slightly more valuable to the Cubs than Theriot (until you consider that Kosuke is making perhaps 24 times as much money, if not more), where's the Cajun Love from the Desipio crowd?

After my Fukudome article, AJ posted one regarding his opinion that the Cubs' CF is the MVP of the team.  I won't contest that, first because part of Fukudome's value is the fact that he's not easily replaced, and second because on this under-performing team it makes perfect sense that such an average player would be one of the best in the lineup.  But if we're going to make our judgment on the Cubs players based purely on an analytical, statistical outlook, then Theriot should not be overlooked.  Like a lot of people out there I would support his move to second base, but he's apparently been a pretty decent shortstop this year despite what biased public sentiment might be.  

As for the Desipio guys, I like many of them and respect their opinions.  It's a little unfortunate that some of them have to be so hostile toward people they dislike -- and they certainly present themselves in an extremely unpleasant manner the majority of the time -- but hey, they're the funniest guys on the internet.  Just ask them.

Anyway, I've never said GROTA is the best Cubs blog on the net -- I can easily think of a bunch that are funnier, and more analytical, and more compelling.  And if you'd like to see for yourself some of the personal blogs of the guys who think I am an "insufferable pudleak" living in my "queercastke of wrong at GROTA" then feel free to follow these links:

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater -- Wrigleyville23, named apparently after his love of the Chicago neighborhood with the highest quantity of puke per square mile and his love of Ryne Sandberg.  DKN only contributes sparringly to this blog.
Slaky - Slak's Index, a blog that is apparently about Slaky's music tastes, because that's what the internet needed -- another music blog by some guy nobody cares about
Eli - Eli Gieryna, the internet's least-prolific blogger, which sort of resembles a bot-created phish site
SKO - Start Kyle Orton ... considering that SKO hasn't apparently invested any money in his blog, it's probably not too late to create a Jay Cutler worship site for which he can migrate his compelling rhetoric, kind of like how HJE used to be FLP.
ChuckDickens - Pseubermetrics, which I have absolutely nothing bad to say about.  It's a clever and well-done site.

***UPDATE***
Bort/Jon, who apparently whined a lot because I didn't include a link to his blogs, runs Hitler Getting Punched, contributes on Thunder Matt's Saloon, and also The Slog.  Since I like the first two and know nothing of the latter I won't bother to come up with any pointless insults.  Sorry for hurting your feelings by leaving you out, Jon. ***END UPDATE***

I'm sure you that you'll enjoy some of those, although I also have a feeling that the guys who own them would rather lose a testicle than take on GROTA readers, who they surely feel are inferior to themselves. 

Over in the comment section of a "Roster Talk" post I did recently, vigilant Goat Reader faustus1500 posed a question about the identity of the Cubs' most valuable position player this season. According to Fangraphs, a site I'm very fond of, that distinction belongs to one Kosuke Fukudome, a guy Kurt recently had a few words about whom to say.

faustus wondered aloud (or rather, textually...?) if Kosuke was more or less valuable than the Cubs current 1B, Mr. Derrek Lee.

To address faustus' question, I will consider a concept that is extremely valuable in determining a player's value to his team--replacement.

Imagine, if you will, a 2009 Cubs season in which Derrek Lee ended up missing a ton of time.* Who would play at first? 

(*Note - I realize Aramis Ramirez actually DID miss a bunch of games, and is himself the most reasonable choice for Cub MVP. However, this discussion focuses on Cubs who actually were healthy this season. Just thought I'd clarify that.)

If Lee were hurt, we'd likely see a lot of Jake Fox at first base (earlier in the season we might've seen a Fox/Hoffpauir platoon). Based on how Jakie Q. has been swinging the bat this year, do you think the Cubs would miss Lee's bat that badly? Maybe yes--and maybe no. 

Additionally, how do you think Lee's replacements would fare defensively? While it's true that, over the course of the season, Gold Glove McLee will probably save a few errant throws from ending up in the dugout, I think Fox/Hoff/whoever could probably play adequate defense at first. I mean, all you have to do is stand there, right?

Now, think about what we'd do if Kosuke went down. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume Reed Johnson were healthy while the Fukster was down. That'd put a platoon in center, with Reed facing lefties and some righties, and Fuld getting a look against some other righties.

Offensively, Fuld has had a pretty amazing 2009 thus far. But I can't honestly say I'd expect him to keep that pace up. I bet his numbers would end up looking pretty similar to ReJo's, who has an overall slash line of .252/.327/.395 so far this season.

Then there's the larger issue of center field defense. Sure, Reed has made some fantastic plays on balls hit deep, but you've got to admit that Kosuke has a distinct advantage over ReJo in speed, lateral range, and arm strength. 

faustus is right that Lee has come up huge for this team at times when they desperately needed it. But because of the position he plays, it's easier to find a replacement for his bat. While I've been pleasantly surprised with Sam Fuld's excellent '09 numbers, I shudder to think what might have been if he were needed to play every day. 

Maybe y'all disagree. But for me, it's not too difficult for me to see why Kosuke Fukudome might be the 2009 Cubs' most valuable position player.

I was browsing through the Desipio forums last night when I noticed an on-going debate about the craptacularness of Milton Bradley. Pretty much everybody involved was arguing against a participant named Dave B, who feels that Bradley is not living up to his expectations, and furthermore suggested that Kosuke Fukudome has also been an epic disappointment. This resulted in another forum participant to ask why they'd "get on" Fukudome, who's "been great this year."

I like Kosuke myself, and am particularly happy that he's turned things around after an attrocious June. But has he been "great?" I posted his line (before last night's 3 for 3 effort) -- .271 AVG, .387 OBP, .846 OPS, 10 homers, 44 RBI, 6 steals in 14 attempts, .171 AVG v. LHP, and described his performance as being "better than bad but way, way less than 'great.'" That's when the shit-storm happened.

One guy called Pre told me I was "cherry picking his stats" -- apparently unaware that I mentioned both his positives and negatives -- and I responded by saying that I thought Fooky is good, but he has had no success hitting lefties and I don't know if his production so far can really justify his 8-figure contract. Pre's response was to criticize me because he knew I would "back-track" on my original comment and a request that I would "f**k off and die." Stay classy, Pre.

At that point the discussion kind of devolved into how I was a clearly-wrong piece of crap, it's not Kosuke's fault that he hasn't scored or driven in many runs (can't expect a leadoff guy to do the latter, although the majority of his at bats this season come from 3rd in the lineup or later) -- after all, (and I agree with this) Babe Ruth at his peak would probably have struggled to drive in 100 or score 100 in this cesspool of an offense. On top of that, I was told that if Fukudome had 15-20 major league seasons just like this one he would be one of the all-time greats and Hall of Fame worthy. (My fault on that one for suggesting he wouldn't have a chance.)

The proof in Fukudome's greatness comes, apparently, from his numbers in the Runs Created statistic. If Fukudome had a career of seasons just like this one, he would land up there amongst greats like George Brett and Al Kaline.

Runs Created, incidentally, is antiquated according to Fangraphs. They've developed a better means of tracking that stat, called wRC. wRC "is total runs created based of wOBA. It is calculated as (((wOBA – lgwOBA) / wOBAScale) + (lgR/PA)) * PA." Lost already? No worries - wOBA is defined by FanGraphs as the following: "created by Tom Tango, (wOBA) is a version of linear weights that has been weighted to fit an OBP scale. The weights have been properly adjusted by season and for the minor leagues by season and by league."

Above all other things, I have learned, wOBA and wRC should apparently be the best way to determine a player's offensive success. And Fukudome's wRC this year is presently on pace to be 86.6. If he could maintain that rate for 18 seasons, he would -- by the standards of wRC -- be amongst some true giants and some Hall of Fame hitters. When we consider that Fukudome is, generally speaking, seen as being a very good defensive center fielder as well, then it becomes obvious that his standard statistics -- a .277 AVG as of today, 11 homeruns, 27 doubles, 5 triples, a near-.400 OBP and a mid .800's OPS -- do not tell the full story.  Fukudome hasn't merely been good this year, he's been great. As have, apparently, the 68 players who've put up higher wRC's than Fooky this season, including 6 guys who also spend their time in center field.

Comparatively, Fukudome is on pace to have a similar wRC to Sammy Sosa, the 1993, 1996, and 1997 editions, and he's on pace to barely surpass the finest season ever had by that offensive juggernaut, Rob Deer. If only Rob could have duplicated his 1987 season 15 to 20 times, then we'd all get to debate the merits of whether or not he should be voted into the Hall of Fame. (We would find him lacking, though, because unlike Fukudome he doesn't have that nearly-Gold-Glove-caliber defensive talent.)

Anyway, I don't want to be a semantics guy, but I do believe there's a significant difference between a player being good and great. Fukudome -- for all our protests when he is unable to so much as hit his own face with an open palm slap -- has been good this year, and at times he's been very good.  I was wrong to say that he was merely "better than bad."  Still, as Rob wrote earlier, I think many of us had higher expectations about the kind of production he'd deliver. If this is Fukudome's finest season as a Cub, I think many fans will be left feeling disappointed. But still, don't be too critical of him folks. And certainly don't focus on his faults. If you do, ChuckDickens might think you're dense -- and you'd be lucky to get off that easy.

"I was watching a television program before, with a kind of roving moderator who spoke to a seated panel of young women who were having some sort of problem with their boyfriends - apparently, because the boyfriends had all slept with the girlfriends' mothers. And they brought the boyfriends out, and they fought, right there on television. Toby, tell me: these people don't vote, do they?"
-Martin Sheen as President Bartlet, asking questions about individuals extremely similar to those who post on Desipio

What do Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and Milton Bradley all have in common?  Scratch that -- the more appropriate question is what don't they have in common.

All three have big contracts, given to them by a general manager who was likely bidding against himself.

All three are putting up "worst case scenario" numbers -- statistics you won't likely see from a playoff-bound outfield.  Soriano is batting a meager .243 with a .303 OBP, 19 homers, 52 RBI, and 110 strikeouts in 108 games.  (That's 7 more than he had last season in 12 more at bats.)  Fukudome is batting .272 with a .390 OBP, 10 homers, 43 RBI, and a 43% success rate at stealing bases.  And Bradley is batting .259 with a .390 OBP, 8 homers, 30 RBI, and a bad attitude.  Oh, and collectively they're making something like 40 million dollars this season.

But apart from their big contracts and offensive suck, they have something else in common too -- they were coveted by OCD Hendry for years before he signed them.  Soriano had been a target of the Cubs since his earliest days with the Yankees, where he was a reported Target of Interest in the never-occurred Sosa trade.  Fukudome was being spoken of at Wrigley from as early as 2003, and Hendry had vowed to pursue him even before the 2006 season.  And Bradley was a target of Jim's back in the Dusty days, with Baker pondering his ability to manage the troubled star should a trade come-to-fruition.

At this point, Hendry's idiosyncracies aren't even disputed anymore.  He will always go out and acquire three of whatever he needs -- when the one that would suffice goes elsewhere.  And he'll always covet certain players who, mark our words, will someday make their way to Wrigleyville.  In a way, it's miraculous that ex Reds (and current Nationals) Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns -- perhaps Hendry's Most Coveted -- have avoided a Cubs uniform, but if Jim remains in charge it's probably only a matter of time.

So now we're left asking how the Cubs repair these mistakes.  Let's break it down by player and problem:

Alfonso Soriano
When Soriano signed with the Cubs, my initial reaction was of joy and despair, mixed in equal portions.  I wrote at the time that only Hendry could turn the joy of such an acquisition into a move that we'd all hate within three-or-so years (while also saying I wouldn't care if the Cubs won a Series beforehand). 

So, here we are, at Year Three on the cusp of a possible -- if not probable -- Soriano decline.  He has 5 years remaining, he'll make something like 18 million per year until he's done, and the Cubs are stuck with him.  One reader suggested that Sori should be waived and given to the first team that claims him, although that's putting a huge assumption in any team stepping up to eat that albatross of a contract.  I EMailed one Cubs beat writer asking if he knew as to whether or not Sori passed through waivers, and he said, "clubs, and particularly the Cubs, try to keep that stuff private. But I'm sure he was put on waivers, and I'm sure he cleared easily. Who would want that contract? Nobody in their right mind."

Therefore the Cubs may need to first hope that he will rebound from this horrible season, which remains a strong possibility.  Soriano is 34 next season, and while he will almost certainly never hit 40 homeruns again it's still possible that he'll be a 30 homer guy if he gets everything working.  As for his defense, he clearly belongs in the American League where they can hide him in the DH spot, but since that's not going to happen then the Cubs probably have to consider posturing to move him to first base once Lee's contract ends.

Otherwise, Hendry will need to consider dealing Soriano and eating probably half his remaining contract to find an interested buyer.  For a guy already in his 30's when he signed, an 8-year 130+ million deal was just ridiculous.  There's no way his career ends on a high note, unless his last homerun is a walk-off that wins the World Series.

Kosuke Fukudome
We were hoping he'd be Our Ichiro.  Turns out that was a bit of a mistake on our part.  But while Fukudome is not, based on his numbers, a 14-million-a-year guy, he is defensively solid and he's not a negative presence in the lineup.  It's just that he doesn't give enough positive, either.  Still, in 160 fewer at bats this season he's already matched-or-surpassed last year's totals in doubles, triples and homers.  I don't know if Rob would still call Fukudome a "bust," but he's certainly a winner only if we view him with diminished expectations.

On a team where Soriano is killing the ball, Fukudome's decent-but-not-rah-rah-great statistics would be acceptable.  On a team where he is flanked by Milton Bradley, however, Fooky is a disappointment.

Milton Bradley
Earlier this year I compared him with Moises Alou, whose first-of-three years with the Cubs was a huge disappointment.  The difference was that Alou got mad, stayed mad, and hit the crap out of the ball.  When Milton gets mad, though, he seems to come apart mentally.  Not good.  He may not have the fortitude to ever succeed in Chicago.

But I'm willing to give him the chance.  Maybe he's not the guy you want to be the face of the organization, but contrary to what fans seem to hope for, he does not appear to be a clubhouse cancer like Sosa was.  Maybe he's never going to play in 150 games in a season, but we knew that coming in.  What we were hoping for -- if not expecting, though -- was an OPS around 1.000 in his 120 games played. If he stays strong mentally, I expect him to meet that hope next season. 

Still, it's pretty crappy that we have to basically hope for the unlikely -- in his and Sori's return to productivity -- because Hendry has left us with no alternative.

So, that brings us back to the general manager Jim Hendry.  His time with the Cubs has been very mixed.  He was, at the onset, viewed as a prospect guy.  Only that's turned into a bust.  Therefore to save his job he had to turn to expensive, somewhat old free agents.  It worked, he's still got a gig, but burning the field to save the farm has its setbacks and we are experiencing that now.

So, since he hasn't been able to draft and develop, and since he's backing the Cubs into an unwinnable corner when it comes to huge contracts for untradable players, and since he can't seem to fill his team's gaping holes in a sensible way ...

...perhaps it's time for Jim Hendry to resign, or be fired, or get turned into a scout, or anything to get him out of a decision-making role in Chicago.  Enough is enough.

There's only so many things a manager has control over.

He's gotta keep an eye on his starting pitcher, and he's gotta know which reliever to go to when it's time to make a change. He's the one that pulls the trigger on pinch hitters, and he'd better know the lefty/righty splits when he makes the change.

And every day, he sets the lineup for his team's offensive attack.

The Cubs have always had a few quirks regarding their approach to the lineup. Most notably, the "leadoff hitter" debate had (until very recently) gone on and on among Cub fans (e.g., "Drop Soriano!", or, "We need Brian Roberts!").

The Cubs have also struggled, for a few years now, to find a left-handed hitting RBI producer for the middle of their order. To that end, you know you have a problem when you allow a 36-year old Jermoy Burnitz to play right field for your major league team.

However, after two and a half years of unrest among the Wrigley Faithful, I think it's safe to say that Lou has settled upon the Absolutely, Positively Correct Lineup against right handed hitters.

If there's one thing about lineups that every baseball fan can agree on, it's this: when you set your lineup correctly, your 1 and 2 hitters will get on base in front of your 3-through-6 guys, who will slug in some RBIs for your team. On that note, here are the slugging percentages for the Cubs' three bona fide RBI guys (A-Ram, Lee and Soriano), in order, with a fourth mystery hitter included in the rankings.

1. A. Ramirez, .543
2. D. Lee, .539
3. Player X, .461
4. A. Soriano, .443

Player X is Kosuke Fukudome, and for the foreseeable future, the Cubs' left-handed RBI producer. On Sunday, Lou made the last needed change to improve an otherwise optimal Cub lineup by moving Kosuke into the 5th spot, and pushing Milton Bradley up to the 2-hole.

Fuk hasn't always been the clear choice for the 5-hole on this team. He started well in 2009, posting solid numbers in April and May, before seriously slumping in June (his slash line for that month was .169/.266/.241). At that point, the question was whether Kosuke should pay at all, not where he should hit.

Since then, however, the Fukster has been on fire. As proof of his deserving a regular spot in the Cub lineup, he recently broke his habit of posting declining numbers in each subsequent month of the season.

Furthermore, he did so in glorious fashion. His July slash: .307/.392/.534. Wonderful.

Kosuke's .461 slugging percentage is roughly 60 points higher than that of the man he's replacing, the famously infamous Milton Bradley. But Bradley isn't beat in every category; despite a .230 average against righties, as of today MB is sporting an overall on-base percentage of .401, which is very nice (and 53 points higher than Ryan "Sluggo" Theriot's).

Rest assured, Cubdom. Even as the team struggles through a stretch of tough games, made more painful by the Cardinals' feasting on weak opponents, at least we've got the right lineup in place. Finally.

In case you haven't heard by now, the All-Star reserves have been chosen, and because it's the Law, Ted Lilly is our lone representative.  Ted is deserving, not so much for his 2009 more than his overall performance since coming here three years ago.  He is the best big-money free agent signing Jim Hendry has made for us (other than the renewal of Aramis Ramirez) and congratulations to Ted for his honor.  Perhaps one of the chosen first basemen will beg out of the game for one reason or another, and Derrek Lee might get to go, for he is deserving, but first base is quite the deep position in the NL. 

Kurt gave us his batting order thoughts on today's game preview.  I know he loves him some Sam Fuld, but unfortunately he may not have him around much longer, unless Hendry can invent an injury for Soriano and/or Bradley.  As you know, tomorrow, ARam is back, as is Reed Johnson and Angel Guzman.  Will tomorrow be the end of the David Patton era in Chicago?  Probably ought to be, but all indications are that to make room for the three returnees, the Cubs will be shoving aside two pitchers and one position player, which is either going to be Fox, Fuld, or Blanco. 

If that was the choice I was left with, Fuld is my choice.  I honestly believe that if Hendry was worth a damn, he'd work on either Bradley or Soriano to get them to take one of these "anxiety" DL trips that have been so popular in 2009.  Frankly, Bradley is a shoo-in.  That way we get to keep all the young guys that are busting ass.

Batting orders now.  I am still in favor of trading for a legitimate leadoff man - in fact, since Lilly made the All-Star team, his value will never be higher in scoring an Ian Kinzler or Curtis Granderson type (ain't NOBODY wanting Harden, unfortunately). 

Buuuuut, going with what we have, I am in favor of leaving Kosuke Fukudome up there.  He only has one offensive skill in the MLB - on base percentage.  I thought, coming here, he was born to hit second.  He has not hit with enough consistency, control or authority to be that second hitter.  Like we want some guy getting thrown out on a hit-and-run while Fooky spins like a top.  But he still has a .390 OBP.  He should bat leadoff until his contract expires, until we can trade him, or until we get a real leadoff hitter.  For $12.5 million, that's the least he can do for us.

So based on what is lying on the shelf, whether we can stick Don't Wake Daddy on the DL or not, this is what I'd run out there every day, starting tomorrow:

1. Fukudome - CF (with White Slice against lefties)
2. Theriot - 2B  (yep, second base)
3. Ramirez - 3B
4. Lee - 1B
5. Hoffpauir - RF (with Fox against lefties)
6. Soriano - LF (with frequent fill-ins from the Slice and Fox)
7. Soto - C
8. Blanco - SS (because, yes, I loves me some Andy White)

Let's face it Cub's fans this season has been a disappointment thus far. There is a good chance the Cubs may need more than Aramis to get out of this funk. After last season, I thought the Cubs needed to add some pieces to prove they truly deserved the title of World Series contender.                                                   

Their most tradable player was Mark DeRosa. There was a huge belief that he peaked and it was very unlikely that he would not match last year's output. I agreed with that belief. A player who never hit more than 13 home runs in the season and before the age of 30 didn't hit double digit home runs in his career was probably would not to have season that matched '08. In hindsight, the reason why they traded DeRosa made some sense. The Cubbies also dumped Jason Marquis (somehow one of the leaders in wins.) Chicago was trying to gain the pieces to trade for Peavy. Given Zambrano's emotional and recent physical issues, it was understood that Hendry felt the Cubs needed a true ace. 

Another incredibly more important issue Hendry had to answer was the Cubs need for another bat.  His belief that the Cubs lineup was too right handed bought in Aaron Miles and the infamous Milton Bradley. Here is where things go really interested. In addition to these acquisitions, the Cubs let go of Jim Edmonds, Daryle Ward, and Hank White. Jim Edmonds was crucial for the Cubs last season. He had two clutch home runs against his former team; the hated St. Louis Cardinals. He also brought a number of exciting catches with him. However, he was at the end of the road, and there was no way the Cubs were going to resign him. Daryle Ward had a number clutch hits, but Micah Hoffpauir and Jake Fox more than replaced him. Henry Blanco on the other hand was the only man in history who could pull of a feathered mullet and tattoos. He was Big Z’s countryman. He gave guidance to Carlos. Unfortunately, he would have asked more money than the Cubs were willing to give him.

Essentially, Milton Bradley or “board game was brought into replace DeRosa’s bat in the lineup. Ideally, Fontenot would have replaced Edmonds production. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Fontenot instead of living up to the nickname of “Little Babe Ruth” has turned into “Mini Mickey Morandini” (or Mini Morandini for short). Kosuke Fukudome was expected to be much better than last year. So far, his fall has come sooner than last season. Based on last season, Milton Bradley was a great acquisition. He put up great numbers in Texas. He lead the AL in on base percentage and OPS. He even lead the majors in OPS+ which takes ballpark into consideration. One problem with Bradley was that he played more than 120 games in season only twice in nine seasons. Everyone knew about Milton being a head case. This season has only given further proof of his jackassery. In Zambrano’s own words, Milton is the living embodiment of a “screw.” Worst of all, this season he really stinks. To put things in perspective, Scott Podsednik was taken off the trash heap and he has a higher batting average, more RBIs, and only two less home runs. This is while playing fewer games than “Board Game”. I realize this is beating a dead horse, but if he played better we would probably forgive his idiocy.

Now, it is unfair to blame all of the Cubs problems on Milton and Hendry, but they have to take a huge chunk of the blame. The assumption was that the combo Bradley and Fontenot would make up 40 home runs and 136 RBIs. Fukudome was asked to bat 40 points higher than last season and produce more runs. Neither of these has happened. In my opinion only Fukudome’s hitting was the only thing that could be expected. One can say that the loss of Aramis was huge. Yes, his injury was huge loss, but it did not cause Soto bat around .220, it didn’t cause Fontenot to resemble former Cub Mickey Morandini. Soriano is a hacker that rarely thinks about pitches, so how would Aramis’ presence made any difference in his performance?

At the beginning of the season, I felt the Cubs would win 88 games and win the division. Hendry really didn’t improve the team. In fact, the team has taken a step back talent wise.

Sure, Edmonds was old and on a downslide, but it would have made more sense to find someone who could play in right field who could replace his power numbers. Everyone and their dog knew there was no way the Cubs could do anything but continue to play Fukudome. They had no choice but to platoon him with Reed Johnson.

Last season, there were a number of wins by the Cubs where they had problems against the starter but were able to light up the other teams relievers. That is what we saw against the Indians. This season starters have gone further against the Cubs. This team needed another bat, not a replacement for DeRosa. If Bradley was supposed to be a left-handed replacement for DeRosa, then he was a clearly more expensive one. If they wanted another leftie in the lineup, they could have started Fontenot and still moved DeRosa to right field. That would have been a cheaper alternative for the same result. You don’t have to overburden your lineup with lefties if they are mediocre or bad. The Phillies’ lineup is an anomaly. There is no point trying to emulate the Philadelphia lineup. The Cubs were a good team. Still, I wanted to see the Cubs sign either Ibanez or Abreu(I was leaning towards Abreu). If Hendry had more patience, he would have be able to snag either for a decent cost, but here we are overpaying for crap the next few years.

The wonderful thing about blogging -- all your words are as immortal as your domain registration and hosting contract.  That means that in the years GROTA has been around, we've said plenty of really stupid things that time proved us to be totally wrong about.

For example - I was wrong about Mark DeRosa.

When the Cubs let DeRosa go for some young pitching that very well prove me right in the end about the DeRo deal, I said it was no big thang.  After all, the Cubs had a tremendous hitter in Mike Fontenot who could bat lefty and would probably put up numbers equal-to or better-than the '09 DeRosa.

I said DeRo would revert.  He'd had a career year in 2008 and, at his age, career years don't get duplicated. 

I said that Fontenot was a better defensive second baseman.  (Actually, this one still might be true, he hasn't gotten to play there a whole lot.)  And with the addition of the versatile backup Aaron Miles, DeRosa's ability to play multiple positions would not be missed.

Hell, it's June 22nd.  We're well on our way through the 2009 season.  And the evidence to the contrary about my bold opinions is staggering.

Mike Fontenot is not cutting it as a starter.  Actually, the amount of doubles and homers he's on pace to hit are fine and dandy.  The problem is his .230 AVG.  Strike that, the problem is his .121 AVG against lefties. At the very least, Fontenot needs somebody to spell him against south-paws.  Even Aaron Miles would be acceptable -- BAM! is batting .259 against lefty pitching, which is better than the next-to-nothing that Lil' Mike is delivering.

Then again, DeRosa is a near-.280 hitter so far this year, on pace to hit 31 homers, drive in 118 RBI, and post an OPS of .819.  And he is killing lefties. 

On a team starving for offense there is no denying that the Cubs would've been better off with DeRosa on the roster.  So, big-time screw-up for Hendry, and admission of being wrong from me.  But before you get on my case too much about it, be honest about how fast you gave up on Derrek Lee -- many were sticking forks in him back in October 2008.

Now, lately one of our writers has taken a significant amount of flack -- even from some of our other writers -- for being harsh on the players on this team.  He said Lee was toast about a month ago, he's called Soto fat and lacking ambition, he's declared to be embarrassed for ever having advocated Fukudome, and so-on.  Well, Rob, I'm callin' you out.

At one point this season, Lee was batting .194 with 3 homeruns and 15 RBI.  (That was on May 13th, by the way).  In just over a month since then, Lee has been batting .374 with 8 homeruns and 20 RBI.  The point being that, in baseball, nobody's done until after they've taken their last at bat.

As for Soto, this has been a strong point of disagreement between Rob and the rest of us.  He thinks Geo grew fat on his laurels.  I don't know for sure that he gained weight over the winter, but I do know that he started the year with a sore shoulder and a screwed-up swing.  At his low point, April 30th, Soto was batting .109 with 0 homers and only 2 RBI.  Since then, he's hitting .264 but more importantly with 5 homers and 17 RBI.  Geo's not out of the woods but he is definitely, undeniably hitting the ball better.

Fukudome, on the other hand ... eh, it's hard to say.  After starting the year with a .338 AVG in April, Kosuke batted .277 in May with only 1 homer and 5 RBI and is batting .180 in June, even after Saturday's 4-hit assault.  I'm prepared to give this one to Rob, but not until we see where Fukudome is by mid July.

Oh -- and Milton Bradley.  I don't recall that Rob has given Bradley too much flack for his crappy 2009 season, but I just wanted to note to everybody that Don't Wake was batting .097 on April 29th.  Since then, he batted .268 with 3 homers and 12 RBI in May and is batting .286 but with only 2 extra base hits in all of June.  Still -- he's improving. 

The point is that nobody really knows.  We can guess, we can trust our gut, we can follow projections and detailed statistics, but until the games are played we're just rolling dice and making bold declarations that we hope nobody will bother to remember.

What I will say is that the difference between a good team and a bad one appears to occur in inches.  The Cubs team we've followed through the start of June was indescribably awful.  They failed to get big hits, they couldn't win close games, they surrendered late leads, and on a whole they were just painful to watch. 

Probably they are still that team, at least a little.  But with the Questionable Quartet coming around, we suddenly have a team getting huge hits late in games, often coming from behind to win on their last at bat, with a bullpen that still appears to be shaking off the cobwebs but has been able to hold down small leads.  It's the same team, the same personnel, and suddenly they don't look like they're going to lose 90 -- instead they appear as if they just might win that many games.

All I can say then, to Rob and many others, is that this to me is proof that nothing can be assumed or taken for granted.  We live in a Cubbie Bubble where we see the worst and assume it doesn't happen to any other team -- or maybe we assume it means more because these are the Cubs, for gawd's sake.  But I wrote a while back about the Superlative Season in which if we aren't rewarded with a perfect year of baseball we think the team has no chance at all of winning imperfectly. 

On the contrary, I still think the Cubs are playoff bound.  I still think it will happen in spite of the managing.  I still think this team is immensely talented.  And I absolutely believe that in October, this team -- already so beset by adversity -- will be prepared to shrug off at least some of the pressure they will feel to win it all.  At this point their talent will almost certainly be bigger than their wins total, and in October talent wins out.

Of that I am certainly not wrong.

Memo from a Cardinals fan: I know it's only 17 games into the 2009 season, but I'm nervous.  My team was doing really good there for a few games, but did you see the way the Cubs hammered them today?  It's like it wasn't even a competition!  I mean, where was the Cards offense?  What will we do it St. Louis can't stop the bleeding?  10 runs to 3?  Horrible!  I'm quite convinced this season is going to be a total bust...

Back in reality.  Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?  But if the script had been flipped and the Cubs took the first 2 game of this series only to get smacked around by the Cardinals today, then that is exactly what dopey Cub fans would be saying right now. 

Nevertheless, the Cubs whomped the Cardinals.  It felt good.  Every starter - but Geo Soto, shocker and Reed Johnson - got a hit.  In fact, the 1-4 guys went 8 for 16 with 7 of the team's 8 RBI (2 runs came unearned).

Offensive winners particularly include Micah Hoffpauir - 2 for 3, with 1 homerun (clearly he needs to have Derrek Lee's job) - and Kosuke Fukudome, who hit his 4th homerun of the year.  Remember folks, he only hit 10 all of last season.

Rich Harden picked up his second win of the year, struck out 9 in 6 innings, dropped his ERA to 3.86, and sweated his balls off when the Cubs bullpen came in and gave up 4 hits and 2 walks in the final 3 innings of the game. 

Series Recap
This could be known as the Three Game April Series in which some very vocal Cub fans lost their confidence in the team.  I will not contest how ugly it was, because it sure was horrible.  I won't argue that some very bad things happened - from freak injuries to ugly losses to feelings of immense frustration - because those were all bad and they happened in a matter of one weekend.

But I will say this: if your team quit on the game as quickly as you quit on your team, you would hate them with a passion.  Just a reminder.

Tomorrow the Cubs head into Arizona, and we will be announcing some fun projects at GROTA.

Current Record: 9-8
Position in the NL Central: 4th place, 3 games out of first
Best Possible Record: 154-8
Worst Possible Record: 9-153
Record needed to win 110: 101-44
On Pace For: 86-76

Quick Links
Series Preview: Cubs at St. Louis
Game Recap: Cardinals 4, Cubs 3, rising tide of panic
Game Recap: Cardinals 8, Cubs 2, our season is clearly over
GameCast: Cubs at Cardinals April 26th