Cubs - NOT Top 10

I thought about doing this even before the current disastrous west coast trip and pummeling the Cubs are taking right now, but now that the Cubs have dropped to 7 1/2 games behind the Cards NOW is the time. Anyway, I don't think it will be very difficult to come up with a Not Top 10 list for the Cubs...I could probably do a Not Top 20 this year, but I'll stick with 10 and try to choose the "best" individuals possible to fit the category.

The Cubs have the third highest payroll in all of MLB (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p4ew-fwu2XT3cpPRtt9qIGw); number 1 in the NL and yet while they remain in 2nd place in the NL Central, they are currently 7 1/2 games behind the Cards and only 1 lousy game over .500. That 7 1/2 game lead is the biggest division lead in all of MLB - nice work boys! You want to start thinking about the Wild Card...well it doesn't get any more promising over there for the Cubs either. While they are "only" 6 1/2 games back for the Wild Card, they would have to leap frog 4 other teams to do it - good luck boys.

I'll do this David Letterman style and count it down from the "best" worst individual (notice I didn't say player) to the worst worst individual. And while ranking them, I am ranking who has sabotaged this season the most and there is plenty of blame to go around. I tend to place most of the blame on guys making the big bucks too so while Theriot isn't the best SS in the league, he isn't paid like he is, so I don't really blame him for not being it.

10 - Aramis Ramirez - I said in my blog the other day that this guy's injury is the #1 reason the Cubs are struggling to stay in the playoff hunt. I hate to mention him in this list though because his was a freak injury and he got hurt diving for a ball during a game and it had nothing to do with being lazy and not getting himself in condition or anything like that. BUT his lack of presence in the lineup for all that time KILLED any chance for the offense to really get on track and score runs like they did last year. I also believe that his missing bat put more pressure on the other guys to pick up the slack and caused them to press and not get the job done.

9 - Geovany Soto - I mentioned in my intro that I don't like to blame the low budget guys but Geo was the Rookie of the Year last year and this year...well...he's been HORRIBLE. After hitting .285 with 86 RBIs as a rookie last year, he's hitting .217 with 29 RBIs this year. He's also spent some serious time on the DL playing in only 80 games out of the 121 the Cubs have played to date. It's difficult to score runs as a team when one of your more productive hitters is no longer producing and for that, Geo makes the list.

8 - Carlos Zambrano - when you are paid the amount of money as Big Z, shouldn't you come up with some big games to get your team back on track? I mean dominating games...the answer is YES. Well, where are those games this year? Sure, Z's numbers aren't terrible and he's got a nice ERA, but he just doesn't go out there and dominate like he needs to for a team struggling to score runs. And now he's letting his team down in a totally different way...by going on the DL with back problems that, by his own admission were caused by his lack of working on his core strength (i.e. doing his abdominal exercises). Really? That's what we get as fans from a guy making $91.5 million over 5 years?

7 - Kosuke Fukudome - I have never been much of a Fukudome fan. Really the only thing he does well that I like is throw guys out from the outfield. Other than that, his whirly-bird style at the plate really does NOTHING at all for me. But look at his OBA...if you stood up there and didn't swing as often as he doesn't, you'd get walked several times too...that doesn't make it a good thing. At $11.5 million, Fukudome is part of the highest paid and most under-achieving outfield in all of MLB.

6 - Kevin Gregg - maybe it's not his fault that Hendry chose to dump clubhouse and fan favorite Kerry Wood and instead picked Kevin Gregg to be the Cubs closer ever after blowing more saves than anyone in the NL last year for the Marlins, BUT he is still here and until this week, was still blowing Cubs games. This guy has been pretty awful all year and has finally lost his job as Grandpa Lou finally woke up and looked at Gregg's stats.

5 - Larry Rothschild - what has this guy done to deserve such high praise that I always seem to hear? What career has he helped resurrect or what prospect has he brought along to become elite? Sure, Ryan Dempster had his career resurrected, but no thanks to Larry...he was a good pitcher before getting injured and now he's back to being a good pitcher. Zambrano is the closest guy I can think of to being a prospect that became elite, but he's only been elite by the contract he signed. He's never come close to winning a Cy Young Award and has never won 20 games in a season. Instead I bring up Carlos Marmol, Jeff Samardzija, Kevin Gregg, and Neal Cotts. Why can't he get Marmol to throw strikes? How is Samardzija worse this year than last year? Why can't he get Gregg to focus more when he's out there in a tight spot? What happened to Neal Cotts? The guy walked like every lefty he came in to face! Let's face it, Rothschild is super over-rated and needs to go!

4 - Lou Piniella - this guy is just too old school and NEVER thinks outside the box...ever. Hendry brought Milton Bradley in to be a middle-of-the-order left-handed bat for the middle of the Cubs lineup (isn't that what Fukudome was supposed to be last year?). So where does Lou hit MB in the Cubs lineup? Why 4th or 5th of course - isn't that where all your guys that are 8th on your team in RBIs (behind two guys that have played 50 less games!)? NOOOOO!!! And how many more times are you going to run Soriano out there to LF with his .240 BA and HORRIBLE defense? How long did he leave Soriano in the lead-off spot because that's the only spot Soriano wanted to hit? Who's running the team Lou? Speaking of which, I always go back to the incident earlier in the season with Milton Bradley. They got into it during a game, Lou sent Bradley home before the game was over and yet put him right back in the starting lineup the very next day. WHAT?!? Now that the Cubs are 7 1/2 games back, he's thinking about benching Soriano to play Sam Fuld who continues to impress both in the field and at the plate - leads the team in OBA and 4th in BA. And where's the fire in the manager that Hendry hired? "I'm not a dragon!" No, you're an old man Grandpa Lou! Now if you're one of those guys that says "managers just put the lineup together, the players win or lose the game", think about the Dodgers. They hadn't done anything under Grady Little and yet as soon as they hired Joe Torre, they won their division last year and lead it again this year by 5 games. What about the Rockies? They were 10 games under .500 when they hired Jim Tracey back in May and have since gone 50-26 to lead the Wild Card. Our Grandpa Lou does a terrible job of working the lineup, dealing with his bench and his bullpen. That's not a very good combination for success.

3 - Alfonso Soriano - this guy has been a bust from day one with the Cubs. After hitting 46 HRs, 41 doubles, stealing 41 bases and driving in 95 RBIs, this guys hasn't come close to that type of production since. He has stolen 47 bases in 2 1/2 season which is only 6 more than he stole during his contract year in Washington. His HR numbers have gone down from 46 in 2006 with Washington to 33, 29, and 19 so far this year. He is hitting a not-so-robust .240 for us this year too. His defense is probably the worst in all of MLB for left field with 9 errors and only 6 outfield assists (11 and 22 for the Nats in 2006). And now, because of his fat contract which the Cubs are stuck with until 2014 (my daughter starts high school next week and will be in college before his contract runs out!), the Cubs are hand-cuffed from really letting Sam Fuld take over out there and they can't just go out and get another guy to replace him either.

2 - Milton Bradley - this guy has been the epitome of being a TOTAL BUST in every single sense of the word. Everything we all KNEW about this guy but refused to believe has been dead-on accurate. He's been moody; he's been a hot dog; he's not been into the game (see throwing the ball into the stands with only 2 outs); and he has NOT hit or driven in runs (8th in RBIs on his own team). Just a TOTAL BUST! Don't forget the Cubs got rid of Mark DeRosa so they could "afford" to get this knucklehead (BTW - DeRo has driven in more than twice as many runs for half the cost and is now helping the rival Cardinals storm to a division crown).

1 - Jim Hendry - this guy is quite possibly the worst GM in all of professional sports. Don't believe me...let's talk about it. In three consecutive off-seasons, Hendry has succeeded to totally hand-cuff the franchise for the next few years with the WORST decisions ever for the outfield. Soriano was signed to a sickening 8-year $136 million contract before the 2007 season. Fukudome was signed to a 4-year $48 million deal before the 2008 season to be a left-handed bat for the middle of the Cubs lineup. He's hit a total of 21 HRs in his 1 1/2 season Cubs career with 103 RBIs. Milton Bradley was signed to be a left-handed bat for the middle of the Cubs lineup (wait, didn't I just say that?) before this season. Lou finally moved him to #2 in the lineup to at least take some advantage of all the walks he gets as those don't come in too handy with runners at the corners and two outs where you need an RBI. What about the #1 starter money he gave to Zambrano for #3 starter production? I'll just list a few more mistakes Hendry has made this year...Aaron Miles, Mark DeRosa, Adam Dunn/Raul Ibanez/Bobby Abreu (why not sign ANY of these guys instead of Bradley?), Ryan Freel, Jason Marquis (didn't mind the thought of getting rid of him, but thought it would have been better to actually get a guy that would still be on the team going into May). That's why he is #1 on my list of Not Top 10. I hope the Ricketts family get rid of him ASAP because for $135 million, the Cubs shouldn't be struggling to stay in the playoff race especially after winning 97 games last year. Hey, at least they are more lefty this year!

Wait til next year (again)!