Chicago Baseball

The last couple of days have been tough for Chicago's baseball teams.  The Cubs have dropped the first two games of their homestand to the red hot San Diego Padres (who saw them coming this year?).  San Diego is just a tough team.  They don't get down on themselves, they play good team baseball, and more importantly, they pitch unbelievably well.  Their bullpen has been fantastic all season, and it has showed in this series already.  In fact, as I am writing this, the Padres have a 3-1 lead after five innings in the third of a four game series at Wrigley.  If the Cubs can't come back this afternoon, it looks like they'll need a win to avoid the sweep.

I don't know about any of you other Cub fans, but to me it seems like ownership and team management are looking to start rebuilding now.  Most teams seem to wait until the end of the season to trade players, release players, and do their call ups and send downs with their minor league affiliates.  However, this season the Cubs have made a few trades (Ted Lilly/Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers for Blake DeWitt and 2 minor league pitchers, Mike Fontenot to the Giants for minor league outfielder Evan Crawford, and now a potential Derrek Lee trade to the Braves for players to be named later).  That is quite a dramatic change in the roster.  The Cubs seem to be giving up on their veterans and going to their younger players.  Castro and Colvin I think will be very good players in the long run (Castro has all-star and gold glove potential).  Marlon Byrd is a lock, and as much as Cubs fans would like to get rid of him, Soriano is staying.  No general manager would take that heavy contract off the Cubs' hands. 

I think giving your young guys a shot is a good idea, especially when we have no shot at getting into the playoffs.  Byrd, Ramirez and Soriano are probably going to be the only veterans that will start frequently over the last 6 weeks of the season (and perhaps Kosuke).  They might be the only veterans that make the starting lineup next season as well.  It seems like the Cubs have a pretty good prospect at each position (or an established starter, guys like DeWitt and Soto).  What they need to do is spend their early draft picks over the next few seasons on starting pitching.  They need to find the next Mark Prior/Kerry Wood, and then not ruin them.  Zambrano is out as the team ace (eventhough I think he still has some good pitching left in him), Dempster is a number 3 or 4 starter at best, Gorzelanny has been ok, but isn't a front of the rotation guy.  I don't think the Cubs have a front of the rotation guy.  They need to get that type of guy through the draft. 

As for the White Sox, they have been scuffling while the Twins have been on fire.  I am not a Sox fan, so this has been kind of fun for me to watch.  I did enjoy last night's walk-off homer in the tenth by Jim Thome.  That was a classic "Should have re-signed me" moment.  I was watching it on the MLB Network, and they showed both broadcasts (Minnesota and Chicago).  Hawk Harrelson didn't say a word.  I don't know if he left the box, or if he was just too upset that he didn't talk or sign off from the game.  It was kind of funny, although I know how he feels.  I have seen my favorite teams play well and be in big games, and have a victory slip through their fingertips the way the Sox have seen their last 3 games fall through.  They need to straighten out their bullpen.  Kenny Williams gets alot of credit for putting the White Sox in position to compete for the division year in and year out, but he should have gone after another arm for the bullpen, and not an Edwin Jackson, or even an Adam Dunn.  Some of that may be hindsight, but Jenks has struggled all year, and now the rest of their bullpen is struggling with him.  They have to win the next two games in this series against Minnesota, or else the Twins will be very tough to catch.

It's been a tough week so far for Chicago baseball.  Then again, it's been a tough century and then some for the Cubs, so what's another 6 weeks, huh?