State of Chicago Sports (Chicago Cubs)

Out of all the Chicago sports teams currently, I'd say there is no doubt that the Chicago Cubs are in the worst shape out of all of them. The Cubs are coming off a very poor 2010 where they actually finished strong under new current manager Mike Quade. I do think there is some room for optimism despite the horrible contracts littered on this team from Alfonso Soriano to John Grabow to Kosuke Fukudome.

Pitching:
The first room for optimism going in the 2011 season is that the biggest weak spot from last year, the bullpen, is going to be better this season. The Cubs brought in fan favorite Kerry Wood to pitch in the set-up role coming off a very strong 2010 campaign with the New York Yankees. Wood started off the season with the Cleveland Indians and wasn't very effective going 8 for 11 in save chances are having a bloated ERA of 6.30. But with the Yankees, Wood took off in the set-up role compiling 10 holds and having an ERA of 0.69 in 26 innings pitched. The Cubs also bring back Carlos Marmol who is one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball when he isn't walking batters and Sean Marshall who is one of the best long relievers in MLB. If he isn't put into the starting rotation, Andrew Cashner will be another solid long reliever for the Cubs this year. He's still young and has a ton of room to improve but he has a ton of potential and could really break out this season.

Of course, the Cubs also have their fair share of question marks in the bullpen. John Grabow was given a rather large contract before last season and he didn't live up to it at all as he was probably the worst reliever the Cubs had last season. Grabow had a 7.28 ERA in 25 innings pitched. If the Cubs want to have any chance at making the playoffs this season, Grabow needs to pitch a whole lot better. I don't really see this happening. Jeff Samardzija is another question mark in the bullpen. Samardzija is probably better suited catching passes with the Bears from Jay Cutler than pitching for the Chicago Cubs. Jim Hendry gave Shark a big contract so he would stay in baseball and it hasn't come close to working out so far. Samardzija was pretty good in his first few appearances in 2008 when the Cubs were winning but hitters figured him out and he's been worthless since.

The Cubs starting rotation really doesn't have any true ace but it consists of 3 pretty good starters in Carlos Zambrano, Matt Garza, and Ryan Dempster. Say what you want about Carlos Zambrano but he was unreal in the 2nd half of the season last year. After the All Star Break and after he got out of the loony house, Carlos went 8-0 with a 1.58 ERA in 74 innings pitched. This easily made him one of the top 5 pitchers in baseball after the All Star Break. This is great and all but the Cubs need Zambrano to show some consistency and put up at least close to these numbers over a full season and do it when it actually matters instead of putting up those numbers when the Cubs are 10 games out of the wild card and division.

The Cubs acquired Matt Garza last month for 3 minor leaguers including Cubs minor league pitcher of the year Chris Archer and gritty fan favorite Sam Fuld. I was a big fan of this trade personally. The way I see it, unless your prospect is projected to be an All Star, prospects are meant to be traded for sure-things and Matt Garza is a sure thing. Garza put up solid numbers in the best hitting division in baseball. Take Garza out of the American League East and put him in the National League Central and I could see him having a ton of success. One of the knocks on Garza in the past is he's a huge headcase kind of like Zambrano. This kind of worries me but I'm pretty confident this trade will work out for the best for the Cubs.

After Ryan Dempster, who has been a solid pitcher ever since the Cubs put him in the starting rotation, the Cubs have Randy Wells and a question mark. Randy really struggled last year at times but was very good other times. Hopefully this was just a case of sophomore slump and Wells will return to his rookie form this season. The 5th starter spot will more than likely either come down to Carlos Silva or Andrew Cashner. Personally, I'd put Cashner in this spot. I know Carlos Silva had a great and unexpected first half last year but I don't really trust him going into this year. I think hitters in the National League will figure him out and he will return to the pitcher that he once was. I really think Andrew Cashner would succeed in the 5th starter role and I would give him this spot to open the year. Of course, the 5th spot will probably come down to who has a better spring so we'll see what happens there.

Hitting
The Cubs opening day starter will be 2008 Rookie of the Year Geovany Soto. Soto was a fan favorite at the end of 2007 and for the 2008 season but really fell off after. Soto had an abysmal 2009 hitting .218 with just 11 homers and 47 RBI's. Last offseason, Geovany Soto lost a ton of weight and returned somewhat to the player he was when he won Rookie of the Year. Soto hit .280 last year with 17 homers and 53 RBI's and had his best OPS of his career at .890. Hopefully Soto can continue this success this season and not drop off again. A good Geovany Soto is a big key to the Cubs success this season.

At first base, the Cubs brought in Carlos Pena from the Tampa Bay Rays. Pena has always been a big, lefty power bat but he was rather terrible last year. Pena hit below the Mendoza Line last season at just .196. Pena did hit 28 home runs and drove in 84 runs though. Pena also battled injuries for most of last season so hopefully this is the reason for his low batting average. Just like Garza, you have to hope that getting out of the best division in baseball and moving to the National League will only help Pena.

Second base is by far the Cubs weakest position coming into 2011. Blake DeWitt is the current opening day starter. The Cubs got DeWitt in the Ted Lilly deal at the trade deadline last season and he hit .250 with 4 home runs and 22 RBI's with the Cubs in 53 games last year. I do think DeWitt is an upgrade over Ryan Theriot who was a very weak defensive player and was rather worthless on the offensive end last season. Hopefully a full year with the Cubs will prove to be worthwile. DeWitt has always been a highly regarded prospect among MLB scouts. Maybe this is the year he finally breaks out.

Shortstop is finally the Cubs strongest position. Starlin Castro was fantastic from the moment he came up and got 6 RBI's in his first game in Cincinnati in his Major League debut. The two things Starlin needs to improve on for this season is his defense and stealing bases. Starlin has all the tools to be an excellent defender but he was rather weak at the shortstop position last season. To be fair, he's only 20 years old and shortstop takes some time to get used to. Starlin also has the speed to steal more bases than he did last season. Starlin got caught 8 times in 18 attempts last season. This needs to improve.

At third base, you have Aramis Ramírez who was very worthless last season. When he wasn't hitting, he was injured. When he wasn't committing errors at third base, he was injured. I used to be a big Aramis fan but my God was he awful last season. Hopefully he finds his offense this season but expect more injuries and errors from him this year because that's who Aramis is.

The outfield for the Cubs is an absolute mess. We are finally halfway through Alfonso Soriano's 8 year contract! That means four more years of both poor offense and defense out of him. At centerfield, Marlon Byrd was a pleasant surprise last season being the Cubs only All Star. One gripe I have with Byrd is the fact that he swings at every pitch. He has very little patience at the plate and strikes out very often. At right field, I think Tyler Colvin will start over Kosuke Fukudome. Colvin was pretty good in his rookie year last year and hit 25 homers. Still needs to improve upon his .250 average though.

The Cubs bench is very weak. If Tyler Colvin does start at right field this season, this leaves Kosuke Fukudome, Darwin Barney, Koyie Hill, Jeff Baker, and Fernando Perez as your bench players. Where is the power off the bench going to come from? The bench will by far be the Cubs weakest spot in 2011.

In conclusion, I leave a slight chance that the Cubs could be back in the playoffs this season but everything needs to click together and players need to stay healthy which they won't. The Cubs are more than likely headed for a 4th place finish, 3rd if they're lucky.