In the last month  or so, 4 pitchers have notched their 100th wins in the major leagues. Carlos Zambrano started  the milestone march, hitting the century mark on June 5th.  Brad Penny then followed on June 17th, with Ted Lilly and Josh Beckett reaching their marks on July 11th and 12th respectively.  Each traveled their own path towards 100 wins, with Penny and Beckett both starting with the Marlins and winding up with the Red Sox, Lilly spanning most of North America (two stops in Canada, Oakland and New York, only to wind up in the middle of the Continent) and Zambrano staying in Chicago for all 100 of his wins.

With his circuitous route, Teddy Roosevelt Lilly took 271 games and 246 starts to reach the milestone, while Penny did it in 264 games and 260 starts.

What really drew my attention was the similarities between Josh Beckett and Carlos Zambrano. Each came into the league in 2001, with Beckett taking 211 starts while Carlos took 219 starts to reach 100 wins.  The similarities don’t stop at wins either.

Career Numbers for Beckett through 1309 IP (blame it on the blisters):

ERA: 3.74

CG: 7

SHO: 4

Hits: 1186

Earned Runs: 544

Home Runs: 136

Strike Outs: 1241

Career Numbers for Zambrano through 1484 IP:

ERA: 3.48

CG: 8

SHO: 3

Hits: 1248

Earned Runs: 574

Home Runs: 123

Strike Outs: 1254

Yes, Beckett gives up the long ball more often, but also has a better K/9 rate. The other numbers aren’t so different considering the slight difference in innings pitched.  Although as Carlos reminds us there is One Big Difference.

Beckett has won a World Series Ring, while the Cubs haven’t come close.

When Beckett was traded from the Marlins, it appeared as if the Marlins got a pretty good deal. Hanley Ramirez has performed at or above expectations becoming a fixture at shortstop for the foreseeable future or until the next youth (see High School) movement of the Marlins. The other players shipped from Boston included Jesus Delgado, Harvey Garcia and Anibal Sanchez. Delgado and Garcia have bounced around the minors with limited time in the majors, while Sanchez has been tantalizingly inconsistent, throwing a no-hitter in 2006 and tearing his labrum the next year.

Interestingly enough, the Marlins passed on a deal with the Rangers that would have reportedly yielded Hank Blalock and John Danks in exchange for the native Texan, Beckett.  One could argue that the Marlins would be better off with this duo than the cache of prospects they received from Boston.

With all the talk of Zambrano’s trade prospects and Toronto’s requests for four major-league ready prospects in exchange for Roy Halladay, it got me wondering whether the Cubs should pull the trigger on a Zambrano trade and if so what approach should they take? He’s no Halladay but he’s still a #1 starter who routinely gets through the sixth and seventh innings. Rather than four prospects, why not two good prospects and a low A.

If the Cubs can’t win a playoff series with Zambrano as their #1 because of an anemic offense. While the Cubs have plenty of young guys who have shown they can have moderate success if they’re given the playing time, they are still stuck with Theriot, Fontenot in the infield and Soriano and Bradley in the corner outfield spots. The first priority for upgrading would be the middle infield, strengthening their lineup for the inevitable NL Wild Card Round.

Sam "The Investment Banker" Fuld

With Jake Fox and Sam Fuld showing some promise as outfielders in the Cubs system, there might be less of an emphasis on getting an outfielder in return, but I would expect the Cubs to look for two legitimate major league starters in return for Carlos Zambrano.

Why not look to where the Marlins missed? The White Sox certainly benefited from their trade of Brandon McCarthy for the aforementioned John Danks. With McCarthy’s demise and Nolan Ryan at the helm of the organization, there is certainly an emphasis on getting starting pitchers who do not need to be coddled or babied. Carlos might be crazy but you don’t have to coo in his ear to get him to pitch well.  As an added plus, the Rangers are hanging tough in the AL West, only a game and a half behind the Angels in a competitive year for the entire division.

What might the Rangers have to offer, well, let’s start with the potential trade’s Hanley Ramirez, Rangers starting shortstop Elvis Andrus. Andrus was hitting .270 around the beginning of July before cooling off a bit over the last two weeks, but was widely regarded as one of the top 5 shortstop prospects in the league and so good that Hank Blalock was moved over to 3rd base to accommodate him.

The Cubs could replace Zambrano with another fellow Venezuelan, Martin Perez, a lefty with a great curveball who has pitched well at Single A this year, and is currently regarded as the 5th best prospect in the Rangers organization. Throw in another prospect or two and you’ve strengthed your infield in the now and your rotation for the near future, while further strengthening the farm system.

While this may be a little out of left field, it’s worth thinking of what the Cubs could get from trades since their recent history with free agent signings have left much to be desired.  See Soriano, Bradley, Fukudome.

With that, who do you have your eyes on in other organizations? What do you think is the weak spot that could be strengthened in a trade?

All things considered, the Cubs are lucky to have the record they do going into the All-Star break, but how have individual players and parts on this team rate so far?  Here’s a take on their performance thus far by position.

1st Base (Derrek Lee, Micah Hoffpauir): Derrek Lee started slow but has come on extremely strong since the middle of May.  Hoffpauir has been superb in a back up role.  Personally I think the Cubs need to get this guy more at-bats, but he has filled in admirably for Lee during stretches and mashes the ball when he gets the chance.

Grade: A-

2nd Base (Aaron Miles, Bobby Scales, Mike Fontenot, Jeff Baker, Andres Blanco): What a ragtag bunch at 2nd base.  You know its bad when this many guys have played the position, and no major injuries were a factor.  Fontenot was supposed to be the guy this year.  And by “the guy” I don’t mean Ted Williams, I think most people were just hoping for say .250/.333/.430 instead of .230/.307/.358.  Just terrible.  The other guys are all marginal major leaguers at best.

Grade: D

Shortstop (Ryan Theriot): Okay here is someone having a better season then he was expected to have.  In fact, the little power surge of his in early May makes his season arguably better than expected.  He is hitting about .300 and has mostly returned to his non-walking ways, but he has committed slightly less TOOTBLANs.

Grade: B+

3rd Base (Aramis Ramirez, Mike Fontenot, Jake Fox): Jake Fox! He has started a few games at 3rd and the guy can just rake the ball.  Unfortunately for our 3rd basemen grade, most of the at-bats went to Fontenot, who we discussedis having a terrible season.  With Ramirez on the pine, this position was a black hole at the plate for the most part.

Grade: C-

Catcher (Geovany Soto, Koyie Hill): Soto had a sloooow start, got high, then got injured.  Hill has been just so-so.  Soto needs to come back after the break and show us something, because he looked nothing like the all-star catcher he was last year.  I would say he needs to find his power stroke, but that would neglect to take into consideration his inability to make contact with the ball at all.  At least he’s walking I guess.

Grade: D

Outfield (Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, Reed Johnson, Milton Bradley, Jake Fox, Micah Hoffpauir): The only things saving the outfield from an F is Fukudome’s C- season and Soriano’s ridiculously hot April.  Bradley sucks, Fonzy sucks, and Reed, Fox and Hoffpauir aren’t getting enough at-bats to save the position.

Grade: D-

Starting Pitchers (Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Harden, Wells, Marshall): The Cubs one huge strength has been their starting rotation.  Wells, Lilly, Zambrano and Dempster are sporting 2.70, 3.18, 3.53, and 4.09 ERAs respectively.  Marshall did fine in his starts earlier in the year as well.  The only real major concern has been Rich Harden, who has given up 16 home runs in just 74 innings.  His strikeout numbers have been there, but his weakness to the long ball is a problem that needs to be corrected.  Randy Wells has been phenomenal and made most Cubs fans forget about Jake Peavy trade rumors.  If this staff can stay strong, the Cubs have a shot at the Division and maybe more.

Grade: A-

Bullpen (Marmol, Gregg, Heilman, Guzman, Cotts, Patton, Hart, etc.): Angel Guzman has been a pleasant surprise.  Also, Kevin Gregg is doing very well.  He is performing far better than Kerry Wood by pretty much any measure you use, and his 16/19 in saves is better than expected.  That’s it for the positives.  Marmol has been inconsistent at best and whether he can’t hit the strike zone, or just won’t hit it, his ability to turn it around will be key to the Cubs second half.  Oh, quick random fact I bet you didn’t know: Aaron Heilman is 0/5 in save opportunities.  Yeah, Aaron Heilman.  I didn’t even know he had any opportunities, and it looks like he really took advantage of those.

Grade: D+

Coaching (Lou Piniella, Larry Rothschild, Alan Trammell, Von Joshua/Gerald Perry): I hate to do this to you Lou, but things have been terrible.  Reluctant to move Soriano down in the order until too late, unable to help Bradley feel comfortable with the team, refusal to use Hoffpauir, Fox, and other young guys when overpaid players are slumping, mismanagement of the bullpen, and a misplaced belief in “being aggressive on the basepaths” even though the individual players on the team are terrible base stealers (32/51 on stolen bases and countless other TOOTBLANs).  I love Lou and it’s easy to judge him from here in the peanut gallery, but I think he would agree that he hasn’t been at his best this season.

Grade: D+

Cubs Overall Grade: C-

Last week may have been the worst week the Cubs have had in 5 years.  Sure, there have been some losing teams in that period, but no one week where the wheels just came off like they did here.  The record alone– 1-6 –makes the week look better than it actually was.  Here’s a little recap of the week from hell:

Monday: The Cubs went to Atlanta for a one-game makeup.  The Braves are a decent team this year, but definitely not a team that should scare the Cubs.  The Cubbies, however, did something amazing that hasn’t been done by a Cubs team in 20 years.  They got 10 hits but scored no runs in a 9-inning game.  The last time that happened was against the Astros on August 29, 1990.  Oh and this completed a 4 game stretch for Dempster in which he was 0-2 with a 2.10 ERA.  So at least he’s not the problem.  Milton Bradley: 0-1, 1K.

Tuesday: The Cubs head to Detroit to play a 3-game set against a tough Tiger squad.  The only good thing in this game was Marmol’s 1-2-3 inning.  Gregg blew the save on a walk-off home run to Ryan Raburn and the Cubs lost a nailbiter 5-4.  Milton Bradley: 0-2, 2BBs, 1K.

Wednesday: Okay, so the Cubbies lost the opener but it was a close game.  Well they lost a close one on Wednesday too, but this time they stranded 13 runners, which makes me sort of nauseous.  Carlos Marmol was back to his walking ways, walking in a run and throwing only 7 of his 16 pitches for strikes.  Tigers won 5-3.  To this point in the week, the Cubs had scored 7 runs and left 31 men on base.  Yikes. Milton Bradley: 0-2, 3BB, 2Ks.

Thursday: Would the Cubs get swept by the Tigers?  The answer should be obvious at this point.  One thing before I get all negative about this game.  JAKE FOX!  That kid can rake.  Lou needs to get him in the lineup as soon as possible and as often as possible.  He was 3-4 with a home run and a double.  Hoffpauir also had a big home run.  The Cubbies lost, however, 6-5.  The bullpen held up alright, but Lilly gave up 6 runs which was insurmountable with this Cubs offense.  Also allegations of Soto’s marijuana use came to the front this day.  Lou admitted he’s tried pot one time, but “couldn’t tell you the difference between a steroid and reefer.” Milton Bradley: Day off.

Friday:  The Cubs headed to the South Side for a crosstown showdown with the White Sox.  This was actually the one game the Cubbies won this week, although it may have been the worst game of the week for Cubs fans.  Marmol was flat out awful.  He could not find the strike zone, or even come close.  He went 2/3 of an inning, with 2 hits, 3 walks, and 2 earned runs.  Only 10 of his 24 pitches were strikes.  Soto did homer (hell he can get high everyday if he’s going to hit like that), and Fox hit another bomb to help the Cubs overcome Marmol’s trials.  The big story, however, was Milton Bradley.  After flying out in the 6th, he expressed his anger about his struggles by doing what all Cubs seem to do, taking it out on the Gatorade cooler.  Lou had had enough though, and told Bradley to change and leave the ballpark.  Great.  Milton Bradley 0-3, 2Ks.

Saturday: Lou decided not to discipline Bradley any further, putting him back in the lineup.  He was hardly the story, though, as this game was an exciting one down to the finish.  In a game the Cubs lost 8-7, no home runs were hit by either team until Podsednik’s walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.  Marmol of course struggled, as did Marshall and Heilman (not Heilman so much, but he did give up a run).  Milton Bradley: 1-5, 1K.

Sunday: At least Zambrano made this one interesting, although its not exactly professional to bean one guy because another guy stole home on you.  Though “class” hasn’t exactly been our M.O. this season so far, Z usually takes the cake.  I would be pretty upset if I was him too.  Its got to suck to know your team won’t give you the run support you need, and that a 4-0 hole is pretty much a loss.  They ended up losing 6-0.  Oh and good news everyone, Chicago favorite Mark DeRosa, who should never have been dealt and is having a very good year in Cleveland, was traded to the Cubs arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals.  Hooray.  Milton Bradley: 0-3, 1BB, 2Ks.

What a terrible week.  Marmol is losing it, Gregg blows a key save, the offense only scores enough runs to lose, Soto smokes pot, and Bradley can’t hit anything except a Gatorade cooler.  In a battle between on-field issues and off-field issues, I’m going to have to give a split decision to off-field issues this week.  Somehow the Cubs have managed to hang around .500.  Before this last week, it felt like if they hung around long enough, eventually things would turn around.  This week definitely made me feel much worse about it, though.  Someone needs to slap Bradley and make Marmol do 100 push-ups every time he throws a ball.

Ok let me paint a picture for you.  Stay with me here because things might get a little confusing.  A major league baseball team has one of the hottest bats in the minors and a shitty, shitty hitting utility man on the big league squad.  That team’s starting third basemen goes down with an injury and will be out indefinitely (I know they keep giving us dates for Rammy’s return, but I’m growing skeptical as it keeps getting pushed back).  The shitty shitty hitting utility man then goes down as well.  In response to those injuries, they bring up 2 sub-par offensive utility infielders from the minors.  The team obviously struggles at the plate and decides to bring up the hot bat from the minors.  Inexplicably, the team doesn’t give the hot bat many at-bats, but when they do, he wrecks the ball.  Ok so here’s where things get really ridiculous.  Remember the original shitty shitty hitting utility man?  Well now he comes off the DL and instead of sending down one of those so-so utility guys they brought up to replace him, they send the hot bat down to the minors.  Keep in mind, this team is averaging what seems like 1 run a game for the last month or so.

Did you follow all that?  Let me fill in the blanks for you.  The shitty utility guy is Aaron Miles, and the great hitter from the minors is Jake Fox.  I mean based on that story, the logical thing to do when Miles comes back is to send down Andres Blanco or Bobby Scales, or maybe let Miles go altogether (or send him down, I’m not sure if they can do that though).  Right?  Right? Nope.

After [Tuesday's] game, Jake Fox was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room for infielder Aaron Miles.

Coming from the team that kept Hoffpauir in the minors for about 3 years too long, and still keeps him on the bench far more than he should be, this should come as no surprise.  Unfortunately the Cubs can ill-afford to play these games giving at-bats to seasoned veterans that can’t hit a grapefruit off a tee as opposed to young players that continue to tear the cover off the ball (see: Koyie Hill, Jake Fox, Micah Hoffpauir).

Of course none of this would matter if $39 million dollars (Lee, Bradley, and Soriano) would just start hitting.  Until then, get Fox, Hoffpauir and Hill in the goddamn lineup.

Well, as Stomin’ Norman was talking about this morning, the Cubs have decided some changes need to be made and they will look to the minors to try and make it happen. 

Jake Fox is hitting .423 with 17 homers so far this year and will be brought up to play outfield and a little at the corner infield spots.  He’s a little bit like Micah, but any hot bat will be appreciated right now. 

Fox wasn’t the only change.  Neal Cotts was sent down in favor of lefty Jason Waddell; Bobby Scales was sent back down and will be replaced by shortstop Andres Blanco.

These guys aren’t going to light the world on fire, but if they provide a spark while the Cubs are going through some injury issues, then all the moves will be well worth it.  Fox certainly seems like the most promising guy coming up as he has been killing the ball in Iowa.  The best move though is probably getting rid of Cotts; see ya back never.

I have been busy as hell with studying for the Bar lately, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to comment on the Cubs current situation.  It’s not that the 8-game losing streak isn’t a big deal, but how they’ve lost has been painful to watch.  Here are a few thoughts regarding the North Side Shitheads that have been on my mind:

• Where are Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill?  They got the start last night and it paid off, but Lou needs to go with the hot (or even lukewarm) bat at this point.  I know Soto and Lee are team leaders, but if they aren’t hitting and the team isn’t scoring runs, its time to make a change.
• Hey Milton Bradley: Shut up.  I’m not saying you’re wrong, in fact you are totally right.  Everyone knows the umps are calling a bigger strike zone for you.  They do it because they don’t like you.  You know what won’t make them like you?  Publicly bitching about the strike zone they are calling for you.
• Is it really time to hit the panic button?  Because if it is, the Cubs should consider two guys that are raking down in the minors.  Jake Fox and Josh Vitters are crushing the ball down on the farm, so why not bring one or both of them up?  I know that would mean we would have to send someone down, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
• If you didn’t see the Harden DL thing coming, you are blind or retarded.
• Someone take Neal Cotts out behind a shed and put a bullet in him.  That guy is just terrible.  I don’t care if we don’t have any lefties, I’m sure there are righties in the pen with better ERAs against lefties than Cotts.  Well I’m not completely sure, but Cotts sucks.  Send his ass down.  I wish we had another starter so we could move Marshall to the bullpen.  Jake Peavy anyone?
• Ok this is a little out there, but did anyone consider moving Soriano to 2nd base and giving Reed Johnson and Micah Hoffpauir some more ABs in the outfield?  I know Fonzy is sub-par defensively, but runs are hard to come by these days.
• Lou Piniella is a great manager.  I mean I love the guy.  I don’t agree with every decision he makes, but he is usually good at managing and motivating his players and he seems to have a pretty good understanding of the game.  That being said, this recent quote from him has got to be a joke:

Modern technology is a wonderful thing for 21st Century baseball managers, who have computerized scouting reports and stats at their fingertips at all times. But sometimes older is better, and after watching his players go back to the video room one too many times to replay poor at-bats, manager Lou Piniella is ready to put his foot down.

“We’ve talked about closing down the video [room],” Piniella said. “But what happens invariably is the pitching coach will go down there from time to time, and so will the hitting coach.

“But if we have to, we’ll close it down for the players, at least during the game. Visualization is a great tool. But at the same time, boy, visualize good things. Don’t keep putting bad pictures in your mind.”

That sort of has a Dusty Baker ring to it, doesn’t it?

• This isn’t really related to the Cubs play on the field, but have you seen the new hats the Cubs are selling?  I think these goofy hats have gone a bit too far.  Apparently it is called the “Watermelon Smoothie“.  I mean the baseball gods cannot be happy about this kind of thing, can they?
• If you would have told me Kosuke Fukudome would be the only Cub hitting over .300 on May 27, I would have laughed and asked you if you drank the acid-laced punch.  Well here we are, and lost in all this horrible horrible shitty 8-game losing streak has been Kosuke’s resurgence this season.  His home run last night wasn’t bad either.
• Is Aramis Ramirez the glue in this Cubs lineup?  I mean ever since he went down it’s like no one can seem to hit.  I’m not sure what his clubhouse presence is like, but just having him in the lineup seems to make the other players around him better.  Hurry back Rammy!