The Chicago Cubs…. That’s all I have to say, and you know what I’m talking about. The Cubs, who have not won the World Series in over 100 years. But at the same time, the Cubs seem like lovable losers. Despite their losing ways, I have not met someone who did not like the Cubs, or Wrigley Field. It’s time they won the World Series….. But it won’t be this year…. Or the next.

The Cubs have a weird pitching situation. I go to their depth chart to see their rotation to write this, and two pitchers in their rotation have started less than 7 games. Well, why is that? For one thing, Carlos Silva got hurt. So I’ll talk about him first. Silva was having an OK year, I mean, better than last year. In 21 games started he went 10-6 with a 4.22 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. Those are pretty respectable numbers. I’m sure you are waiting to hear about Carlos Zambrano now, and he had good numbers, believe it or not. In 36 games, 20 started, he had a 3.33 ERA and went 11-6. Randy Wells, coming off a good rookie year, struggled a little more this season. He posted an ERA of 4.26, and a WHIP of 1.40. Ryan Dempster had a good season, with a3.85 ERA.

Three interesting pitchers on the Cubs staff are Jeff Samardzija, Thomas Diamond, and Andrew Cashner. Samardzija was up for only seven games, and started three. He was successful in those outings, with an ERA of 8.38. Diamond, one of the top prospects of Chicago, Started three games, 17 in the bullpen, with an ERA of 6.83. Cashner had a 4.80 ERA in 53 bullpen appearances.

It has widely been argued if the Cubs handled these pitchers right. Cashner, at 24 years old, was he ready to be called up? And Diamond, is shifting him from starting to the bullpen a good idea? Same with Samardzija. The Cubs handling of these pitchers will impact them long term.

Time to review the rest of the Cubs bullpen. Sean Marshall had a good year, with a 2.85 ERA. James Russel did not have as much success, with a 4.96 in 57 games. Justin Berg had an ERA of 5.18. Carlos Marmol had another solid year at closer, with and ERA of 2.55 in 77 games. So as a whole the bullpen does not look great, but solid individual performances out of Marshall, and Marmol can help this team going forward.

After trading Derek Lee, Chicago had Xavier Nady starting at first base. In 119 games, he hit .256 with 6 home runs. Certainly below average for a first baseman, but I cannot imagine him being in Chicago long term. Blake DeWitt, acquired frok the Dodgers, started at second for Chicago. He hit .261 with five home runs. Aramis Rameriz got his power back, hitting 25 home runs, but hit only .241. The biggest bright spot of the Cubs this year, however, is Starlin Castro. Castro hit exactly .300, with an OBP of .347. He certainly seems to have a raw hitting ability, and will be the Cubcs shortstop going forward.

In the outfield, The Cubs seem pretty solid in center and left. But it’s their right fielder they may have a problem with. Kosuke Fukodome. They have been trying to trade him for a while, and will try again this offseason. However, he may have helped his stock. Fukodome hit .263 with 13 home runs and 42 RBIs. Marlon Byrd, who was signed as a free agent out of Texas, lived up to expectations hitting .293 with 12 home runs and 63 RBIs. But the real story is Tyler Colvin. Colvin and Alfonso Soriano split playing time in left field, and Colvin came out superior, hitting 20 home runs in his rookie season.

So the positions on this Cubs team that seem like locks are Byrd, Colvin, Castro, and Geovany Soto at catcher. Is DeWitt their long term second baseman? How long is Rameriz really going to stay around. When will the Cubs win it all?