I have closely followed the Cubs for the last ten years of my life. Usually this has led to tremendous disappointment, but occasionally, something good comes from that. This might be one of those times. After starting out 2007 so horribly, it appears the team has turned it around here at the All-Star break. I could list plenty of reasons why this has happened, from the learning curve of Lou Piniella to the trade of Michael Barrett, but that’s not the point of this column. The point of this column is to give mid-season grades to the players on the team, and because of the turn around the team has made, the marks will be much higher than the ones I handed out a year ago .
*I’m only grading players on the active roster, except Ryan Dempster will be graded and whoever the current 11th pitcher is will not.*
Also, I’m not a plus and minus guy. Everybody just gets a plain letter grade. And you will notice that the lower the grade, the less comment the player receives.
---A----
Ted Lilly- Quickly glancing at Lilly’s stats versus Carlos Zambrano’s, and it would seem that I messed up. How could Z, who has two more wins, more strikeouts, more innings pitched and a complete game, get a lower grade than Lilly? Well, in a closer examination, it shows that the lefty has been a much more dependable pitcher. Lilly may have two fewer wins, but also has two fewer defeats. He’s also allowed less hits, less runs, and walked 24 fewer batters while only striking out four fewer than Big Z. Both guys are going to have to continue to pitch at this high level in the second half.
Carlos Marmol- His first appearance of the year was on May 19. Since then, the bullpen has been about 150 percent better than it was before Marmol’s arrival. In 28 innings pitched, the young right-hander has only allowed three runs, two of came in the same game. He has had stretches of being nearly un-hittable, like June 19 versus the Rangers, when he struck out five guys in three perfect innings. His ERA currently is at a miniscule 0.96, and is looking like the closer of the future.
Alfonso Soriano- For some reason, I had this idea that Soriano was struggling in his first year as a Cub. I knew he had a rough start to the season, but I guess I never really examined his stats once he started heating up. Turns out that since his move to left-field, he has been a lot better at the plate. Currently he is hitting .310, with 15 home runs, 24 doubles and 13 stolen bases. Not exactly on the pace of his 40-40-40 season that he turned in last year, but he has been as good as any other Cub at the plate. Plus his defense has been a pleasant surprise with ten outfield assists, tied for the National League lead.
Aramis Ramirez- Last year I was critical of Aramis for not stepping up in the first half when the Cubs desperately needed him to be a big hitter. This year, its been completely different. Since day one, Ramirez has been a working hard on his hitting, fielding, and even his base running. He leads the team in RBI, is tied with Soriano for the lead in homers, and is striking out a lot less than he used to. If he stays healthy in the second half, I’m guessing his name will be in the NL MVP discussion.
Mark DeRosa- The stats say that DeRosa deserves a solid B. His .288 batting average is good, not great. His 25 extra-base hits aren’t spectacular. And for a middle infielder, he is not very fast, shown by his zero stolen bases. But without him, there is no way the Cubs are four and a half games out of first place. When Aramis was hurt, DeRosa filled in for him at third base. When Derek Lee was out for a few days, DeRosa played first. If Ryan Theriot is getting the start at shortstop, he’ll play second. If Mike Fontenot is in, then DeRosa plays short. And when Lou wants both of them to play, he can put DeRosa in right field. Players that play for the benefit of the team, not for themselves, is something the Cubs have been missing in past years. It’s great to see that finally we have one of those on the roster.
---B---
Carlos Zambrano- Ever since Big Z declared he was starting a new season on June 6, he’s been nearly perfect, with a record of 5-2 (one of those losses being the 1-0 defeat to San Diego where Z had a no-hitter through seven plus innings). Now if we could only sign him to that long-term deal.
Michael Wuertz- I’ve never been a big Wuertz fan, but this year, he has been the teams most dependable relief pitcher. In 41 appearances he’s allowed only 15 runs, and opposing hitters are batting only .227 against him. Plus with Marmol now doing his thing, Wuertz can be a seventh-inning guy, away from the late game pressure.
Ryan Dempster- Before he went down with an oblique injury, Dempster was having his best year as a Cub. With the exception of a few bad games early in the year, he has been rock solid at the back of the bullpen, recording 16 saves and only blowing three. Hopefully he can return soon so that Marmol and Howry can be eighth inning pitchers.
Derek Lee- Will somebody please tell me, and Derek as well, where D-Lee’s power stroke went. Obviouly a .331 average, 26 doubles, and 39 walks are great, but why only six home runs. Something has been wrong about Lee’s swing from the start of the year and it would be nice if he got it fixed.
Mike Fontenot- Like Marmol, Fontenot didn’t start the year on the club, but in the time he has been here he has made a huge impact. The kid is hitting .360 and has been great in the number two spot in the lineup. It’s additions from within the organization that have helped the team a lot, because it doesn’t look like the team will be spending any money.
Angel Pagan- At the start of the year, you may remember, the Cubs left fielder was Matt Murton, the right fielder was Jacque Jones and Alfosno Soriano was in center. Once it was determined that Alf couldn’t field that position and that Jones and Murton couldn’t hit, that was all changed. Now Soriano is in left, either Cliff Floyd or DeRosa are in right and the center fielder is Pagan. While his hitting stats don’t say he deserves a B (.275 average, 24 K’s to eight walks), his contribution on defense and the base paths have helped out the team tremendously.
---C---
Jason Marquis- Has had some rough luck in some of his recent outings, which is a reason he went almost two months without getting a victory. While 6-5 with a 3.67 ERA is not bad at all, I’d be nice if Marquis could be a bit more consistent.
Sean Marshall- At times, it looks like he could one day become the Cubs number one starter. And then there are the games where he looks like he should be at Double-A. While he does have the best ERA of the five starting pitchers, Marshall can be a bit rocky at times, like his two inning, seven run performance versus the Brewers last weekend. If he pitches like he did when he cam up, the Cubs rotation will be one of the best in the NL.
Rich Hill- Similar to the previous two pitchers, I would like it more if Hill could put together a long string of quality starts. Sometimes he looks un-hittable and other times it looks like I could hit him. It said in the newspaper last week that Hill was going to work on developing a third pitch during this break, so that he doesn’t have to rely on his fastball and overhand curve so much.
Bob Howry- When Dempster went down, Howry became the teams makeshift closer. And while he hasn’t been perfect (see the Colorado game where Bob got attacked by a pissed-off fan), I would say he has been serviceable in that role. I think he has an important role on the team, because he is one of the few guys in the ‘pen with a lot of experience.
Will Ohman- At the start of the year, Ohman was the Cubs number three left-handed reliever. But since Neal Cotts and Scott Eyre couldn’t find the strike zone, his role has been elevated. When he keeps the ball down, he gets outs consistently. When it’s over the middle of the plate…Oh man.
Cliff Floyd- If Floyd could stay healthy, I think he could be a big contributor to the team. Hitting fifth, right behind D-Lee and Aramis, he should be able to drive some runs in. He just hasn’t done that yet.
Ryan Theriot- If he hadn’t gone in that 0 for 22 slump at the end of May, The Riot would have gotten a B. The thing that’s great is that even when his hitting isn’t all the way there, he still plays hard all the time.
Daryle Ward- A solid pinch-hitter who has started more recently, I like Ward a lot more than I liked our bench guys from a year ago. I just can’t give him a high grade, mainly because he just hasn’t contributed very much.
---D---
Rob Bowen- He’s definitely a better fielder than Michael Barrett is, but will he help the team win as many games? Even though he was a jerk, Barrett gave 110 percent every day.
Koyie Hill- When’s Hank White coming back?
Felix Pie- The potential is obviously there, but right now, the hitting isn’t.
---F---
Scott Eyre- He said his struggles are behind him. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Cesar Izturis- I would trade him for a bag of baseballs right now.
Jacque Jones- Him too.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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