The Cubs are in Big Trouble

Rich Harden is pitching for the Cubs this afternoon and we've never needed a better effort from him. Somebody needs to end this slide the Cubs are on and I think Harden is just the man to do it. We need him to go deep in the game and try to hold the Cardinals to under 3 runs.

Our offense is a complete joke. With Aramis Ramirez and Milton Bradley both injured, other veterans like Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee need to step it up. Lee is hitting a pathetic .197 on the season, with only four extra-base hits. I would give him to the end of April to improve and then either platoon him with Micah Hoffpauir, or simply bench him. I can not remember another player in Chicago who has produced less and gotten away with it. Jacque Jones did not play every day when he struggled like this. Everyone in Chicago is sitting around complaining about Bradley, when is not even playing right now! Lee is the problem, and until Lou Piniella and Jim Hendry get their heads out of their asses and realize this, the Cubs will continue to struggle.

Next, Joey Gathright needs to go! This guy sucks, he can't hit, and he got picked off yesterday in a key spot. I'm sorry, but we need more from this guy. Being Bradley's personal baserunner is not enough of a reason to keep him on the roster. Plus our bench sucks because of guys like Gathright, not to mention Aaron Miles (who looks like a terrible aquisition). The Cubs need to send Gathright down or release him. Then to fill his roster spot call up one of our red-hot minor league outfielders: Jake Fox or Tyler Colvin. I know this may sound crazy, but I think that Hendry needs to place a call to OF Jim Edmonds. You know the guy can still field and at the very least he would be a dangerous left-handed hitter to use off the bench, which is something we don't really have right now (except for Hoffpauir).

With the recent knee injury to Carlos Marmol, I can't help but think it was stupid for Hendry to release Luis Vizcaino. Why did we even trade for Vizcaino? We traded Jason Marquis for him and then had to eat most of Marquis' salary. Then on top of that we absorbed Vizcaino's salary, released him, and basically wasted another $4M. What the hell is Hendry doing with this bullpen? Without Marmol for any amount of time, the Cubs are in big trouble.

Today we need a big start out of Harden, if he does not pitch well, do not expect our offense to bail him out. If our bats do not heat up, we are going to finish April under .500, something we have not done in a month since early 2007, and we could be on our way to missing the post-season. Good luck Cubs!