First Half Cubs Team Not Successful or Likeable

What can be said of a team that began the season with such high expectations, only to find themselves around .500 going into the All Star Break. They show little glimpses of what we all expected, and just when you think they are going on a roll… the bats fall asleep again. They looked flat losing to the Braves twice at home this week each by a score of 2-1. Then today, they were outplayed in virtually every aspect of the game – hitting, pitching, defense, basic fundamental baseball by the Cardinals. Very disappointing indeed.

The lingering feeling I have though is how un-likeable this team is. There are few story lines with this team that really excite. Sure the Bobby Scales and Jake Fox’s and Randy Wells and Sam Fulds of the world are good stories. But the rest of this squad is hard to really love. There’s been a lot of whining, tantrums, and very poor fundamental play among these guys. None of those traits are likeable.

Geo Soto gets it done behind the plate

Among my biggest disappointments is the sophomore performance of Geovany Soto. At first the talk was he was behind due to participating in the World Baseball Classic. But to my (admittedly untrained) eye, he is overweight, his bat is slow, his arm is not as sharp, and his numbers reflect that. To his credit, he has obviously handled the pitchers well, but perhaps his pot-smoking digression wasn’t an isolated lapse in judgement? He just doesn’t seem to be as hungry (as it were) as he was last year. Now he pulls an oblique that will likely put him on the shelf for a full month. Here’s a question; when Soto comes back from the DL, will his weight be higher or lower than it is now? Will he be better conditioned or will he have to work his way back? …will he be as hungry as he was in his rookie year?

Ok, now for a tiny bit of sunshine. As bad as this team has looked at times, they still are very much in the hunt for NL Central Division Championship. Maybe they can put together a few winning series and make a little run after the All Star Break. I’m a believer in stats, and guys tend to end up a season plus or minus 10% or so of their recent years performance. Usually. Unless the player is injured or at the end of his career, they usually are in the ballpark of their average lifetime numbers. If that’s the case, then this team has a heckuva ride in store for the second half!

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July 10, 2009 Tags: Bobby Scales, Braves, Cardinals, Geovany Soto, Jake Fox, NL Central Division, Randy Wells, Sam Fuld, World Baseball Classic Posted in: All Star Game, observations, players, playoffs, standings, stats