Well, he was under-performing.

Coming into this season, a lot of people were expecting nothing out of Silva. He was going to be in the bullpen, possibly the fifth starter until Ted Lilly returned to the rotation.

Then, there were reports coming out of Spring Training that he was working on his delivery and he was looking very good. Still, few expected anything special out of him.

Then, the major league season started, and he came out and won his first start. He gave up just one run over six innings, then Esmailin Caridad gave up four runs in the eighth inning to lose the game and give Silva a no decision.

Still, it’s just one start.

Next thing you know, he is 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA and some more people are starting to come around to the belief that he is a legitimate pitcher who can help the Cubs this season.

All the while, Milton Bradley is continuing his lifelong implosion in Seattle.

Now, Silva is 8-0 through 11 starts with an ERA of 2.93 and every day, more and more people are jumping on his bandwagon.

Making $12 million puts a lot of pressure on a player as they have a lot of people expecting them to be an ace on the pitching staff, something that he has done so far this season.

He leads Cubs starters in wins, ERA and WHIP and he is doing so after few expected him to even be in the rotation.

If he keeps up this pace, by the end of the season he will have set career highs in wins, (he is on pace to go 22-0) ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, and a few more categories.

He has allowed four or more runs just twice this season and allowed no more than five runs in any one start, and never pitched fewer than five innings.

By every account, Silva is having a year worthy of being an All Star, Comeback Player of the Year, and getting an apology from everybody in Chicago who scolded him and thought he shouldn’t make the major league squad.

Meanwhile, Seattle can brew in anger while they watch Milton Bradley throw another temper tantrum.

Oh yea, he’s got more strikeouts than hits and walks combined.

I’m Joe W.

Through two days, the Cubs have taken 18 pitchers, six outfielders, four infielders and two catchers.

So now that Day Two is complete, who has been picked by the Chicago Cubs.

Round 2: Reggie Golden, OF

Golden, hailing from Wetumpka High School, is still deciding whether or not to move to the minor leagues or officially sign with the University of Alabama, where he has a full scholarship.

In 2010, Golden batted .460 with 28 runs, five home runs and 24 RBI. He said he was expecting to go within the first 35 picks.

Round 3: Micah Gibbs, C

Gibbs is a junior at Louisiana State University, where he batted .388 with 47 runs with 10 home runs and 60 RBI.

Round 4: Hunter Ackerman, LHP

Ackerman pitched for Louisberg College last season and pitched very well. He went 8-1 with a 1.41 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings.

Round 5: Matt Szczur, OF

Szczur may be a messed up name, but he was the second fastest player according to Baseball America and the 19th best centerfielder. Last season, he batted .443 and earned All Big-East honors.

Round 6: Ivan De Jesus, CF

De Jesus, no relation to first-base coach Ivan DeJesus, has been part of multiple championship teams in Puerto Rico, being on championship teams in both 15-under and 16-under levels.

Round 7: Benjamin Wells, RHP

Although Wells has signed with Arkansas already, the Cubs will hope to change his mind. He recently lead his high school team to a state championship by pitching a five-inning perfect game.

Round 8: Cameron Greathouse, LHP

Greathouse went 10-2 with a 3.06 ERA in his most recent season as a sophomore at Gulf Coast Community College in Florida.

Round 9: Kevin Rhoderick, RHP

Rhoderick was the All Pac-10 Conference Honorable Mention last season, going 2-2 with a 3.13 ERA and four saves.

Round 10: Aaron Kurcz, RHP

The first pitcher the Chicago Cubs took with a relationship to Bryce Harper, Kurcz played on the same team as Harper this previous season. He struck out with 52 in 35 innings and held opponents to a .225 batting average.

Round 11: Eric Jokisch, LHP

Round 12: Austin Reed, RHP

Round 13: Pierre LePage, 2B

Round 14: Colin Richardson, RHP

Round 15: Elliot Soto, SS

Round 16: Ryan Hartman, RHP

Round 17: Steven Brooks, CF

Round 18: Ronald Pinckard, RHP

Round 19: Dustin Fitzgerald, RHP

Round 20: Ryan Cuneo, 1B

Round 21: Cody Cox, RHP

Round 22: Jeff Vigurs, C

Round 23: Matthew Loosen, RHP

Round 24: Dustin Geiger, RF

Round 25: Eric Rice, RHP

Round 26: Danny Muno, SS

Round 27: Bryan Harper, LHP

Round 28: Joseph Zeller, RHP

Round 29: Casey Harman, LHP

Round 30: Karsten Strieby, 1B

I’m Joe W.

On a night when we learned that Carlos Zambrano will be returning to the starting rotation shortly, a different Carlos was able to steal the show by pitching six scoreless innings before allowing a two-run home run without recording an out in the seventh and being taken out.

After going 2-9 in an 11 game stretch, the Cubs have been able to pull off three strait wins after taking the finale against the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates and sweeping a two game series against the Colorado Rockies.

The Cubs were helped offensively by young shortstop Starlin Castro who put the Cubs up 2-0 on a fielders choice in the fourth to help give the Cubs some early insurance on the Rockies.

Then, in the eighth, he knocked in Tyler Colvin, who scored twice and stole his first career base, on an infield single to put the Cubs up 4-2. Later in the inning, the Castro scored on a Ryan Theriot single along with Geovany Soto to give the Cubs the final score of 6-2.

The bullpen, which has been an issue for the Cubs this season, pitched very well last night, allowing just one hit and one walk over the last three innings.

After Silva was pulled, Esmailin Caridad came in and walked Miguel Olivo. Caridad was immediately replaced by James Russell, who struck out two and finished the inning.

Sean Marshall pitched a scoreless eighth and Carlos Zambrano pitched a perfect ninth while striking out two and finally having a good outing in the bullpen.

Zambrano received more good news when he found out later that night that he would be returning to the rotation after a few long relief appearances.

With diminished velocity and poor performances, the bullpen experiment has been a complete failure. The only problem is, who will Zambrano replace?

The starting rotation has been the only positive for the Cubs and the only reasonable suggestion for the Cubs may be to move to a six man rotation. Although there is no definitive ace on the staff, there is also no weak spot in the rotation either.

Adding Zambrano, will likely give the Cubs one of those two things.

Zambrano’s velocity has been his mark in the past, but over the past two seasons his fastball has dropped from the mid 90’s to the high 80’s, reaching the around 90-91 on occasion. Without his fastball, he has lost his edge and hitters are taking advantage.

This season, Zambrano came in laid an egg in the season opener against the Atlanta Braves, getting pulled after just 1.1 innings and allowing eight runs.

That one start, however, was seemingly his only bad start. Over his next three starts before getting put in the bullpen he pitched 18 innings and allowed eight runs. That isn’t ace material, but it’s an ERA of 4.00 through three starts, which isn’t worthy of being put into the bullpen.

Since going to the bullpen, Zambrano has allowed six runs in 9.2 innings, but five of those runs came in two appearances while he has six scoreless appearances.

Zambrano was moved to the bullpen in hopes that he could find his velocity and give the Cubs a legitimate set-up man for Carlos Marmol. It appears that Marshall will be moving into that spot for the remainder of the season.

Although Zambrano is no ace, he will get a chance to prove that he should be a starter when he gets back into the rotation.

It was a great night for Cubs named Carlos, now it’s time to see if guys named Carlos can make a great season for the Cubs.

I’m Joe W.

After all, Silva consistently pitches horribly, and hasn’t had a good season since 2005 when he went 9-8 with a 3.44 ERA. That’s not exactly an All Star season, but it’s the best season he’s ever had.

Well, it was the best season he’s ever had, until this season.

It is still early, but Silva has yet to lose a game, going 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA while losing the stigma that comes with being Carlos Silva.

We heard before the season started that he was working on his delivery, and he did have a good Spring Training, hell, I even figured I would write an article on how good he could be.

Even I couldn’t predict this breakout, I was more thinking that he could make the roster, pitch average in the bullpen, not do anything stupid, and he would have a better season than expected, and be an upgrade over Bradley.

Instead, he is becoming the best pitcher in the rotation and is doing his best to help Cubs fans forget about the other Carlos.

Now Silva isn’t tearing up opposing team’s batting orders, but he is doing good enough to get wins and keep the Cubs in games.

Silva went from being a possible fifth starter who everybody hoped would pitch no more than a few innings a series, to the best pitcher on this staff, leading the starting rotation in wins and ERA.

If you look at some of his stats, he is playing at the level of a solid second or third pitcher in a rotation.

His WHIP is 1.20, which ties him for 36th in the majors. His batting average against is .258, his career best and 56th among pitchers with at least 40 innings. His quality start percentage is 0.71, which is second on the Cubs behind Ryan Dempstrer (0.75) and tied for 34th in the majors.

Will he stay loss-less this whole season? Probably not. Will he become a bona-fide ace in the Cub’s rotation? Probably not. Is it fair to think that he will contribute very well and keep up the way that he has thus far this season? It’s not out of the question.

We don’t know what Silva will do the rest of the season, and it is still only May 18th, but he has the opportunity to make a complete career turnaround.

Although I doubt that he will completely earn the $12 million that he is making this season, if he continues to pitch this way, the Silva-Bradley trade may be one of the more one-sided trades in a long time.

I’m Joe W.

All was well in Wrigleyville.

Fast-forward to present day and the Cubs are 14-20 and coming off of being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates (14-19) and about to suffer the same fate against the Florida Marlins (16-17) pending tomorrow’s matinee as the Cubs try to stop their four game slide.

So one big question continues to pop up in my mind, as I always love to play the blame game. That question is…

Who is at fault for this horrible excuse for a team that takes the field in Chicago Cub uniforms?

It certainly isn’t Marlon Byrd, who I didn’t expect to repeat his numbers last season, but who is surprising me by playing well game in and game out. He is batting .339 with six home runs and 23 RBI.

It surprisingly isn’t Carlos Silva, who could have destroyed the Cubs every five games. He is 3-0 with a 3.50 ERA and a WHIP of just 1.17.

It isn’t Kosuke Fukudome, who is batting .330 with five home runs and 18 RBI.

Alfonso Soriano? Batting .311 with seven home runs and 18 RBI.

It’s not Tom Gorzelanny. Despite being 1-3 his ERA is just 2.83 and he is striking out 9.86 batters every nine innings.

You can’t blame Carlos Marmol, the up and down pitcher has yet to allow a home run, saved four games in five attempts, and has an ERA of just 0.61 in 14 appearances. He would just love to close out more games for the Cubs but he doesn’t get the chance.

So who are the people that are most deserving of the blame if it isn’t all of these guys who could have easily laid a goose egg this season instead of being the only people playing well?

It’s Ted Lilly. He’s 1-3 with a 4.88 ERA, his second highest since his third season in the pros.

It’s Carlos Zambrano, the “ace” who has pitched so bad this season that he has earned himself a spot in the bullpen. He would be known as the other Carlos if it weren’t for his nearly $19 million salary. If you aren’t happy about your new bullpen spot, try getting your ERA below six.

It’s Aramis Ramirez who is batting just .156 with three home runs and said today that he was his own hitting coach. He may want to fire his hitting coach.

It’s Derek Lee, who must have hired Ramirez as his hitting coach. He’s batting just .220 this season with four home runs.

Although Lee and Ramirez have decent RBI numbers this season, it’s hard not to when you have Byrd, Fukudome and Ryan Theriot in front of them. Those three have no problem getting on base, and would have less trouble scoring if it weren’t for the production behind them.

It’s the defense, which has 28 errors already this season, tying for second with the Detroit Tigers in the entire MLB. This also puts them alone in second in fielding percentage this season thus far.

With every person who needed to play at their best doing just that, you would expect the Cubs to be above .500 and surprising every analyst who expected the Cubs to be a flop this season, instead, every player who was actually expected to play well decided to take the season off.

Sorry Silva, Soriano, Fukudome, Marmol, Gorzelanny and Byrd. You did everything you could to prove your haters wrong. If you keep doing this, maybe those who were expected to play well will use you as an example instead of the other way around.

I’m Joe W.

Here are a few stories that have happened over the past few days.

Aramis Ramirez returns to the diamond

Ramirez has missed some time this spring because of a sore right tricep, but he returned on Tuesday against the Royals as a DH and went 2-3 with an RBI. He hasn’t played since March 13th, but he looked like he hadn’t missed any time in his three at bats.

Lou Piniella wanted to get Ramirez 30 at bats before the season started, but Ramirez doesn’t think that’s necessary.

“I don’t need 30 at-bats,” Ramirez said. “Five more and I’ll be ready to go. I haven’t played in 11 days, 10 days, and I felt pretty good today. I don’t need that many at-bats.”

Although Ramirez missed significant time last season, this injury doesn’t appear to be linked to that one, and there shouldn’t be any cause to worry about Ramirez having injury trouble this season too.

Ted Lilly far ahead of schedule

Piniella expected Lilly to be back by May 1st when he originally hurt himself, but with the way that he has been progressing, he is expected to be back well before then. This would be big for the Cubs starting rotation, as Lilly has had some of the best years of his career with the Cubs.

Although he isn’t going to be making a Cactus League start like originally planned, he will be pitching in the minors this weekend. He is expected to return about halfway through April now.

Tim Kurkjian gives the Cubs a legit chance for the playoffs

Although all of the talk in the NL Central has gone to the St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols, the Cubs aren’t looking to just roll over and concede the division, and Kurkjian says that they do have a shot.

He cites Carlos Zambrano’s new health, stability at closer with Carlos Marmol, Ted Lilly returning early, Rudy Jaramillo’s impact on the offense and Kosuke Fukudome making the switch to right field as reasons whey the Cubs should be optimistic for the season.

These are all great reasons why the Cubs, despite making very few changes to to their lineup, should be feeling a lot better this season than they did last season.

Greg Maddux gets rave reviews from Jim Hendry

Although Jaramillo will be helping the offense, Maddux will be working with the pitchers in some capacity, as he works with different people throughout the Cubs organization working on finding a job that he would be able to do in the future.

According to ESPN, Maddux has worked with Carlos Zambrano, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Marshall this spring, which could have a big impact this season, as these are four of the pitchers that the Cubs need to step up this season, along with Carlos Marmol.

If Maddux’s impact on the team is as big as Hendry thinks it is, then the Cubs could see big improvements from their pitching staff.

I’m Joe W.

In his first start of the spring, Silva pitched horribly, giving up six runs on seven hits against the rival Chicago White Sox all in just two innings of work. The bad start was expected by those who looked into Silva’s history with the Mariners and Twins.

However, in his two starts since he has pitched seven scoreless innings, got the win on both occasions, and has done a great job with his pitches as he makes up for his bad first start. He’s allowed six hits and one walk over the two appearances, giving him a very low WHIP of 1.00 in those two performances, and he lowered his ERA from 27.00 to 6.00.

Silva said that his newly found confidence may be stemming from the fact that his mother, whom he is very close with, will finally get to see him pitch live this season. For years she has been attempting to come to the U.S to watch him pitch but was never able to come.

“That was a big headache the last couple years,” Silva said. “She had been getting denied, denied, denied. I think that’s why I was fired up today.”

Silva also said that he is getting a different feeling this season than in previous ones, and that he feels a lot better about his command. If this keeps up, he could be on the fast track to becoming the fifth starter in the Cubs rotation.

“I have to talk to my mother before the game and after the game,” Silva said. “If I showed you the message I sent to her, I said, ‘The way I feel today I haven’t felt for a long, long time.’ The last game was good. I still have to work more. Today, I felt like it was me. I threw the sinker the way I wanted to throw it. I used my breaking ball, and my changeup was good today. I had good command.”

Although Silva has had issues in the past, he has shown flashes of how good he can be, and it seems as though he is working hard to recapture that magic this season with the Cubs. With the loss of Rich Harden, having a new pitcher come in who has a better history of being healthy than Harden could actually make the Cubs rotation better than last season.

Don’t get your hopes up too high, as Silva hasn’t shown a consistent ability to dominate as a pitcher, but having guarded confidence about this season for Silva might be the right way to go.

I’m Joe W.

Here are the stories that are important so far in Spring Training:

Ted Lilly’s Road to Recover

Lilly was expected to miss the beginning of the season, but according to skipper Lou Piniella, Lilly’s progress is ahead of schedule and could even see some time in the Cactus League.

“We want to keep him under the radar gun and not talk much about it. He’s coming along really well. He’s had no setbacks whatsoever. He’s actually ahead of schedule. We feel pretty good about the possibility of him pitching some Spring Training [games].”

This could be big for the Cubs, who are having a tough time finding a fifth starter for when Lilly is healthy, let alone adding a hunt for another starter. I don’t want to jinx anything, but if Lilly comes back strong without missing too many starts the Cubs could be looking at a strong start with a pretty weak schedule the first month or so.

Carlos Silva Eyes a Roster Spot

Silva came to the Cubs solely to get rid of Milton Bradley, but Jim Hendry would really like to show that he got some value for the departed clubhouse cancer, and Silva has been doing the best to prove Hendry right.

After a horrible first performance this spring, letting up six runs in just two innings of work, Silva showcased his new delivery with a much better second outing. He threw three scoreless innings and only walking one batter.

Silva has had bloated ERA’s in almost every season that he has pitched, his ERA has been over 4.00 in all but two of his eight seasons, but he is still making a little over $12 million this season, and getting a little value for all that cash wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Kevin Millar’s Leaving It All on the Field

The Cubs are stacked at first base, with Derek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir likely to be the two first basemen on the roster and Chad Tracy also trying for a spot, but Millar is doing his best to change Piniella’s mind and get himself on the Cubs roster for the season.

At 38-years-old, Millar isn’t exactly a spring chicken, but he has had a pretty effective spring thus far. He’s batting .385 and on Tuesday against the Angels, he went 2-2 with a home run, a double and three RBI as he makes his push for a roster spot.

Millar helped the Red Sox break their curse back in 2004 (possibly the only clean one), and if he can be a significant part of the Cubs breaking their drought (although the Red Sox drought was nothing compared to the Cubs’) he will have his place in baseball folklore cemented.

Starlin Castro Impressing

This 19-year-old prospected has been highly touted around the Cubs, and he has been showing why this spring. He’s hitting near .500 and has four RBI so far this spring, and he has been showing Cubs players like Mike Fontenot that they shouldn’t rest on their starting spot.

He’s made believer a believer out of Aramis Ramirez who spoke about the young player and whether or not he thought he could make it in the majors this season.

“Because he’s 19, that doesn’t mean he can’t perform. But at the same time, he’s still a young kid and can get better at the Minors and come up and be a great player. I don’t think [age] is an issue,” said Ramirez of Castro.

Although Castro has been crushing the ball, he does need to work on his plate discipline, he has only walked once so far this spring.

These are just a few of the stories that have peppered the Cubs’ Spring Training so far, and with 21 games to go, there will is plenty of time for these stories to play out.

I’m Joe W.

The Cubs’ bullpen has always been an issue of concern, and they have been going from closer to closer pretty much every season.

Most recently, Kerry Wood and Kevin Gregg held down the closer position, but neither of them were closer for more than one season. So what will the bullpen look like this season?

Closer: Carlos Marmol
Rest of bullpen: Complete Mess

I know that doesn’t offer up too much when it comes to telling you who will pitch what innings this season, but at this point, you’re guess is as good as mine.

The Cubs lost Kevin Gregg and Aaron Heilman during the off-season, and with Angel Guzman missing a lot of time at best, the Cubs are in desperate need of somebody to get the ball into Marmol’s hands.

Jeff Samardzija had a great season two years ago, but had an above-7.00 ERA last season in about 35 season. He is still young and raw and he could return to 2008 form.

John Grabow is the most experienced option and the fact that he is a lefty helps out too. However, he has never been exactly overwhelming, and with a career ERA of 4.03 he isn’t a prime option.

Esmailin Caridad is a possible option, he had a low ERA, struck out a good amount of batters, and had two holds in 19.1 innings last season. But for him to come out of nowhere and be consistent all season is a stretch.

The best chance that the Cubs have to fix their bullpen this season would be by some sort of trade, but Spring Training deals are rare.

Of course the Cubbie faithful could take up a different strategy in trying to fix the bullpen. Pray…a lot. Pray for Guzman’s injury to just go away, pray for Samardzija and Caridad to have magical seasons, and I can’t stress this enough, pray a lot.

Either option is viable, and with Jim Hendry’s past, I feel the second option is more likely to work than the first.

I’m Joe W.

Part one is going to be break down the Chicago Cubs’ pitching, after this article I will be taking on the infield, outfield and bullpen.

The Cubs have been known for having solid starting pitching, and this season should be no different. Here is the expected rotation:

1. Carlos Zambrano
2. Ted Lilly
3. Ryan Dempster
4. Randy Wells
5. Tom Gorzelanny
Others who could start games: Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Silva.

Who Needs to Step Up: Carlos Zambrano

Who Could be the Biggest Surprise: Randy Wells

Looking at what each of these pitchers did last season, the Cubs are seemingly set at the top of their rotation. None of the top four pitchers had an ERA above 4.

However, the Cubs supposed ace of the staff, Carlos Zambrano, was, if anything, the fourth best starting pitcher for the Cubs last season.

His ERA was fourth highest among the five expected starters, and he was just one strikeout away from being third in strikeouts, instead he was second with 152. He also finished fourth in WHIP.

But although the Cubs don’t have a legit ace, they also don’t give opposing teams a break, as none of their pitchers are exactly bad either.

After facing Carlos Zambrano, they face Ted Lilly, who had a 3.10 ERA last season, struck out 152 batters, and had a WHIP of just 1.06.

However, Lilly will likely won’t be back until some time in early May. He is trying to be able to be back in April, but the Cubs aren’t going to risk anything, and if he has to miss an extra two starts to make sure he doesn’t miss serious time, nobody will complain.

This opens up an opportunity for a few Cubs pitchers to try to jump in and take his place. Chances are that Carlos Silva, Jeff Samardzija or Sean Marshall will be the fifth starter for the first month or so.

The Cubs don’t have an especially difficult schedule at the beginning of the season, so although Lilly coming back should be a priority, his health should be a bigger one.

Until Lilly comes back, Dempster will be directly following Carlos Zambrano in the rotation.

Last season, Demster’s stats dropped from his magical 2008, but he was still very impressive holding an ERA of 3.65 and a 1.31 WHIP while striking out 172 batters, leading all Cubs and finishing 15th in the NL.

Randy Wells was a big surprise last season, as he came out of nowhere to tie for the most wins on the Cubs with 12. He also lead all starters with an ERA of 3.05.

If Wells is even close to as good as he was last season, the Cubs will be greatly benefited during the absence of Lilly. However, last season was just his first full season pitching in the majors, but in about 10 major league innings before last season he didn’t allow a single hit.

The favorite for the fifth Cubs position when the rotation is healthy will likely be won by Tom Gorzelanny, who came to Chicago from the Pirates last season.

Despite his ERA being 5.55, he was able to find ways to win, going 7-3. If you look at Gorzelanny’s season last year, you will see amazing inconsistency.

However, when he was able to establish himself, he was outstanding. In every game that he was able to pitch more than five innings, he never allowed more than two runs and went 4-0.

If he can channel what he did in those starts where he pitched a high amount of innings, then the Cubs will be very pleased in the former Pirate.

When looking at the other players who could start games for the Cubs, there isn’t much talent to chose from. There is amazingly over-paid Carlos Silva who is consistently beyond horrible.

Silva belongs in Double-A at best, but his highly inflated contract could keep him floating between Triple-A and the majors.

Jeff Samardzija is another option, and the Notre Dame product has shown some good pitching chops, and although I prefer to see him in the bullpen, he could give some short-term relief as the fifth starter.

Sean Marshall has been good in flashes as a starter through a few seasons, but he has never really gone met his potential despite never really being bad. He hasn’t had an ERA over 4.50 in the last three seasons, and like Samardzija, could be a good short-term option.

Overall, the Cubs don’t have anybody that really stands out in their starting rotation, but they also have very few people who fall into the background.

Although they aren’t anything special, the starting rotation shouldn’t lose the Cubs too many games.

I’m Joe W.