For years Cubs expectations have been based on them being overdue to win a championship. We’ve all heard this phrase, “It’s been 90+ years and the Cubs MUST win a championship this year.”

For the record, it’s now a 100+ years but the Cubs are expected to play deep into October because they’re one of the most talented teams in all of baseball.  The expectations have nothing to do with their World Series drought.

There’s no doubt that playing for the Chicago Cubs comes with a lot of pressure and high expectations. That said, the 2009 Cubs are as talented as they’ve ever been.

The fans, media, and front office are not asking the Cubs to do something they’re not capable of doing.  The 2009 Cubs have a surplus of talent and very few question marks.  The Cubs could certainly use another left-handed arm in the pen, but that will likely be addressed sometime down the road.

Assuming everyone plays to their expectations and stays healthy, this should be a great season for the Cubs. One through five their rotation is one of the best in all of baseball.

Some will argue the Cubs don’t have a legitimate number one starter.  I tend to disagree with that, I am comfortable with calling Zambrano my number one starter.  With a career record of 96-61, it’s difficult to say big Z is not a number one starter.

For years, number one starters were identified by 20 game winners.  There are very few 20 game winners in today’s baseball. All I know is Zambrano has thrown the ball extremely well in the postseason the past two years, despite going 0-1.

The Cubs pen will miss Kerry Wood, but the addition of Gregg will prove to be a solid addition.  Carlos Marmol and what appears to be a healthy Kevin Gregg are battling for the closer spot.  Gregg has a total of 61 saves the past two years. He struggled mightily last August while battling a knee injury. Gregg is throwing the ball well this spring and appears to be close to 100 percent.

The other option is Carlos Marmol.  Marmol spent much of last years second half as both the Cubs setup man and closer picking up th slack for Wood who was sidelined for over a month with a blister. Marmol had 4 saves while giving up just 12 hits in 35 innings during the second half last year.

Despite winning 97 games in 2008, Cubs GM Jim Hendry went out and made a very right-handed lineup much more balanced.  The moves have been debated all offseason, but the reality is the Cubs went out and spent a lot of money to become much more balanced.  Some have called it careless spending, while others have applauded Hendry for being aggressive.

The Cubs opening day lineup will feature three left-handed bats.  Milton Bradley, Mike Fontenot , and Kosuke Fukudome will likely be in the opening day lineup.  The Cubs will certainly miss the versatile Mark DeRosa, but they’re confident they can get that versatility from Miles.

The switch hitting Miles hit .317 in 2008 starting at third, second, short, and left field. The Cubs will look to Bradley and Miles to replace DeRosa’s offensive numbers.

Bottom line, the Chicago Cubs have one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball.  They have one of the highest paid managers in Lou Piniella, to go along with 10 all stars on their 25 man roster.  If that’s not enough, the Cubs will make another major move at the trade deadline.  While most baseball teams find themselves subtracting, the recession proof Cubs continue to add on.

Other then major injuries, there’s no reason why this team shouldn’t be playing come mid to late October.  There’s a lot of pressure, but that comes with the territory.  This Cubs team can beat you so many different ways.  They can out slug you 10-8, beat you 1-0, or beat you with small ball.

There’s a lot that goes into winning a World Series Championship, but there’s no reason why the Cubs shouldn’t be part of the conversation.

-Pat DeMarco

I have nothing against the World Baseball Classic, per se. The timing of it, however, should be a concern to all teams with pitchers who are planning to throw in this event.

In an effort to market major league baseball throughout the world and sell its MLB.TV package, Bud Selig and his henchmen have decided that it’s a good idea to have pitchers throw at maximum effort without the benefit of spring training.

And Carlos Marmol, who earlier had indicated he may skip the exhibition, has apparently decided to go ahead and participate after all.

He will be pitching for the Dominican Republic.

And that is scary news for Cubs fans.

Meanwhile, it’s a questionable move for a guy who is supposed to be battling Kevin Gregg for the closer’s job this spring.

How can Lou make an educated decision without being able to watch Marmol in spring training games?

First of all, Lou doesn’t really like pitchers. He understands their importance to winning baseball, of course, but otherwise doesn’t have much use for them.

So one might imagine that this could negatively influence his decision and hurt Marmol’s chances at opening the season as the team’s closer.

For the record, Lou said he’s fine with Marmol’s decision and that it won’t affect the competition.

But what is he supposed to say?

For the Cubs organization has already publicly announced that they would not try and influence any player’s decision whether to play in the event or not.

So Lou would look like he was not in sync with Jim Hendry if he complained.

But I think there is cause for some real concern here.

In addition to possibly getting hurt pitching in the WBC, Carlos has already pitched in the Dominican this winter before the Cubs told him to shut it down.

And he is coming off a season of heavy use.

Marmol appeared in 82 games last year, slightly more than half of the team’s games.

I understand the young man’s desire to pitch for his home country. But I’ll be holding my breath, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

There are 38 days and six hours from the time of writing this article until Opening Day for the Cubs against the Houston Astros, and even longer before the Cubs play at Wrigley Field, as their first two series are on the road against the Astros and Milwaukee Brewers.

But for now, we have only the first two Spring Training games to talk about, so lets take a look at what we have.

The Cubs were able to take the first Spring Training game against the Dodgers (wonder how that got scheduled) by the final of 5-3, however, pitcher Jeff Samardzija gave up two runs, both in his second and final inning of work.

“Actually, I felt a little better in the second inning,” Samardzija said. “It’s funny how that works. You make some decent pitches and get out of an inning one, two, three, and then you make some good pitches and give up a couple runs.”

Also in the game, Micah Hoffpauir hit a grand slam and Cubbie hopeful Mitch Atkins gave up one run and three hits over two innings.

In the Cubs second Spring Training game, they took down the Brew Crew 7-3 in Sean Marshall’s first shot to prove that he can handle the fifth starting spot this season.

Marshall gave up one run on four hits in two innings, nothing stellar but not horrible either.

We also had our first Carlos Mamol showing, he pitched one inning, allowing one run and one hit.

Jake Fox, another Cubbie hopeful, started at first base and hit a three-run home run.

Ted Lilly makes his lone Spring Training today against the Rangers, as the Cubs look to continue their perfect Spring Training (maybe not a good thing after the Detroit Lions).

Although Spring Training is a nice warm-up for the regular season, I look forward to, in 38-days, watching the Cubs take on the Astros as the regular season starts.

-Joe Willett

Lou Piniella has stated already that there will be an open competition between former set-up man Carlos Marmol, who has been looked at as the likely successor for closer for the past few years, or newcomer Kevin Gregg.

Both are capable and both seem like they want to take the challenge on full force.

“Everybody wants to be the closer,” Marmol said. “That’s what I want to be.”

Marmol has already shown his skills to the coaching staff when he was the fill-in closer last year while Kerry Wood was out last season.

Gregg, however, has a lot more experience as a closer, saving 61 games over the past two season, but his career ERA of 4.0 is a red flag for a reliever. But he has said that he is ready for the season and can’t wait to get going.

“I know Carlos Marmol is a great pitcher himself, and I just look for Lou to pick who he’s comfortable with and go from there,” Gregg said of the competition. “I’m more looking forward to winning and getting back in the playoffs and going deep in the playoffs, that’s the most important thing. As far as what my expectations are, it’s to come in, show what I’m capable of and see what Lou wants to do.”

Gregg also showed love to the fans when talking about why he thinks that he will be better with the Cubs than he was in Florida with the Marlins.

“Going to Florida was kind of a culture shock for me,” Gregg said. “It’ll be nice to go back to 40,000 fans and fans who are intense about the game and expect to win.”

Although Piniella has said that the closer position is going to be openly competed for, he has also shown a preference to go with Marmol as the closer.

“Let them compete,” Piniella said. “I feel comfortable with Marmol, there’s no question. But we traded for this other young man [Gregg] and he was a closer over there with success. Give him a chance, too.”

As for pitching coach Larry Rothschild, he has stayed completely neutral about who he thinks will be the closer this season, and says that he has seen both of them enough for Marmol’s time with the team to not be a factor.

“You know what they both can do,” Rothschild said. “You look at their track records. Kevin has pitched against us enough that we’ve seen him.”

Whoever wins the closer competition can expect a lot of work, but as of now, I have to give the upper hand to Marmol, who has a lot more youth, already knows the staff, and seems primed for a chance at stardom.

-Joe Willett

I apologize for being MIA over the past few days, I’ve been having internet troubles which could hinder the posting to this site over the next few days, but once I get everything straitened out, we should be ready for regular posting.

Now, on to what this article is truly about, baseball and the Chicago Cubs.

Pitchers and catchers reported on Friday to start getting ready for the season. I figured that this would be the perfect time to break down how our pitching staff is going to play this year.

Last season, the Cubs had one of the best pitching staffs in the majors, and late in the season the the trio of Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood shut down opposing offenses after the seventh, and Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden rarely let teams get the lead before that.

But that was a year ago, how are the Cubs going to fare this season? Lets start with those that will pitch the most innings.

Starting Pitching

The Cubs are one of the best pitching teams in the majors from their first through fourth pitchers.

Carlos Zambrano is a fiery player who has a ton of passion, which leads to some games where he lets his stuff get away from him, but when he is on, he is one of the best in the Majors and deserves to be the ace of this staff.

Ryan Dempster came on last season and was a real surprise last season, and re-signing him was major for the Cubs this offseason because it allowed them to stay away from Jake Peavy and save the farm system. He was strong all year and if he keeps it up, he could help the Cubs go deep this year.

Rich Harden was the big acquisition during last season. When he came to the Cubs, he was lights out posting an ERA of just over two and going 10-2, an outstanding second half.

Ted Lilly is a great fourth starter, his ERA was about four last season and he got a lot of strikeouts. The best part about him, his 17-9 record is fantastic for a fourth pitcher in the rotation.

The fifth spot in the rotation this year is going to be decided in spring training, but the spot is likely to either go to Sean Marshall or Aaron Heilman.

Marshall has shown signs of brilliance and he has also faltered at times. However, he kept his ERA under four last year in about 65 innings.

Heilman is a new addition to the Cubs and would bring more experience and reliability to the Cubs if he were to start, but his above five ERA scares me a little bit.

Relief Pitching

The Cubs also had a lockdown bullpen last season, but they lost Wood and it has been said that Samardzija would start the season with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.

However, it looks like the Cubs have two viable options for the closer this year. Although it Marmol will likely take the job, Lou Piniella has publicly stated that newcomer Kevin Gregg will have an opportunity to be the closer as well, and it will be an open competition.

If Marmol does become the close and Samardzija stays on (he should after the way he played last year) the Cubs could still have a strong bullpen with Gregg, Samardzija and Marmol as the most used pitchers.

Either way, the Cubs should still have a solid bullpen this season.

Expect the pitching staff this season to be just as strong if not stronger than last year, I like Marmol as a closer and I think that he could be one of the best in the majors within the next few years.

Our starters are also among the best in the league, and I love the way our pitchers are set up.

Look for an outstanding pitching year from the Cubs.

Just about a day away from pitchers and catchers reporting, it’s time to start looking at the Chicago Cubs and what they are going to be doing next season.

However, to move forward, you have to look backwards as well. The Cubs have had yet another busy offseason as they try to finally avoid a first round sweep (last year by the hand of the Dodgers, you gotta hate Manny being Manny).

First lets start with some of the moves that I disagree with. Just to get this out in the open and out of the way, I have to disagree with Jim Hendry on these few moves.

Letting Kerry Wood go was a big mistake in my opinion. The move hurts the Cubs bullpen which was finally getting strong. They could have kept the shutdown rotation of Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood, along with another reliever who will be talked about in a better section.

I just hate losing Mark DeRosa this offseason. He was a great player who everybody loved. The middle of DeRosa and Ryan Theriot just made every Cubs fan warm and fuzzy inside, although I don’t hate his replacement, I still love the player.

Now that we got that out of the way, time to look at some of the better moves to help pump up the 2009 Chicago Cubs.

Re-signing Ryan Dempster was ginormous (the only word I can use to describe his impact) in keeping the Cubs a World Series-caliber team. He creates a triple threat almost unrivaled, and he gave them a great third starter without having to give up everything but the kitchen sink (sorry Jake Peavy…I know you’re reading this).

Another pitching move to help the team is the addition of Kevin Gregg. He is going to allow the Cubs to move Carlos Marmol into the closer spot while keeping a good reliever to help as a set-up man. This still allows the Cubs to be set by the seventh inning.

Making up for the loss of Mark DeRosa, Aaron Miles will be a pivotal part in helping the Cubs offensively this season. He is a guy that can get on base consistently, as shown by his .317 batting average last season, higher than any player last season for the Cubs.

Now it’s time to get to the big signing of the offseason. Two years ago it was Alfonso Soriano. Last year it was Kosuke Fukudome. This year it’s Milton Bradley.

Bradley is going to have to keep his temper in check, which is the same for a lot of major parts of the Cubs team this season (I’m looking at you Carlos Zambrano and Lou Piniella). With all of these moving parts, the Cubs could implode at any point in time this season.

However, we could just as easily make it all work and have a dream season. Who knows, if the Red Sox can do it, so can the Cubs…right?

But anyway, the 2009 Chicago Cubs are looking to become the first team to pull it all together. Nobody likes waiting 101 years for a championship, but these new parts could be ready to pull it all together.

At least, lets hope so, I don’t want to jinx anything this early.

Be ready for the new Daily Cub, and hopefully, be ready for the new Chicago Cubs.

Pitchers and catchers report Friday, and I know that we are all excited, are you ready for some baseball?

-Joe Willett

The Cubs bullpen just isn’t good enough to support starting pitchers who can only go 5-6 innings per start. If a Cubs pitcher goes seven innings or more, and Wood is healthy and throwing well, the combination of Marmol and Wood can usually get it done.

But when a pitcher doesn’t go deep into the game, as was the case today with Rich Harden, there is no way our pen can hold the opposing team down.

First of all, it seems every time Howry comes in he gives up at least one run, usually a home run. Maybe they released the wrong guy in Eyre today. Perhaps it should have been Bob Howry.

Of course, add to the misery the fact that Carlos Marmol went through a really bad stretch from June through mid-July.

And Kerry Wood had been unable to pitch since July 11 because of a blister, until today.

Even Chad Gaudin has been unreliable. So who is left?

Well, the answer is few bullpens are good enough to support a short staff. Here’s how the Cubs rotation has performed over their last 10 starts:

* All Cubs starters have averaged just over 6 innings per start, except Rich Harden who has averaged exactly 6 innings since joining the Cubs and Carlos Zambrano, who has averaged just less than 7 innings per start.

But when a starter goes less than six is when we notice the problems in our bullpen.

Here’s how Cubs relievers have performed over their last 10 appearances:

* Bob Howry has been scored upon in five of his last 10 appearances
* Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol and Chad Gaudin each have been scored upon in three of their last 10 appearances
* Sean Marshall has been scored upon in six if his last 10 appearances
* Neal Cotts has been scored upon in only two of his last 10 appearances

Incidentally, Scott Eyre, released today, had given up runs in four of his last 10 appearances, in case you were wondering. Couldn’t they have sent Marshall to Iowa and kept the veteran Eyre? It’s obvious Marshall isn’t pitching well anyway.

Well, at least the Cubs won today, though once again a relief pitcher (Howry) got a win he didn’t deserve. Of course, Harden can’t just blame the bullpen today as he wasn’t at his best, forcing more from the pen than what they are capable of. Come to think of it, some things are better in small doses.

-Bob Warja

Rich Harden was the missing piece for the Cubs, and if you look at certain statistics, it doesn’t seem like he is really working out.

Sure, his 0-1 record doesn’t seem like the best way to start a season with a new team, but if you delve further than the most shallow of statistics, you will find that he has been lights out, but the Cubs offense when he pitches needs to show some light.

For example, a 1.04 ERA is spectacular, even if it over three starts, he has been unable to allow a lot of runs in a start.

Over 17.1 innings pitched, he has struck out 30 batters, which is almost two batters every inning. His WHIP is less than one, allowing only 16 batters in those 17 innings.

However, he can’t seem to get the offense that other pitchers have been afforded in their outings for the Cubs. Maybe it is just hazing the new guy, but the Cubs bats need to come to life a little more than they have been.

In Harden’s loss this season, the Cubs lost the game 2-0, not scoring a single run and leaving Harden’s seven inning, one run, one hit performance go unrewarded.

In his debut performance, he pitched 5.1 innings, struck out 10, allowed no runs, and was stuck with a no-decision because reliever Carlos Marmol blew the game for him.

Harden has allowed just two runs in his career with the Cubs, and has allowed no more than one run in any game, but he can’t seem to get everything going on the games where he pitches.

Harden may be happy to be a Cub and happy to be with the team with the best record in the NL, but he is going to start to be unhappy if he doesn’t start to get some help offensively and through his bullpen.

The Cubs take on the Brewers in a four-game series starting today, Harden is scheduled to start on Thursday where it is likely that he can finally get his first win as a Cub.

Although with his luck, Dave Bush is going to completely shut down the offense or somebody in the bullpen is going to blow the game.

Hopefully, though, it won’t happen that way and Harden can finally get a win.

As the Chicago Cubs continue their fall from grace, a familiar statement is etched upon the walls of Wrigley Field. Except you can’t see it because the ivy is covering it.

It says, “failed expectations,” year 100 version.

This was supposed to be our year. Just like 1969 was supposed to be. And 1984. And 2003. Get the picture?

Well, it still can be our year, but things have got to start changing immediately and I just don’t know how that is going to happen, given the trends.

First of all, the bullpen needs to improve and quickly. Yes, I know Kerry Wood is hurt, but a lot of the situations we’re getting burned by are earlier in the game, before Woody would even be in the game.

Let’s face it, Cub fans, this bullpen would try and use a wad of gum to stop a leak in the Titanic, for crying out loud.

It seems every time Bob Howry comes in, he gives up a run. Carlos Marmol got out of a jam yesterday but the old Marmol wouldn’t have even gotten into that jam in the first place.

And yes, let’s bring in the kid for his first ever major league appearance in a game situation, late and tied. Fit to be tied is how I’m feeling. Seems we’ve seen this plot before.

Lee and Ramirez, Ramirez and Lee. No matter how you slice it, those guys are not clutch hitters and both are prone to slumps that come in bunches. That’s what we saw in last year’s playoffs. And even when he’s not slumping, Lee couldn’t get a meaningful hit if you placed the ball on a tee for him.

Fukudome is starting to become a bust. OK, I said it, I went there. But hey, popularity isn’t why I write. And the truth is simply that we have three more, very expensive years of a powerless corner outfielder who can’t go anywhere.

Arghh.

What we do know is…

…that the Cubs can’t win on the road. Check.

…they are only 3-3 in their last six home games. Check.

…the bullpen is a mess. Check.

…Soriano is back. Check. (Hey I may be a realist, but I’m not a fatalist)

…After two more home games, they travel to Milwaukee for a four game series against the second place (but perhaps soon to be first place) Brewers.

The Brewers want to win as badly as the Cubs. Which isn’t fair, this is our year, dammit, so why can’t all the other clubs just lay down and let us win this thing? Let them wait their turn. The poor Brewers haven’t sniffed the playoffs since 1982? Well, boo f’ing hoo. You won’t get any sympathy from a Cubs fan.

Oh well, at least Rich Harden goes for the Cubs on Saturday. Hopefully, he’ll get his first win as a Cub. He’ll be opposed by tall righthander Chris Volstad, who has pitched well in the first three starts of his career.

Strap it on, Cubs fans, it’s a long season. Come to think of it, you might want to bring some newspaper to wrap the fish.

-Bob Warja