And it’s even less likely for the Cubs, of course. The division is out of reach and the wild card requires climbing over too many teams. Plus, the Cubs aren’t playing like they want it anyway.

So the White Sox supposedly send a memo to the other clubs that Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and Scott Linebrink are available.

And why not? It makes good business and baseball sense to try and build for next season with prospects you can obtain. I mean, if you’re going to lose with or without these players, why hold onto them?

Meanwhile, the Cubs can’t work out a trade for the horrible Aaron Heilman or Rich Harden, who isn’t likely to return anyway. And the reason? Not that the offers weren’t good enough. No. According to Hendry, it’s because the Cubs still have a chance.

Delusional man say what?

Look, it’s over, Jim. Face the music; you’ll notice it’s a dirge that’s playing.

Rich Harden is simply too fragile, and the Cubs are too strapped for cash for them to match any three-year offer that some team is likely to wave under the nose of the impending free agent following the season.

Anyway, even if they wanted to re-sign Harden, they could still do it if they traded him. So why in the world wouldn’t you get something for him?

Now, the Sox may not end up moving any of their players prior to tonight’s deadline for adding players to the playoff roster. But at least they’re trying. It shows they are being realistic. The Cubs? Knee deep in denial.

I’m not condoning a white flag deal here; no, both teams (and especially the Cubs) are too far out of the race to hang onto players they are going lose or not want after the season.

But that’s one of the many differences between the Cubs and Sox. The Sox have a plan while the Cubs seem to fly by the seat of their pants.

It pains me to write this, but I seem to recall one of the local teams winning a World Series a few years back.

That’s another difference, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

Before the All-Star Break, the Cubs split a four-game series with the Cards. Since the break, however, the Cubs are 8-2. The Cardinals are 4-6 since the break, including losing two of three against the Phillies in their most recent series.

The Cards now go from facing the defending champions to facing this season’s best team, the L.A Dodgers, in a four-game series. The Cubs face the Astros, and have a chance to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division.

But what has caused the Cubs recent resurgence?

It starts with the starting pitching staff. Kevin Hart has been Randy Wells II, starting three games and not allowing more than two runs in any start.

With Ted Lilly on the DL, the Cubs will need him to continue playing at a high level, and if he does, then the Cubs may not even need to trade for a starting pitcher. But more on trades later.

Rich Harden has been struggling all season, but in his last three starts, he hasn’t allowed multiple runs to cross the plate. He has dropped his ERA from 5.47 to 4.55 in that span.

However, the pitching staff is not the only reason for the Cubs making waves in the second half.

Before the break, the Cubs scored an average of 4.1 runs a game, since the break, that number has been 5.6.

The reason for the sudden increase in runs has been the revival of Kosuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley, Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez.

Fukudome was batting .255 before the break, in the ten games since, he has been batting .382 with an OBP of .477 and an OPS of 1.006.

Bradley was looked at as the disappointment of the century when he came to the Cubs and was essentially awful. However, since the break, he has been better in every facet of the game.

Bradley’s average, OBP, slugging, and OPS have all been at or above league average. However, you can’t look at this as just ten games for him, as these have come after he spent a few days out of the lineup and working with manager Lou Piniella on his swing.

Ramirez wasn’t exactly playing bad before the break, he just was out of the lineup. However, Ramirez has been having a career year in every offensive category that goes by an average.

His return has been a big part in the Cubs recent run, as they are 11-6 since he made his return to the lineup.

Soriano has been streakier than he has ever been this season, and he knows it. But his .444 average since the All-Star Break has been a big part of the Cubs coming back.

“I remember with the Yankees and Texas, I was also [streaky],” he said. “But what’s happened this season never happened to me before. I’ve cooled off for two to three weeks before, but never for a month and a half. That’s the first time in my life.”

But while all these players have been coming from virtually nowhere to make big contributions, the Cubs still will likely need to make a deadline to have a legitimate chance at taking their NL Central lead and turning it into a World Series.

They still have inconsistent bullpen play from most everybody besides Kevin Gregg, and could use another lefty bullpen arm. Despite Sean Marshall’s current 8.2 inning scoreless streak, the bullpen still lacks depth.

Bullpen depth could come with Baltimore Orioles reliever George Sherrill, whom the Cubs have been rumored to be interested in.

Sherrill has a sub-2.5 ERA and has 20 saves this season. A new arm in the bullpen is needed with the Harden, Wells and Hart in the starting rotation, who usually won’t give the bullpen a night off.

However, they are also said to be eying Orlando Cabrera, who can play both second or short stop. Cabrera, currently on the Oakland A’s, also has the Twins interested in him.

Cabrera would make a lot of sense for the Cubs, who could use some middle-infield depth, as Aaron Miles has been struggling in the minors and might not make it back to the majors this season.

Cabrera brings a consistent bat, solid defense, and some speed when he gets on base. He would solidify the infield and give Mike Fontenot a chance to play from the bench, where he thrived from last season.

However, the biggest potential move might not even involve a trade. With the recent signing of B.J Ryan, the Cubs are hoping that he can return to his dominant ways.

He has been working his way through the minors, and has been moved up to the AAA Iowa Cubs roster. Reports are that he has pitched well at every level so far.

“The guy has a good history and has pitched in the ninth inning in huge games,” general manager Jim Hendry said. “We wouldn’t ask him to do that. If it works, he can maybe add to the pen with ( Sean) Marshall.”

Whatever the Cubs do this season, they will need to continue their strong play, as the Cardinals just got Matt Holliday, and they won’t be playing the Phils and Dodgers every game.

-Joe Willett

The only team that has underachieved more has been the Yankees, but since A-Rod came back, they have been on a tear, which leaves the Cubs all alone.

However, through the past five games, they have gone 4-1, which may be an anomaly in a disappointing season, but it could also start to signal change.

However, the Cubs haven’t been pulling off small, one-run wins.  They have won three of their past four wins by at least three runs.

Also, they have had outstanding pitching over the past five games.  They haven’t allowed more than two runs in any game, and they have allowed just a combined six runs in the past five games.

Another nice thing that has happened has been the resurgence of Milton Bradley, who has been the biggest bust on the Cubs so far this season.

Over the past week, Bradley is batting .400, and has brought his average up to .223 on the season.  He has also hit a home run and has five RBI’s.

However, the most interesting part of this five game span, is that they have been winning with multiple important players stuck on the DL.

Rich Harden, Aramis Ramirez, Aaron Miles and Ryan Freel all get decent playing time and all are currently on the DL.

When the Cubs get healthy, they may be able to continue their resurgence and come back with a vengeance.

Who knows, maybe they could jump out of fourth place in the division and start doing what we all thought that they would do this season.

Then again, it’s only five games, and maybe I’m putting a bit to much emphasis on it.

-Joe Willett

All photos taken by the Associated Press

With Carlos Zambrano coming off of the DL, it had been expected that David Patton would be offered back to his original club, since the seldom used relief pitcher was a Rule-5 draft pick and must remain on the Cubs’ 25-man roster.

The move of Harden to the DL is retroactive to May 18. Randy Wells will start in his place Saturday night.

The site will post further details when they become available.

Off news that he pitched yesterday while under the influence of food poisoning (yea, I know the wording scared you for a second) he is quickly working his way ahead of Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster.

I have decided to throw together five reasons that Rich Harden is a great player who I just love.

Duh…Playing with food poisoning

I don’t know if any of you have had food poisoning, but if you get hit right, it can be just terrible. For Harden to play through that is outstanding.

Also, he pitched for four innings, throwing 63 pitches, striking out four, including former Cub prospect Eric Patterson, and allowing no runs on just three hits.

Harden lost about seven pounds after eating bad chicken salad.

He was almost as good as the supernatural CC Sabathia

Sure, Harden didn’t get nearly the press that Sabathia got for his stint, but Sabathia only got that press because he did what he did on a bad team, not one that was already good.

Although Harden didn’t turn the Cubs around any, he went 5-1 with a 1.78 with 89 strikeouts in 71 innings.

That is an outstanding stat line and one that would make any pitcher ecstatic with their play, and he’s being looked at as the possible fourth in the Cubs rotation.

His health didn’t disturb him as much last year

Although he has had frequent health problems (he has just been Mark Prior with more bounce-back ability), when he has played, he is one of, if not the, best pitch in the majors.

What should scare people is the fact that he pitched 148 innings last season, nothing amazing, but surely that would be enough to satisfy most of Chicago if he would pitch that and be ready for the post-season.

If Harden throws together a full season, other teams should be worried.

He comes cheap (relatively)

With all of his outstanding ability, Harden made three million less than Ryan Dempster, four million less than Ted Lilly and 12 million less than Carlos Zambrano last season.

This season, Harden is slated to earn seven million dollars, which is still cheaper than what Dempster, Lilly and Zambrano are slated to make.  For somebody who may be the best in the majors, thats pretty cheap.
Hey, he fits in with the rest of the team

Although fellow oft-injured pitchers Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are now long gone, he still has some other injury prone players to work with.

The most notable of these is Milton Bradley, who has missed at least 12 games in each season since 2002, however, he still thinks that he will be there to play.

Who knows, if Harden and Bradley both stay healthy, the Cubs may be in a position to make some noise.

But all that really matters right now, with 11 days til Opening Day, is that Harden is getting healthy, and that he is working his way into a position to be one of my favorite players.

-Joe Willett

The spring training home for the Chicago Cubs

On the one hand, there’s all that undeniable talent oozing out of every pore. There are the tantalizing times when he is fully healthy and shows everyone just what he can do. And when he does, boy is it something to behold.

From 2005 to 2008, only Roger Clemens had a lower ERA than Harden’s 2.56. He was 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA last season. For his career, he is 41-20 with an 3.23 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, and opponents have hit only .216 against him.

But then there are the inevitable injuries that serve as a harsh reminder that the man can’t be counted on. He has a small tear in his shoulder joint, so it is highly unlikely that he will be able to start 25 games like he did last year.

So, how many starts will Harden be good for this season? Well, no one really knows, and that’s the problem. You don’t know when the injuries will happen; you just know that they will. And you hope it doesn’t happen during a critical series or in the playoffs.

But that’s the chance you take when you have a guy like Harden. The rewards are sweet, but the downtime bitter. I hate to mention this, but having gone through the Mark Prior and Kerry Wood years, you would think this team has had enough of the uncertainty. But the temptation can be great because the upside is so great.

Yet, every day that I read about Harden not having thrown off a mound yet this spring, I can’t help but be reminded of Prior, despite the assurances that Harden is getting closer.

But getting closer to what? Call me pessimistic, but get back to me when he actually is able to throw off a real mound, to real hitters, in a game situation.

Meanwhile, if you’re Lou Piniella and Larry Rothschild, how do you plan for this?

It’s clear the Cubs need a fifth starter, and it’s almost equally as clear that it’s going to be Sean Marshall filling that role, barring a last minute injury or acquisition by Jim Hendry.

But what do you do when Harden comes up lame a half hour before game time? Do you keep a guy like Chad Gaudin in the bullpen ready just in case Harden can’t go? And if so, how do you keep him stretched out so that he can actually pitch at least five innings?

Or do you send Jeff Samardzija to the minors and have him at the beck and call of Hendry, assuming you do have at least a day’s notice? And even when he can go, he probably won’t go more than five innings because of high pitch counts, which taxes the bullpen.

Those are the headaches you accept when you sign a guy like Rich Harden. If you want the talent, you had better be ready for the heartache that is packaged with it.

This much is certain: Even in a best-case scenario, the Cubs don’t expect Harden to be ready to go every fifth day all season long, even if the unlikely happens and he can actually stay healthy. In fact, part of the master plan to hopefully keep him healthy is to give him extra days of rest from time to time, as well as the occasional missed start.

Early on, it probably won’t pose a huge concern due to off days and rain-outs (dare I say snow-outs?). But as the season wears on, and other guys get aches and pains, it won’t be so easy to deal with the roller coaster that is Rich Harden.

Then again, things never come easy for our Cubbies, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

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.

Despite not pitching deep into the games, both Jason Marquis (5.1 IP) and Rich Harden (five IP) pitched effectively and got the win.

The game one hitting stars were Jim Edmonds and Geo Soto, while Fosuke Fukudome and Aramis Ramirez were the best in game two.

Which brings me to a question: didn’t Lou cause a stir the other day when he suggested that Kosuke would be hitting the pine more often due to his anemic hitting? So what does Sweet Lou do?

He starts Foo Man Choo in both games of the DH. Normally, even players going well get one of the games off. But no, not this time.

And it’s a good thing this happened, for Kosuke got two hits and drove in two runs in the second game.

Like Max Madsen, Lou may be mad and bad, but he’s not crazy…

With the wins, the Cubs moved ever closer to the Holy Grail of .500 on the road, improving to 28-30.

They go for the series sweep on Thursday, my birthday, with veteran lefties, Ted Lilly and Tom Glavine scheduled to start.

A win on my b-day is the only present I need, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

Now don’t get me wrong, he has been lights out in his first three starts as a Cub. Unfortunately, he and his team have come up empty in the end.

Why is it that he can strike out 10 batters in each of his first three starts, and fail to get the win? One of the obvious reasons is that the Cubs hitters have not been hitting when Rich takes the mound.

There always seems to be that one man in every starting rotation that fails to get the run support. It’s just one of those things in baseball. It’s really a shame that it has to be Rich though, because I think everybody can agree that when this guy is healthy, he is one of the most dominating pitchers in the league.

Aside from the lack of run support, another reason that Harden isn’t getting the wins he deserves is because of the amount of pitches he throws. When a strikeout pitcher like Harden takes the ball, those strikeouts can actually end up hurting them because of the amount of pitches it forces them to throw.

In Harden’s case, he has only gone five innings in two of his three starts, making it very difficult for the team to give him the run support needed to get him the personal win.

Will Thursday be Harden’s first win as a Cub? We all certainly hope so. He deserves it. If he can keep his pitch count relatively low and if the Cubs offense can produce early enough for him, we just may finally see the first win of Rich Harden’s Cub career; and what a great win it would be considering it would be beating the Brewers to gain a full game in the standings.

-Mike Yadgir