Chicago Cubs

The Cubs came out of the All-Star Break playing pretty good baseball.  They started the second half by taking 3 of 4 against the Phillies, capped by a pounding of Cy-Young candidate Roy Halladay.  And if it weren’t for a Marmol implosion on Saturday, the Cubs would have swept the four game set with the Phillies.  The good news is that the Cubs are now 3-1 in the 2^nd half.  The bad news i

This article is the final part of a series of articles looking at the Cubs not-so-distant future. To read part four, which takes a look at the pitchers, follow this link .

Yes, woeful.

The Chicago Cubs spent $146,859,000 on their 2010 payroll, which works out to an average of $5,439,222 per player and is good for third in all of Major League Baseball. Only the Evil Empires—the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox—shelled out more scratch for their squads.

Only the Bronx Bombers are paying more per victory.

So...two or three weeks of anger management classes and suddenly Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano is a new man, huh?

You'll have to forgive me if I'm not buying what the Cubs are selling.

Apparently "cured" of the anger issues that have prevented Zambrano from reaching the full potential of his obvious talent, Big Z has been cleared to begin his baseball rehabilitation in Mesa.

From one "rehab" to another "rehab" and—Poof!—magically, all is well again.

The '90s were an interesting time for baseball. We saw the first Canadian world champion and a strike that devastated the game.

We saw the reemergence of the Evil Empire and one of the classiest men in baseball break the consecutive games started streak, and we saw a home run chase that made baseball America's pastime once again.

This was all fueled by the players themselves.

If this is what he truly believes, then it's no wonder that former Cubs broadcaster and current Sox color man Steve Stone was never hired as a GM.

I understand that Zambrano has not fared well in recent years as a pitcher—starter or reliever.

I also know that Big Z has not lived up to his humongous contract.

But to seriously suggest that the Cubs try and make their former ace a first baseman is about as stupid of an idea as I've ever heard.

This article is part three of a series of articles looking at the Cubs' not-so-distant future. To read part three, which takes a look at the middle infielders and catchers, follow this link.

The Cubs have pitching.

The rotation of Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny, and Randy Wells has been good enough to post a FIP of 3.87 (fourth in MLB), an xFIP of 3.99 (second in MLB), and a total of 55 quality starts (second in MLB). And that's all without removing Carlos Zambrano's less-than-stellar outings from the bunch.

In Anaheim, cubs owner Tom Ricketts said he fully supports GM Jim Hendry, though he stopped short of guaranteeing Hendry job security.

According to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat, Ricketts had this to say:

"The fact is right now, Jim is our general manager, I support him, I think he does a great job, and after that we'll just take it one day at a time," the chairman said.

With the Mets having lost the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, they still are in need of another starting pitcher. Losing the last two games to the Braves and falling to five games out of first place and two back in the wild card race have made this need even more obvious.

Even those who support Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and I am not one of them, point to his record trading for players to help the club.

But Hendry has really not had any experience selling off assets to contending teams for future prospects.

But that is exactly what the Cubs need to do. They must be sellers, as this club is not even remotely in the pennant race and therefore, need to start thinking about next year and beyond.