Chicago Cubs

The 2008 edition of the Chicago Cubs had the best record in the National League (97-64) and should have repeated last season, but injuries, career-worst performances, and the plague that is known as Milton Bradley created a second-place ballclub.

Today I am going to take a look at the updated starting rotations for each National League Central team.

Pitchers like Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, and Roy Oswalt call this division home. This division has quality pitchers throughout.

Here are the updated starting rotations for each National League Central team.

St. Louis Cardinals

1. Chris Carpenter, RHP

2. Adam Wainwright, RHP

3. Kyle Lohse, RHP

4. Brad Penny, RHP

5. Jaime Garcia, LHP

With just over a week remaining until opening day, the prospects of another long season for Cubs fans is finally starting to settle in.

Spring training helped clear up some minor position battles and lineup tweaks, such as Ryan Theriot serving as the full-time leadoff hitter and Mike Fontenot appearing to be the front-runner at second base. But lots of questions remain in arguably the most overlooked aspect of any ballclub: the bullpen.

In a minor move that is nonetheless surprising, the Chicago Cubs dealt backup middle infielder Andres Blanco to the Texas Rangers on Saturday for a player to be named or cash.

Blanco, who will turn 26 on April 11, was the best defensive middle infielder on the Cubs major league roster, but was a lightweight at the plate. In 2009, Blanco batted just .259 with one home run and 12 runs batted in from 123 at bats in 53 games in Chicago.

The Cubs made big moves Friday, releasing seven players, while setting both their rotation and bullpen in the process. Tom Gorzelanny and Carlos Silva round out the rotation, with James Russell becoming—as of now—the last man in the 'pen to start the season.

From the starting rotation to the bullpen, the guys who throw with their arms for a living certainly mean a lot to a ball club.

Sure, offensive run production and run prevention (a.k.a. defense) are critical, too. But as someone once said, pitching is 90 percent of half of the game.

Fuzzy math aside, this just happens to be where the current Cubs appear to fall short, unfortunately.

It’s a tale of two teams, but three cities. And as Charles Dickens wrote, it’s a tale of the years they intertwined from the start, one enjoying a “season (or seasons) of light,” the other dreading a “season of darkness.”

The Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs always pop up on each other’s schedules at least twice, sometimes more, every year. But rarely do they begin a regular season against each other.

It appears the Chicago Cubs will carry a rookie, Tyler Colvin, as their fifth outfielder when the come north for the regular season. And to me, it might be a shame.

The Cubs have a lot of money tied up in their outfield. Between the albatross contracts of Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome, the corner outfield spots are pretty well locked up because of financial obligation.

Meanwhile, the Cubs brought in Marlon Byrd and Xavier Nady as free agents this winter to replace "Baseball's Kanye West," Milton Bradley. More money spent on veterans.

The name of the Cubs spring training facility, HoHoKam, literally means "those who vanished". That is appropriate as we embark on a journey of past Cubs spring training stars and "can't miss kids" who did.

The current spring star is Tyler Colvin, who is ranked third in the National League in hitting this spring, at .440. While this is great for the kid, and Paul Sullivan has Colvin making the Cubs' roster, let me remind you of one thing:

Spring statistics mean nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. As predictors for regular season performance, that is.

Young outfielder Tyler Colvin will make the Chicago Cubs' Opening Day roster if the team can find him sufficient playing time, according to manager Lou Piniella . Colvin, 24, would need to get somewhere in the neighborhood of two starts per week in order to justify keeping him on board, by Piniella's reckoning.