But so far, Hendry’s busy offseason hasn’t gone according to plan. While you can’t lay all the blame on him, considering how bad the Cubs’ hitting has been and all the injuries they’ve had to deal with, he deserves his fair share.
With all that said though, it’s only May 26. There’s plenty of time to turn things around. Cubs fans might be panicking right now, but here are 10 reasons why they shouldn’t be.
10. 2007 season
On June 2nd of that year, the Cubs’ record was 22-31. The team was a mess, Lou Piniella was wondering just what he had gotten himself into, and everyone pretty much wrote them off. This Cubs team is a lot better than the ’07 one. It’s a veteran group that understands divisions aren’t decided in April/May.
9. Return of Aramis Ramirez
Who knows when Ramirez will come back, but boy have the Cubs missed his bat in the lineup. At the beginning of the year, Cubs fans knew the one guy they could ill afford to lose for an extended period of time was Ramirez. When he does return, hopefully sometime around the All-Star break, it’s not likely you’ll see the Cubs go through another six-game stretch where they score a total of five runs, like they did this past week.
8. A little adversity might not be a bad thing
Last season, on their way to 97 wins, the Cubs faced no real adversity from April to September. They led the division from early May on, and had only three losing streaks of three games or more. The pressure of going into the playoffs as heavy favorites clearly got to the Cubs, and we saw what happened against the Dodgers.. Being tested this early in the season and having to fight through the dreaded “underachievers” label in May might not turn out to be a bad thing in the end.
7. Lou Piniella
Other than his three years in Tampa Bay, where he was put into an impossible situation, Piniella has won everywhere he has been. He won’t panic or get too worked up about one bad stretch in May, because he knows he’s got a veteran team that is accustomed to dealing with high expectations. But at the same time, Piniella won’t be afraid to start getting on guys who aren’t producing. I just have a hard time seeing a pretty talented team managed by one of the game’s best not figuring things out eventually.
6. Derrek Lee, Milton Bradley and Geovany Soto should all start to hit
If they don’t, well, then the Cubs are in real trouble. Lee has picked it up of late, raising his batting average over .50 points in the last two weeks. Soto, who came into spring training way out of shape, doesn’t figure to keep struggling when you consider that he hit .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI last year. As far as Bradley, I hated the signing at the time, so you can imagine what my feelings are right now. Still, Bradley won’t keep hitting under .200 all season. And don’t forget about Mike Fontenot. He showed last season, albeit in a utility role, that he is a solid hitter, so his .208 average should start to rise.
5. Starting pitching
Before last night’s disaster, Cubs starters had the sixth best ERA in the National League at 4.11. While Ryan Dempster hasn’t been nearly as good as last year, he’s still been solid (with the exception of last night), as has Ted Lilly and Sean Marshall. Randy Wells has also had three great starts. The key will be if Carlos Zambrano can start pitching like he did for the first four months of last season. It might not be one of the league’s top rotations anymore, but it’s still good enough for the Cubs to stay in contention all summer.
4. No dominant team in the NL Central
This is shaping up to be a three-team race between the Cardinals, Brewers and Cubs (the Reds don’t have much staying power). The Cardinals and Brewers both have some major flaws, just like the Cubs. Outside of Yovani Gallardo, the Brewers starting pitching is very weak, and Rickie Weeks is out for the year with a wrist injury. The Cardinals are a solid team, better than the Brewers, but their lineup after Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick is questionable, and Chris Carpenter is more unreliable than Zambrano or Rich Harden. It will take more than the 85 wins with which the Cubs won the division with in ’07, but it’s not like the teams in front of the Cubs are clearly superior.
3. Everything that could go wrong has already gone wrong
Even when the Cubs were 21-14 before their road trip from hell, they weren’t playing very good baseball. You figured that the baseball gods wouldn’t be as kind to them this year, and they haven’t been. Ramirez, Zambrano, Lee, Harden and Bradley have all missed time due to injury. Breaks that the Cubs got last year haven’t gone their way so far this season (the Cubs are 2-7 in one-run games). The lineup has been a mess, with Fukudome the only regular hitting over .300. And yet where do the Cubs sit this morning? One game below .500, five games out of first. Not bad when you consider all that has gone wrong.
2. The hitters should come around eventually
Like Lou Piniella said after last Saturday’s game when asked about the team’s offensive struggles: “We’ll get out of this. We’ve done it before. Are we the best offensive team in the National League? Absolutely not. Are we down at the absolute bottom? No. We’ve got to basically find our medium somewhere, and we will. It’s just a question of when and how soon.” After leading the National League in runs scored, batting average and on-base percentage last season, the Cubs rank in the bottom five in the NL in all those categories this year.
1. Who cares?
Didn’t we learn our lesson last fall? Cubs fans put their heart and soul into the team for six months, only to have it all end in four days in October. What’s the point of ever again getting too high or too low during the regular season if you’re a Cubs fan? You know the team is just going to disappoint you in the end anyway. Panic if Jay Cutler fails to meet expectations or if Derrick Rose tears his ACL playing in a pickup game over the summer. But don’t waste time and energy worrying about the state of the Cubs. It’s just not worth it.
The Bears had only 28 sacks last year, which tied for 22nd in the league. Ogunleye had a career low five sacks, and there were too many games where he hardly got within five feet of opposing quarterbacks. There’s a reason why the majority of experts say that a pass rushing defensive end is the most critical component in a top defense. Having a great pass rusher makes it a lot easier for your secondary, and it doesn’t require you to blitz your linebackers and safeties as much. With Mark Anderson having fallen off the map, and Alex Brown never being known as a pass rusher, Ogunleye needs to produce for the Bears’ defense to get back to the level they once were at.
Is Vasher the player that made the Pro Bowl in 2005 and intercepted eight passes or is he the guy who, due to injuries, has played a total of 12 games these last two years? No one is really sure right now. He’s clearly on the hot seat, in serious danger of losing his starting spot to Corey Graham. It appears the Bears are giving him one more chance to prove he can get back to being the playmaker that he was his first three years. Two years ago, Vasher and Charles Tillman were considered one of the top five cornerback tandems in the NFL. Tillman has kept up his end of the bargain, so now it’s up to Vasher to bounce back.
Erin who? Just like Joakim Noah, the Bulls/Celtics series was sort of her coming-out party.
When the Bulls decided to shake things up on their telecasts by letting go of Tom Dore and bringing over Neil Funk from radio, I remember thinking one thing: more Stacey King is never a good thing. 
Unlike most of the other sports talk shows on WSCR 670 and ESPN 1000, “The Waddle and Silvy Show” comes across as very professional and entertaining. Silverman is always prepared, doesn’t take himself too seriously, and is able to work around Waddle’s sometimes diva persona. And he is truly a fan first and offers great insights from a fan’s perspective.
This guy understands baseball like Albert Einstein understood electricity. The one thing I will say though is that Stone is still adjusting to being a fan of the White Sox. Stone hasn’t yet seemed to let go of the Cubs and embraced his new team, which is strange considering he did radio for the Sox last year. With all that said, his analysis and insights pretty much make up for his rather slow transition back to the television side.
Smith took his talents to bulls.com after the Tribune surprisingly bought him out last April. The author of the best selling, The Jordan Rules, Smith has so many connections around the league, he even had Shaquille O’Neal calling him out last year after one of his articles. Even though Smith was known to write unbelievable trade rumors without having any sources, it sure was entertaining stuff to read.
In my opinion, Kasper is very underrated as a play-by-play man. He can hold a conversation while doing a game, and unlike a certain guy on the South Side, doesn’t let biases get in the way while doing a broadcast. Hard to believe, but back in 2005, Kasper was actually the Cubs’ third choice for an announcer behind Dave O’Brien and the great Matt Vasgersian.
It’s not the easiest job in the world to have to try and host a Chicago sports talk show when you have baseball writers talking about the Bears or football writers talking about the Cubs. Kaplan manages to keep the discussions very lively by inserting his own opinions and often stimulating debate amongst the panelists. This guy is versatile enough to be an expert in any sport, although at times he can come across as too much of a Cubs homer.
Whether he’s writing 
Gordon, who becomes a free agent this summer, is making it real tough on John Paxson. He almost won Game 2 single-handedly, and he kept the Bulls alive in the series with a ridiculous three-pointer at the end of the first overtime on Sunday. For the Bulls to have a realistic shot at beating the Celtics two more times, Gordon has to go off again in at least one of the games, if not both. His unique scoring ability is what keeps defenses honest and opens things up for Rose.
If the Bulls had gotten any defensive rebounds late in Game 2, they’d probably be up 3-1 right now. However, the Bulls did outrebound the Celtics in these last two games. Boston’s shooters are too good to keep giving them second and third chances, so it’s crucial that the Bulls are able to keep Big Baby and Kendrick Perkins off the glass tonight.
It seems pretty simple really: make Rondo shoot jumpers. Sure he has improved his shot, but I’ll take my chances with Rondo shooting 17-footers versus him getting to the basket, which he has done all series. Rose just isn’t playing very smart on defense when he’s trying to fight over the top of the high ball screens. Rondo is the Celtics’ best all-around player and the guy that makes them go. The Bulls, mainly Rose, have to do a much better job of stopping Rondo’s penetration.
Let’s be honest. If Allen and Pierce are both hitting their shots, the Bulls can’t win. They won the first game because Allen was way off, and almost took the second because Pierce played like he wanted to be somewhere else. And even though Pierce made some big plays late in Game 4, he still finished only 9-of-24 from the floor. When one of the two is off, the Bulls have a chance, because Boston doesn’t have a heck of a lot of other options. But if both are on at the same time, forget it.
Hopefully, the answer to that question is yes. The Bulls’ best lineup is Rose, Gordon, Hinrich or Salmons, Noah and Miller. Vinny Del Negro finally seems to realize that Thomas shouldn’t be on the court when the game is on the line. Yes, he did make a few jumpers in overtime in Game 1, but the chances of him doing that again are remote. 
When you’re on the road, the lid on the basket seems a lot tighter, calls go the other way, and falling behind early is a death sentence. Remember, this is a Celtics team that won the title last year playing a Bulls team that has only three guys (Gordon, Hinrich and Miller) who have played significant playoff minutes. The Bulls showed they weren’t intimidated the first two games of this series playing in a hostile environment, but how will they respond when the Celtics make their inevitable run and the crowd gets into it? 
After making the game-winning shot as a junior to win the state title, Rose showed that he and Simeon were in a class by themselves in their first game downstate the next year. It’s rare you see a high school player come close to a triple-double in a downstate playoff game, but that’s what Rose almost did, finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. And that’s with him sitting out the entire fourth quarter because Simeon was up big.
This was billed as a matchup of the country’s top two point guards in Rose and D.J. Augustine. It was hardly a fair fight, as Rose’s size and strength was way too much for anyone Texas tried to throw at him. In leading Memphis to the Final Four in a rout, Rose had a great all-around game, scoring 21 points to go with nine assists and six rebounds. He was even better the next weekend (see below).
Although it came in a losing effort, Rose’s 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists represented his first real breakout game as a pro. This marked the start of a strong stretch of games for Rose, who would go on to average over 19 points on 50% shooting from the floor during the month of November.
With his team trailing by 17 points with just under six minutes left, Rose simply took over the game, scoring 13 of the team’s final 23 points as the Bulls ended the game on a 23-3 run. Despite being hounded by Ron Artest, Rose muscled into the lane and made a very tough shot to complete the comeback, giving the Bulls a 104-102 lead with 32 seconds left. He finished the night with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
When the stage got brighter, Rose took his game to a whole other level. Against a very good UCLA team that had three players start in the league this year as rookies, Rose made this game his NBA audition by going for 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists. He also held Bruins star point guard Darren Collison to just two points. In the tournament, Rose was spectacular, averaging 21 points, six rebounds and six assists in the six games.
Afterwards, Rose characterized his performance as “decent.” That’s like Michael Jordan saying he had a “pretty good” career. Rose will be in a lot more playoff games in his career, but it will be tough to ever top this one. Maybe the two most impressive things from Rose’s game was his going 12-of-12 from the free-throw line as well as making big shot after big shot in the third quarter when the Celtics made their run.
The main reason why the Bulls have made a late season surge was the acquisition of Miller and John Salmons from Sacramento. While Salmons very easily could have been on this list by himself, Miller’s veteran experience has done wonders for this team, especially for Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. And his 13 point and eight rebound average for the month of March have shown that Miller still has something left to offer on the court as well.
Who led the National League in base hits last season? That would be Theriot. He rarely strikes out, is real sure-handed at shortstop (although he has a weak arm) and hit .307 last year. Still, many Cubs fans don’t seem to be sold on Theriot as the long-term answer at the position. With all the great shortstops in the National League, Theriot gets sort of lost in the shuffle.
You wouldn’t recognize Thornton if he’s not wearing his number 37 jersey. And when you talk about the best setup lefties in baseball, his name rarely gets mentioned. But, with a big thanks to Don Cooper, Thornton has the best stuff of any Chicago reliever not named Carlos Marmol. Last season, he was just filthy, posting a 2.67 ERA and striking out well over a batter an inning. Team USA recognized his value by selecting him for the WBC, so when will the rest of Chicago?
Brown was one of only two Bears on defense, the other being Lance Briggs, who played up to his ability last season. You know Brown’s going to get you close to seven sacks every year, and where he really stands out is the job he does against the run, something Adewale Ogunleye could take lessons on. Another thing that goes unnoticed is the number of holding penalties he draws on offensive linemen. They don’t keep stats for that, but I bet Brown was one of the league leaders in that category last season.
Some people might argue that you can’t really be underappreciated when you win 17 games, finish with an under 3.00 ERA, and make the All-Star team, but let me ask you this: if you were to put 100 Cubs fans in a room and ask them who the team’s best pitcher was, how many would say Dempster? I’d guess less than 10, with Zambrano and Harden splitting the majority of the votes. Even though he has only done it for one season, I still don’t understand why more people don’t consider Dempster the Cubs’ ace over the overrated and inconsistent Zambrano.
Here’s maybe the biggest sports myth in Chicago: Derrick Rose is the most important player on the Bulls. No way. It’s Gordon. Think about it: how many games would the Bulls have won this season without Gordon? Probably around 25. I know he doesn’t play very good defense, and he does force a lot of bad shots, but without Gordon’s consistent scoring, the Bulls would be really bad. Re-signing him this offseason is a must, something I never would have thought I’d say as recently as a couple months ago.
On an up and coming Blackhawks team, names like Kane, Toews, Havlat, Sharp, Campbell and Versteeg get the most attention. Now in his fourth season, Keith has quietly turned into one of the league’s best defensemen. He leads the Hawks and ranks fourth in the entire NHL with a whopping plus-33. Keith also is the leader on the team in minutes, and has been a huge reason why the Blackhawks have turned into a contender a year earlier than most people expected.
When the Cubs shelled out 40 million for Lilly, a lot of people were very skeptical, because his career numbers up until that point were along the lines of a number four starter, yet he was being paid like a number two. In his two seasons on the North Side though, Lilly (32-17, 3.96 ERA) has been nothing short of real solid. He’ll never get much recognition pitching behind the Cubs’ big three, but without Lilly these last two seasons, especially in 2007, the Cubs don’t make the playoffs.
Before the Bears traded for some guy named Cutler, Gould was right up there with Matt Forte as the most important player in the Bears’ offense yet he was pretty much taken for granted as fans focused on the team’s offensive struggles at all the other positions.. Gould was one of the few dependable things on this Bears team these last two seasons, hitting 57 of 65 field goal tries, an 87.6% that was good for sixth in the NFL during that span. It’s tough for field goal kickers to ever get their proper due, but Gould has solidified the position after a string of really bad kickers in Chicago ever since Kevin Butler left in the mid-90s.
This is a guy every team would love to have. He won’t hit for much power or steal many bases, but Johnson is a career .284 hitter, can play all three outfield positions and has a knack for coming up with the clutch hit. If the Cubs are going to win their division for a third straight year, they’ll need Johnson to produce like he did last season (.303 BA), because who knows what they’ll get from Kosuke Fukudome over a full season.
Now to be fair, there aren’t a lot of NBA teams that are fun to watch, since so much of the game now is throwing the ball into the post and having the other four guys stand around and watch. 
To this day I’ll still watch all those championship videos or tapes of classic games like Game 6 of the ’93 Finals or Game 5 of the ’97 Finals. It will be tough for the Bulls to ever again capture the city’s attention like they did in the Jordan era, no matter how good they might be five or so years from now. Jordan, Pippen and Phil Jackson transcended not only the city, but the entire NBA en route to those six championships.
When the Bulls won 49 games and swept Miami in the first round, the young nucleus of Gordon, Deng, Hinrich and Nocioni looked like one of the best in the league. Now, Nocioni is gone, Hinrich is a backup, Deng is a joke (but still quite wealthy) and Gordon is and always will be the same player he was two years ago. 
There’s nothing close to an Ozzie Guillen, Lou Piniella, A.J. Pierzynski, Carlos Zambrano, Milton Bradley, or to a lesser extent, Rex Grossman, on this Bulls team. Vinny Del Negro shows very little emotion, at least publicly, and the team’s best players, Rose, Gordon and John Salmons are all very even keel guys who aren’t going to create major headlines on or off the court. 
This one’s pretty obvious. It’s hard to get too worked up over any team that is 37-40, even though the Bulls have won eight of their last 11 games. They haven’t been over .500 on the year since they were 2-1. And the Bulls didn’t produce their first three game win streak until the middle of March. Up until these past few weeks, the Bulls were consistently inconsistent.
And that’s because they are still searching, as they have been ever since Elton Brand was traded, for a consistent inside scorer. Sure, Salmons and Brad Miller have both provided a much needed spark and have helped the Bulls get over the hump and into the playoffs. 
I can’t understand why some people feel this way. If anything, the Bulls have overachieved this year. At the beginning of the season, if you had said the Bulls would finish right around .500 and make the playoffs, I think most people would have been very happy with that. 
I wanted to do a post about Cutler, but then I thought, what could I write that hasn’t been said or written about him already? It’s not everyday that an NFL team trades for a young Pro Bowl quarterback who has the ability to change the direction of the franchise. This is first and foremost a Bears town, no matter how well Chicago’s other teams are doing. Adding Cutler only gives people more reason to start dissecting the Bears five months before their season starts.
All I can say about this is, thank god. Reading the same boring articles every day for the last month and a half on the Cubs and Sox has made me cringe. Here’s something the other day that bugged me: in the sports section of Sunday’s Sun-Times, the Bulls’ crucial win over the Nets got just a brief game story towards the back. By comparison, the Cubs and Sox had five pages combined all to themselves, including a long story on how Carlos Quentin is quietly driven to succeed.
Regardless of whom you think would be the best matchup for the Bulls, the Cavs, Magic or Celtics (my personal choice), one thing is fairly certain: they will be lucky to take two games from any of these teams in a best of seven series. 