16 games in... what I've learned

[Andy]

1. We are not a "lock" to win the division. We cannot fast forward to October and expect to be there without putting in a full effort every day. That said, we <i>should</i> celebrate wins, because there's no guarantee they won't be important games and the fun part of the season.

2. The rest of the division will not be a pushover. Last season we were able to crush Pittsburgh, otherwise we were real close to .500 to the rest of the division. After we get swept this afternoon, we'll be 7-8 against Mil, Stl, Cin & Hou. Hopefully we can crush the Pirates.

3. We need to get hits with runners in scoring position. The Cubs are hitting .224 with a .308 slugging %. Can't win if you can't score.

4. Bullpen is a mess. Absolutely no consistency. Our best reliever already has a loss and blown save. Gregg is a trainwreck. Cotts is horrible.

5. We need to find a replacement for DLee. Great guy, excellent fielder, on a steep downward trend at the plate.

6. Being a Cub is not going to solve Bradley's inability to stay healthy.

It's still really early in the season, but it's apparent that this won't be a cake walk to the post season. Time for the bats to get going.

[jeffy]

After we get swept today? One thing I've learned is that a lot of people are too quick to give up on this team [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]

You make some good points otherwise though.

[kbwsb]

As usual, it's the damn Cards that have come out of nowhere to bother me. I don't see how their SP can hold up over 6 months, but they'll always be dangerous.

I hope Lee pulls a Delgado this summer.

[PcB]

<!--quoteo(post=33249:date=Apr 26 2009, 01:30 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Apr 26 2009, 01:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->As usual, it's the damn Cards that have come out of nowhere to bother me. I don't see how their SP can hold up over 6 months, but they'll always be dangerous.

I hope Lee pulls a Delgado this summer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He just pulled something...

[alpha]

agree with most of the things andy said. another thing that keeps bothering me is having Gathright on the roster, I would like it if he would be replaced by a middle infielder. I think Grudzielanek is still unsigned. He can be a great bat of the bench and get starts against lefties.

[HemisFear]

So far the only thing I'm concerned about is the bullpen. Losing Kerry really hurt us more than I thought it would. Greg is horrible so far and I don't have a lot of faith in the others that I've seen toss the rock around other than Marmol.

Other than that, it's still very early. Hopefully the pen can put it together.