Cubs First Half in the Books

Can’t believe that the Cubs have already played 81 games, seemed like just yesterday the season started.  Here is a recap of what transpired over the first three months of the 2012 season, and my thoughts.

Let’s start with the bad –

• When talking about the bad moments of the first half it’s hard to ignore the 12 game losing streak which took place from May 15 thru May 27.  Before the streak the Cubs were 15-20, and playing rather well, in fact given how well the Cubs played the majority of their games it wasn’t crazy to think that if the bullpen resembled anything close to Major League caliber that the Cubs would be at .500.
• That leads me to Carlos Marmol.  Marmol was a disaster in the first 81 games of the season, although he has been pitching better of late.  Marmol was placed on the DL after a May 11th game against the Brewers, at the time he had an ERA of 6.35 and had been removed from the closers role in favor of Rafael Dolis.  Marmol had as many blown saves (2) as saves before being DL’d.  Since coming off the DL, and being thrown back into the closer role Marmol is 6-for-6 in save opportunities and has lowered his ERA to 4.74, it might have a lot to do with this.
• Chris Volstad has to be mentioned here as well as he had and is having a horrific first half.  Volstad finished the first half, which included a trip to Iowa, with an 0-7  record and a 7.94 ERA.  Sometimes numbers don’t tell the whole story, in this case I don’t think they tell enough of it.  Volstad has completely lost all confidence, he’s pitching as if he expects to lose.  I guess that will happen to a guy that hasn’t won a game in a calendar year.
• The record.  Coaches, players, fans, and executives alike knew that this season would be a rough one, they didn’t think it would be this rough.  I for one have no problems with the 31-50 record because it means nothing, this year was a throw away year, whether the Cubs were 25 under or 15 under, it’s just a necessary season in the process of rebuilding and I’m okay with that.
• Geovany Soto, oh how the mighty have fallen.  After alternating good and bad years since his 2008 rookie of the year campaign it seems as though Geo has found some consistency, not in a good way.  It looks more and more like Soto was a one hit wonder, as he is in the midst of another wasted season.  Soto hit .163 over the first 81 games, with only five home runs.  He has been routinely outplayed by Clevenger and Castillo behind the dish.  I will even say that Koyie Hill provided more of a spark, that’s how bad Geo’s been.

Now on to the good, yes there has been plenty of that –

• Alfonso Soriano, what a tremendous first half from a player that almost everyone, except Jed and Theo, thought was beyond done.  Not only has Soriano provided improved offensive numbers he has been spotless in LF.  Think about that for a second, Soriano has not committed an error all season in LF.  He has also played an above average defense, getting to balls he could only once dream about getting to.  He’s clearly hurt but he has earned a lot of respect back from me after I wrote him off.  Soriano finished the first half (again in games, I know the Cubs have 4 games left in the “half”) hitting .269 with 15 home runs and 46 RBI’s.
• Bryan LaHair was another player that was bound and determined to prove himself, but for different reasons.  Coming into the season LaHair never had a starting role in the big leagues, an oddity for a 29-year-old with just a handful on major league experience.  But he took the opportunity and ran with it in the first month of the season by hitting .390 with five home runs and 14 RBI’s.  As expected he cooled off during May and June, but he has been great in July which also coincides with finding out he was elected to his first All-Star game.
• Ryan Dempster entered the 2012 season amid trade rumors, and they just got louder and louder every time he pitched, mostly because he was outstanding.  Dempster has been a man on a mission in the first half, he has been slowed by a lat injury but he has pitched at a Cy Young level up until then.  If the Cubs bullpen or clutch hitting was consistent at all Dempster might be close to the lead league in wins.  He has settled for a 3-3 record with a sparkling 2.11 ERA.  I doubt he makes it past July 31st as a Cub, so enjoy it while it lasts.
• Travis Wood who was brought over from Cincinnati in the Sean Marshall deal, didn’t make the team out of Spring Training.  He started the year at Triple-A and struggled, leaving some to suggest that Theo got fleeced in the deal.  Wood got an opportunity in the rotation at the big league level once is was clear that Chris Volstad was not up to par.  Wood has dominated ever since, thus shutting up all those people who questioned his existence on the Cubs roster.  Wood made nine starts in the first half and finished with a 3-3 record and a 3.05 ERA.  He might be a huge part of the future for this team.
• James Russell and Shawn Camp’s work out of the bullpen cannot go unrecognized.  Both guys have been a stabilizing force in the back of the Cubs bullpen all year.  Russell sports a 2.27 ERA in 39.2 innings, while Camp has been just as good in his 43 innings, he finished the first half with a 2.93 ERA.
• A late addition to this post has to be Anthony Rizzo.  After basically two and three-quarters months of Cubs fans pleading for Rizzo they finally got their wish in late June.  Rizzo has not disappointed one bit.  Not only is he producing at a high level, and is exciting to watch, he is giving Cubs fans a glimpse of  what Theo’s vision might look like down the road.  That’s important for Cubs fans to see, to know they are not suffering through maybe the worst season in Franchise history for nothing.  In the 8 games that Rizzo has been up with the Cubs he has hit .323 with three home runs and six RBI’s.  Not to mention he has had the game winning hit in three of those eight games, and the Cubs are 6-2 since his call up.

The in-between –

• Long time Cub Kerry Wood retired during the first half of the season.  It was bittersweet for sure.  For a lot of Cubs fans, including myself, Kerry Wood was the face of the franchise growing up, in good times and bad.  Kerry worked his tail off to get in shape and put his injuries behind him to have a pretty solid career.  He was having a horrible season this year, and it was clear to him and many people surrounding the team that it was time to hang em up.  He did the right thing, walked away, and will be apart of this organizations future one way or another.

There were a lot of things in the first half that made us cover our eyes as Cubs fans.  But there were also a lot of things that opened them as well, this team competes, rarely gives up and is usually in a lot of games.  Right now that doesn’t translate to a lot of wins, but it’s something to hang on to from the first half.  This team will look much different in the second half once the trade deadline comes and goes.  Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, David DeJesus, Geovany Soto, among others could all be gone.  Anthony Rizzo is already here, but he could be joined by Brett Jackson, and Josh Vitters at some point.  It’s something to be excited about, we’ve suffered through quite possibly the worst first half in team history, the saving grace is that it shouldn’t be this bad ever again.

Thanks for reading, go Cubs!
– George