Ten Reasons the Chicago Cubs Have Hope for 2010

Despite a mediocre at best record that currently sits a couple games below .500, the Chicago Cubs have quite a few reasons to keep their heads up for the 2010 season.

Honorable Mentions

Tom Gorzelanny: Leads rotation in ERA and ERA+.

Marlon Byrd: Third outfielder, also hitting over .300.

Geovany Soto: Dropped 40 pounds, and seemingly all his bad habits and batting slumps with them.

Ryan Theriot: Moved to second base, still hitting over .300 and keeping the leadoff spot solid for the Cubs.

10. Andrew Cashner

Yes, the bullpen has been a huge sore spot for the Cubs thus far this season. Nobody's going to argue that. However, should the struggles continue, Andrew Cashner could easily come up and dominate.

UPDATE:

The Cubs are moving Cashner to the bullpen at AAA, in what seems to everyone to be a clear prep move for his call-up to the major leagues.

Source:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100527&content_id=10494180¬ebook_id=10494184&vkey=notebook_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

9. Chad Tracy

Yes, he got demoted for his inability to pinch-hit early in the season. However, Tracy is doing amazingly well at AAA (his OPS is 1.224) and could come up to the Cubs should they need someone to fill in at the corners.

Face it—he'd be a better replacement for Derrek Lee than the last guy we had: Todd Walker.

8. Carlos Silva

The man thought to be the booby prize for unloading Milton Bradley on the Mariners, Silva is on pace for a career year, proving to be the most reliable pitcher on the staff and leading the team in wins.

7. Mike Fontenot

Fontenot flat-out beat Jeff Baker for the starting job at second base and continued to flourish, hitting over .300, until he started riding the bench when the Cubs called up Starlin Castro.

Although there are probably still bad memories and serious fears over the debacle of Fontenot at third base from last year, with the way Aramis Ramirez has been hitting, maybe it's time to have Fontenot starting at the hot corner.

6. Kosuke Fukudome

Fukudome is finally hitting like the man the Cubs thought they were getting for an average of $10 million a year.

Granted, he's not hitting all the home runs that were expected, but his batting average is well over .300, and he's still one of the best defensive right fielders in the game.

5. Sean Marshall and James Russell

The two lefties have been a godsend in the Cubs bullpen, combining with Carlos Marmol to be the only three consistently effective pitchers Lou Piniella can go to.

4. Lou Piniella

Crazy Lou always seems to have one more trick up his sleeve. With him possibly managing his last season, look for Lou to break out all the tricks—remember Sean Marshall playing left field?

3. Starlin Castro

Twenty years old, hitting .350. Enough said.

2. The Blackhawks

Blackhawks mania has swept over Chicago, with many people almost oblivious to the fact that there are two baseball teams playing right now.

A few of the key players on the team visited Wrigley Field, and the Cubs beat the Dodgers that night. If they come back after winning the Stanley Cup, that might be just enough good karma to take the Cubs to the promised land.

1. Alfonso Soriano

Soriano recently said he's feeling the best he has since 2006 (his 40-40-40 season in Washington that he got this ridiculous contract as a result of), and he's hitting like it.

At the time of publishing, Soriano's hitting .326 and feeling good.

Gone are the days of his "I have to hit leadoff" antics. Now he just wants to be in the lineup and play.

Perhaps the defensive replacement of Tyler Colvin late in the game has boosted his confidence. I don't know, and I don't think anyone's going to question it.