Front Office Blunders Catching Up to the Cubs

I've been a Cubs fan all my life. Having been born and raised on the north side of Chicago, this was natural. So too was the standard feeling of excitement before the season started; the pure joy of sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley Field; the yearly disappointment come September or maybe October—if we were lucky.

After yet another abysmal showing in the playoffs last season, the feeling of disappointment came at its regularly scheduled time, but unlike seasons past, it seemed only to build on itself.

It is now June, and that feeling of disappointment has reached the level it was when the Cubs' bats grew as silent as Wrigley Field when the Cubs were swept by the Dodgers.

But let's back track to where the disappointment began. Soon after the playoff exit, the Cubs and their loyal fans began to think about next year. Of course it would be "our year" but as always fans were eager to see what moves would be made that would solidify all of our hopes. The moves that came...did anything but.

Cub hero Mark DeRosa: gone.

Long time fan favorite—despite his injuries—Kerry Wood: gone.

Jake Peavy trade: gone.

Instead, we were given newcomers Aaron Heilman, Aaron Miles, Kevin Gregg, and of course the big "prize" of the offseason: Milton Bradley. Even a Cub fan can't pretend to be excited about that.

Aaron Miles, though the least significant acquisition, was brought in to replace DeRosa and his .285 BA, 21 HR, 87 RBI, and ability to play any infield or outfield position.

So let me get this straight: Miles, a career .284 hitter (not bad) who has a grand total of 16 career home runs and has only even seen substantial playing time at second base was supposed to replace such a productive guy and a fan favorite?

Give me a break.

Obviously the main argument there is that Miles' substantially smaller salary was a move to make room for Milton Bradley, but let's just save that for later.

Next comes Aaron Heilman. So let's make this clear: In order to "upgrade" our middle-inning bullpen, we turned to a guy that was basically run out of the New York Met's organization after two straight years of complete and utter bullpen failure. Solid logic Jim Hendry.

Has Heilman made Hendry look like a genius? Not only does Heilman have a 4.50 ERA, but he has already blown four saves, when he was exiled from New York after blowing five all of last year.

To top it off, manager Lou Pinella has wisely concluded that Heilman is not to be trusted in any sort of serious situation, and is thus used sparingly and in a pinch only.

To replace beloved closer Kerry Wood, the Cubs believed they had found their guy in Kevin Gregg. Gregg had a solid year for the Florida Marlins last season where he had an ERA of 3.41 with 29 saves. Pretty substantial numbers.

However, he is not the classic closer mold that Kerry Wood was. Gregg is not an overpowering strikeout pitcher. He throws strikes—although it doesn't seem like it this year—and gets batters to put the ball in play. I have no problem with a guy like that, but not in the ninth inning.

Do you think San Diego Padres fans were so excited every time Hells Bells played and out walked Trevor Hoffman just to watch him get ground balls and fly outs? No. A truly dominant closer challenges the best hitters in the lineup, and wins. A true closer wants the impressive finish to put the exclamation point at the end of a great game.

All Kevin Gregg does is put more Cub fans on the edge of their seats, hoping we can get some good defensive plays behind him.

Last but not least, the big catch of this year's hard work by the front office: Milton Bradley. The switch hitting outfielder was hyped up as the fix to all the Cubs' woes against left-handed pitching.

Although he has shown success against lefties, batting .289, he still is only batting .227 overall with only 5 HR. Not exactly the type of production you pay $20 million for.

Bradley has also spent some time on the DL, and has shown off his wonderful fielding skills by posing for cameras and then throwing the ball into the stands with only two outs. Oops.

My major concern with Milton Bradley is not his production at this point in the season—although I am certainly disappointed in it. The real reason for my disgust is the great lengths the Cubs went to in order to get him.

Most of the offseason moves were centered around cutting back the budget in order to afford this guy. Without the intentions to acquire Milton Bradley, Mark DeRosa would most certainly be wearing Cubby blue and Kerry Wood would have probably been given the multi-year deal he so desperately wanted.

So the way I look at it, Bradley's numbers are a reminder of the giant waste of money and talent lost trying to get him.

Meanwhile DeRosa and Wood, teammates again for the Cleveland Indians, have been continuing to do their thing. Although sporting a 4.63 ERA, Wood is 8-for-10 in save opportunities and has struck out 27 through 23.1 innings.

DeRosa is having a much better season, batting .280 and hitting 13 HR. Two players the Cubs are desperately missing.

I still love, and will always love the Chicago Cubs. I still overpay for my tickets and get to the ballgame as often as possible. But I must say, more changes besides firing the hitting coach and changing up the batting order must be made if they have any shot at going far in the playoffs, let alone winning the division.