Chicago Cubs Fans Are Off the Mark To Blame Season on DeRosa's Absence

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While some Cubs fans are still waiting for the two time defending National League Central Division champions to run away with a third straight division title, many Cubs fans turned to whichever excuse they could find to explain why their team was “underachieving.”

(Note to reader: In a game like baseball where parity is found day in and day out, thinking that tight division races wouldn’t exist is ludicrous. By the way, the Cubs are currently in first place. Hence the quotation marks.)

From underachieving superstars to injured superstars to inexperience to talent deficit, there is plenty of blame to go around for the Cubs poor performance. 

But one name, a name that wasn't even on the roster, seemed to take more blame than any other: Mark DeRosa.

2008's ChiCity messiah is now a St. Louis Cardinal and Cubs fans feel like a piece of their heart turned black.  And while most fans can't tell you a single player the team got in return for "DeRo," Jeff Stevens is starting to pan out.

In five games with the big guys, Stevens, a right-handed reliever, has posted a 2.84 ERA in 6 1/3 innings. However his most impressive stat is the number of hits he’s given up in those six innings: two.

The other two guys most fans forget are John Gaub and Chris Archer.

Gaub, a 24-year-old left-hander, started the year in Double-A Tennessee.  In 26 relief appearance, Gaub posted a 2.83 ERA, giving up only 19 hits in 28 2/3 innings pitched, striking out forty while walking only 17.

His performance impressed the organization so much that he was promoted to Triple-A Iowa on June 26.

All Gaub’s done in 11 games out of the bullpen there is post a 0.66 ERA in 13 2/3 innings pitched, registering 12 strikeouts against just four walks Opponents are hitting just .108 against him.

As for Archer, the 20-year-old righty has spent the entire season with Class-A Peoria. In 20 games starts, he’s posted a 3.04 ERA. Opponents are hitting .207 off of him and his 89 strikeouts are second on the team.

I’m not saying that I wouldn’t love to have DeRosa back. It’s tough to lose a guy who has a lot of heart and plays hard everyday, and a guy who everyone on the team loves, it’s just time to quit blaming the season on the lack of him on the team.

After all he has as many playoff wins in the last two years as Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Ryan Theriot, Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano, and Ryan Dempster.