Injuries Cannot Be Used as Excuses for the Cubs Poor Play

As of June 14, 2011, the Chicago Cubs record stands at 26-39 in 5^th place, 11 games behind the 1^st place Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs season has so far been a major disappointment. With the Cubs payroll over $126 million which is the 6^th highest in the major; the organizationand fans expects more than a fifth place club and the players who are making these large figures should expect more from themselves.

The Cubs have had more than their fair share of injuries with 9 players having spent time on the disable list so far this year. The biggest problem with these players is that they are players that the Cubs were counting on to get the job done. However, every team has injuries and no team or organization ever uses that as an excuse. The difference between other teams and the Cubs is that who ever the Cubs use to fill in for these players cannot get the job done and that is just unacceptable.

When the Cubs 4th and 5^th starting pitchers when on the disabled list at the same time, they tired to use 4 different pitchers to fill in for Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner. Casey Coleman, Doug Davis, James Russell, and Rodrigo Lopez all got a shot to fill in for these two could not get the job done. Their combined ERA was in the high 7’s and that is unacceptable for major leaguers. It seemed like every time the Cubs ran one of these starters out, they could not get past 5 innings and the Cubs lost almost game. Only time will tell if the Cubs 2011 season is defined by all of their injuries and inability to persevere.