The Chicago Cubs have dominating starting pitching, a possible Triple Crown winner, and a former batting champion shortstop. So why are the Chicago Cubs a losing ballclub?

To answer this question we must start at the beginning of the 2005 season. Glendon Rusch was put in the bullpen at the start of the year, and Ryan Dempster was put into the starting rotation. Glendon Rusch was signed to be the Chicago Cubs #5 left-handed starter. This year, which is consistent with his entire career, he has a 5.14 ERA as a reliever, and a 3.32 ERA as a starter. While Dempster performed better in the rotation than his numbers would indicate, the Chicago Cubs lost a lot of games in the beginning of the year because they did not have a quality bullpen.

The Chicago Cubs have also, like the rest of Major League Baseball, had a lot of injuries to their team to this year. When Todd Walker was leg-whipped by Carlos Lee, and out for a month with a sprained knee, the Chicago Cubs picked up Enrique Wilson to be their backup 2nd baseman.

When injuries occur on a team it is imperative that the team have a quality farm system. Using the Atlanta Braves as a model for designing a quality baseball team (when you go to the playoffs 13 years in a row, you are doing something correctly) the Chicago Cubs needed to call up Mike Fontenot, or Ronny Cedeno, or one of their young players to fill that 2nd baseman slot. The young players in a system need to get a legitimate chance to play at the Major League Level.

In any baseball format, players play the game of baseball, and coaches coach the players, and while the players are the ones who need to perform to be successful, the ultimate responsibility of the teams