Month Review: April

Believe it or not, the Cubs are already a month into their baseball season. And, already they have shown why it is incredibly difficult to predict what is going to happen in the baseball. For the main reason, that they did what no one could have seen coming, by moving their opening day starter, Carlos Zambrano, to the bullpen. With that being said, let’s review the month of April, and take a look at what the month of May have in store for the Cubs.

National League Central Standings

St Louis Cardinals, 17-8, .680 Winning %
Chicago Cubs, 13-13, .500 Winning %, 4.5 Games Back
Cincinnati Reds, 12-12, .480 Winning %, 5 Games Back
Milwaukee Brewers, 10-15, .400 winning %, 7 games back
Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-15,400 Winning %, 7 games back
Houston Astros, 8-16, .333 Winning %, 8.5 games back

To sum it all up, the St Louis Cardinals are a really good baseball team. And to be honest, barring any unforeseen injuries, you can expect them to be National League Central champions. The Chicago Cubs fall into the rest of mediocrity that is the National league as a whole, I expect them to be in the Wild card race for the entire season. The Reds, are treading water almost, which is what they typically do around this time of year. However, I expect with the pitching that they have, that they could surprise a lot of people when things are all said and done. The Milwaukee Brewers would be the perfect softball team, they have lots of offense, but no pitching. And the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Houston Astros are just plain bad, fans may already be looking at next year.

Who’s Hot

Marlon Byrd-Byrd, has gotten off to an extremely hot start with the Cubs. As he currently has a line of .354/.369/.606 with 5 home runs and 19 RBI’s. All while playing stellar defense in center field for the Cubs.
Kosuke Fukudome- Fukudome remained status quo with his career, with how he performs in the month of April. Fukudome has a line of .342/.438/.630 while showing good signs of power by hitting 5 homers and driving 17 runs.
Tom Gorzelanny- Gorzelanny has been a very pleasant surprise for the Cubs, as even though he as a record of 1-3, he has been the victim of poor run support and has managed to have a quality start in each of his five starts this season. Besides his record, Gorzelanny posted a very strong ERA of 2.48.
Carlos Marmol- Marmol, has been one of the few bright spots in the Cubs bullpen, while he tends to make late game situation a bit nerve wrecking, he has been that shut down closer the Cubs have been looking for. He is 4/5 for save opportunities while posting a very low ERA of 0.71.

Who’s Not

Aramis Ramirez- Ramirez, did not look like himself in the month of April as he produced a poor line of .155/.215/.278 while hitting 3 home runs and driving in another 14. Ramirez has notoriously had a slump like this in each of his MLB seasons, the only difference is he never has had one to begin the season. I would expect Ramirez to return to form in the near future.
The Cubs Bullpen– With the only exceptions being Zambrano, and Marmol, the rest of the Cubs bullpen has left a lot to be desired. Early season struggles of Grabow, Grey, and Caridad before he got injured really cost the Cubs a couple of wins.

What to Watch for in the month of May

Starlin Castro Watch- For the next month or so, all of Chicago will be in full anticipation for the debut of hyped prospect Starlin Castro. Castro has enjoyed a hot start in the minors, and appears to be on the fast track to the majors. Maybe as early as this month.
Carlos Silva- I saw a stat on baseball tonight the other day, which said that through his career, Silva gets off to a pretty good start for the season, but from there his performance decreases. So we will have to see if Silva truly has regained his Minnesota form, or if he is the pitcher we all thought he was when the Cubs first acquired him.
St Louis Cardinals- The Cubs finally play the Cardinals towards the end of the month, so we should be able to see how well the Cubs compare to the Cardinals after their first series. In my opinion, the Cardinals are hands down the best team in the National League right now.

Schedule