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Cubs should stop pretending they're contenders

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07/15/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been a typical summer along the North Side of Chicago. The sun is shining, the bleachers and rooftops that surround the incomparable Wrigley Field are packed to the gills, and the beer pours endlessly from the watering holes neighboring one of the grand spectacles in all of baseball.

October's going to have a familiar feeling for Cubs fans as well, with their beloved and star-crossed club in the midst of yet another season of unmet expectations. After losing three of four games to the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, Chicago limps into the All-Star break with a 39-50 record completely unfitting of a team carrying the highest payroll in the National League.

This current outfit, now 9 1/2 games back of the resurgent Cincinnati Reds for first place in the NL Central, also bears little resemblance to the budding juggernaut that won a league-best 97 times during the 2008 regular season. It hasn't even been able to match the (under) achievements of last year's toxic group that went 83-79 as the prohibitive favorites to repeat as division champs.

A lack of clubhouse chemistry helped sabotage the 2009 squad, and this year's Cubs have yet to find the right combination as well even after weeding out the bad seeds -- namely combustible outfielder Milton Bradley -- during an offseason house cleaning. Chicago has looked both lifeless and in decline for the better part of the past 2 1/2 months, either too old or too disinterested to make the run necessary to challenge the Reds and St. Louis for division supremacy.

Even manager Lou Piniella, renowned for his intensity and passion to succeed, seems to have lost some of his trademark fire. Makes you wonder if the longtime skipper, who's in the final year of his contract, is ready to trade in the grueling road trips and draining summer days of July and August for the golf courses and shuffleboard tables many soon-to-be 67-year-olds are enjoying these days.

Piniella may not be the only member of the organization with numbered days. This season's performance has clearly put much-maligned general manager Jim Hendry's fanny on the hot seat, especially since he wasn't hired by first-year owner Tom Ricketts, while a host of high-priced veterans could be jettisoned by the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline if the new regime chooses to slash payroll and commit to a more youth-oriented movement.

For what it's worth, Ricketts did issue a public declaration of confidence for his GM last week, just as the record should show that Hendry's two main offseason moves have each paid off handsomely so far. He unloaded the controversial Bradley to Seattle in exchange for pitcher Carlos Silva, who's emerged as the club's most dependable starter, while free-agent acquisition Marlon Byrd ranks among the NL's leading hitters and garnered his first career All-Star selection with a terrific first half.

"I'm not going to assign blame to anyone or anything," Ricketts recently stated. "The fact is when we came into the season, we had what appeared to be a pretty strong lineup. It hasn't worked out for whatever reason."

Ricketts has a point. A powerful Chicago offense that topped the NL in runs scored during the 2008 campaign no longer strikes fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers, even with several core players still on the roster. The Cubs entered the break 14th in the Senior Circuit in scoring and 13th in on- base percentage, and were shut out for the sixth time in the past 22 games after a 7-0 setback to the Dodgers on Sunday.

While the decision to become sellers should be an easy one, unloading some of Chicago's pricey players figures to be a greater challenge. First baseman Derrek Lee and third baseman Aramis Ramirez, both of whom have struggled mightily as the expected middle-of-the-order anchors, will be tough to deal due to hefty contracts that don't reflect their eroding skills. Same goes for outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, one of Hendry's personnel missteps who's lost substantial playing time to promising rookie Tyler Colvin in recent weeks.

Then there's the curious case of Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs' one-time ace presently serving a team-issued suspension for a dugout blowup in late June. The team would likely be thrilled to rid itself of the volatile right-hander, but chances are the market's pretty dry for a pitcher with a 5.66 ERA and obvious maturity issues who's still owed nearly $38 million over the next two years.

Even Chicago's most attractive trade chip, left-hander Ted Lilly, has seen his value plummet after getting roughed up for 16 runs and serving up five homers in his final two starts before the All-Star break.

Laying the groundwork for a transition phase won't be an easy task for the Cubs, nor will contending with a frustrated fan base that's endured a lifetime's worth of heartache. But the last 1 1/2 years have proved that the status quo simply isn't good enough for baseball's unluckiest franchise, and a shakeup seems to be the only real recourse.

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