I haven’t written much in the past week.  I thought about writing some doom and gloom after the team lost two-out-of-three to the hapless Astros last weekend.  I felt better on Monday when the Cubs beat the Pirates for the first time this season in Pittsburgh.  My joy was short-lived as the Cubs stumbled into Milwaukee and lost two-out-of-three to the Brewers.  There’s just not a lot to like or get excited about with this current Cubs team.

I know that I have been one of the last holdouts who still believes the Cubs can turn things around.  It’s true, I do feel that way, but I also recognize that it is my heart that is making me believe in the Cubs.  My eyes don’t see anything from the team that would justify this belief and my head knows that the Cubs are a terribly flawed team.

Even the Rule 4 draft this past week was a disappointment for Cubs fans.  Maybe Tim Wilken is smarter than everyone else.  It’s possible, and I think considering his past drafts he deserves the benefit of the doubt.  Even so, it was a bit disheartening when the Cubs, with the 16th pick overall, chose a Division III pitcher that no one had heard of.  Actually, to be fair, some people had heard of him.  Baseball America had him listed as the 191st best player in the draft.  So they had heard of him.  They just didn’t like him that much.

Of course, the player I am referring to is Hayden Simpson.  He was so relatively unknown that the MLB Network spelled his name wrong when he was chosen (Haden instead of Hayden).  Simpson is a 21-year old right handed pitcher out of the University of Southern Arkansas.  He had an impressive year, going 13-1 with a 1.91 ERA.  His fastball is in the 91-93 mph range and he has topped out at 96 mph.  He’s listed as 6’0″, but I’ve heard he is really only 5’8″.

The thing with baseball drafts is that it can be years before a team knows if they had a good draft or not.  So it is possible that the Cubs got a steal when they drafted Simpson.  It is possible that Tim Wilken is the smartest guy in the room.  But it’s also possible that Wilken made a huge mistake with the Cubs first round pick.  We just won’t know it for several years.

The Cubs open a three-game series this afternoon with the crosstown rival White Sox.  This year’s Crosstown Series winner will be awarded with the BP Cup.  It’s a marketing ploy being sponsored by one of the most hated corporations in America and it means virtually nothing to the players and most of the fans.  Even so, it seems almost appropriate that a company like BP should sponsor a trophy to be given to the lesser of two underperforming teams. 

It’s difficult to get excited about the way the Cubs have played this year.  They have played just well enough to be mediocre.  They’re not the worst team in the NL, but they’re far from the best.

The Cubs draft was hard to get too excited about.  Anytime you choose the 191st best anything when you have the 16th pick, it’s going to have a dampening effect on your enthusiasm level. 

And it’s also hard to get excited about two disappointing teams playing for a meaningless trophy.  BP would be better served using the trophy to plug the underwater oil gusher they have off the coast of Louisiana.  At least then it would do some good.

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I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup earlier this week.  I’m not a big hockey fan, but I was cheering for the Hawks in the playoffs.  The Stanley Cup and several of the Blackhawks players will be at Wrigley Field today as part of the circus surrounding the Cubs vs White Sox series.

Reports are that Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells were out on the town last night partying with the Stanley Cup champions.  The report indicated that Wells finally left the party at 3:00 AM.  Dempster was still partying hard at that point.  This wouldn’t exactly be big news except that Wells is scheduled to pitch this afternoon against the White Sox.  Who knows, maybe it will help him.

I am sad to report that now that the Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup, every major sports team in Chicago has won a championship during my lifetime except the one team that I follow most closely; the Cubs.  Oh cruel fate, why must you mock me so?