Lots of snark from the “Cubs are the best NL team for 2009″ group.

How’s that working out for ya?

Damn fucking right i do. Kevin Gregg was a steal.

The reason why the Cubs starters were top 10 in the majors were because the Cubs had a really good offense. I personally think it’s even better this year, but even if you don’t think so their pitching is also quite good – they had the third best ERA in the NL and the most strikeouts.

Dempster had a career year just like Cliff Lee. I dont think you can expect the same results. He wont have the same amount of run production. All 5 of the Cubs SP were in the top 10 in the majors in run support averaging over 7.9/9inn. Less support equals a smaller window for pitching and fielding mistakes. We have seen in recent history how pressure busts pipes when it comes to this team and the playoffs. Well see how it plays out in the regular season when they dont have a comfortable 3 or 4 run lead heading into the 7th like a majority of last yrs wins, all the while being a suppossed “lock” of making the playoffs. Stranger things have happened on the north side.

I’ve gotta say though, as a hardcore Cubs fan, i can’t help but agree with Will’s comments regarding the sense of this team: they just feel like a team that missed out on their best shot and supporting their short-term hopes with free agency feels like a taller and taller order. I think it’d be tough to argue against the claim that this is a team getting worse, not better, even if you disagree about the strength of the core. With the exception of Soto, Marmol, and Harden (for some of us more bullish types), you can’t really get excited about the 2011/2012 version of the players here, regardless of how good they are right now.

And also, watching them over the past few years, i just can’t shake the sense that their consensus as the NL team-to-beat isn’t drastically shaped by the inferiority of the Central division and their oh-so-convenient SOS. As little as postseason performance says about a team, it’s not much of a surprise that they’ve been swept right out of dodge the last couple years, as they never seem to matchup against quality teams from the other divisions. Combining this with an apparent downhill trend, and well… i guess we’ve got a couple more shots to take at the dartboard we call the postseason.

Wow, that’s a prediction. So, if the Cubs pick up a reliever, or someone gets injured, or someone gets called up, you win the bet? How stupid. This roster was the best in the NL last year.

“they’ll need to count on everybody staying healthy,”

That’s just plain false. The Cubs have the best 1-4 in the NL for sure, and possibly in MLB. If one goes down, will the Cubs really be hurt by having Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Marshall, and Jeff S (spelling)? Absolutely not. Would the Cubs do fine without Derrek Lee? Absolutely.

In regards to the “aging” players. Have the Cardinals found a way for Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols not to age? That would be impressive. The fact is that the only contributor on last year’s team who was older than 33 was Jim Edmonds. This whole post is just plain stupid.