Alfonso Soriano

This continues my 2010 MLB preview. I intend to touch on every team in the major leagues in installments by division. The lineups I provide will be what I predict will be the most productive for each team for the MAJORITY of the season (e.g., Jason Heyward will be listed as the Braves RF even though he may not begin the season as the starter).

I will also provide the stereotypical letter grade to each team's lineup, rotation, bullpen, and depth/bench. Though it is trite, I think all baseball fans can identify with the letter grade system.

In the bleak mid-winter of February in Chicago, it is hard to imagine that baseball's Opening Day is less than seven weeks from this gray, wintry afternoon on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Such is the case, though, and so, as pitchers and catchers congregate in Arizona to prepare for the upcoming 2010 season, it is time to look at some of the most pressing questions facing the Cubbies this year.

Whispers wandered around the web earlier this week that the New York Yankees had called the Chicago Cubs to inquire about the availability of the Cubs' ace, Carlos Zambrano. A lot has been written already about that potential marriage, so I won't waste a lot of space on it other than to mention it as a foundation for the discussion I'm about to begin.

Who hates the Yankees? Okay, everyone outside of New York. But the hatred is especially deep in Boston, where the rival Red Sox watched the Bronx Bombers spend a billion dollars to buy a World Series championship in 2009.

We are only a few weeks until it is the end of this decade, I was thinking and I decided that I would make the New York Baseball All-Decade Team.

This decade was great for the Yankees in winning two World Series but not great for the Mets in only making the playoffs a couple of times.

In fact, in the first World Series of the decade the two New York teams faced eachother in the Subway Series, The Yankees won the series in five games with Derek Jeter being named the MVP.

In this decade, both New York teams had players that will forever be a part of the franchises' history such as Piazza, Jet

Alfonso Soriano has seen most of his stats diminish every year since his career season with the Nationals in 2006. Because he had a decent 2007, his first season as a Northsider, some have argued that his Cubs career, thus far, could be described as a wash or even a mild success.

His statistical trends, however, show that his Cub career has been poor, and is getting worse.

Rumors ran wild this past week about the potential of the Cubs trading for Roy Halladay or Curtis Granderson.

What is sad is that the Cubs have the highest payroll in the league, and both of these players are going to be considered too expensive.

What's worse? Both of these players would fulfill enormous needs for the Cubs. In fact, they are the two biggest needs of the current Cub team.

So, we've arrived in 2004. The Chicago Cubs have just undergone the worst choke in the history of the NLCS. Stunned, Cubs fans could only watch in horror as Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett dominated the mighty New York Yankees in the World Series.

You'll forgive us if we didn't enjoy the Jan Brady-like feeling running through our veins during that entire series and subsequent off-season.

The Marlins have two rings, and the Cubs continue to play foil for teams we fans thought our teams were better than.

The rumors are out there. The free agent lists are nearly complete; only uncertainty over player and club option years remains. The trade market is beginning to rediscover itself, for the first time in six weeks or so.

And now, armed with all of that knowledge, we have an opportunity to begin the task of concretely formulating the best plan of action for the Chicago Cubs over the course of the upcoming off-season. It will be an imprecise science; it will also likely not come to fruition, whatever we may propose, because Jim Hendry's mind does not work in the same way as the average fan's...

As the Cubs finish the first half of the season (figuratively) with a Sunday double header against the Cardinals, it's time for fans to pause, take a deep breath and look forward.

Part of that pause is looking at where the team has been, though. Though the Cubs have played more than half of their games, the All Star Break is the time to evaluate the team, the division, and the season.

How have the veterans done so far? What kids have contributed? What options are there for changes?

The Chicago Cubs looked like a steaming pile of hot garbage on Friday in an 8-3 loss to division leading St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of a crucial four-game series before the All Star Break.

Whether it's been Rich Harden's inability to gets outs past the second inning, Ryan Dempster's high jumping ability or Geovany Soto's new love handle contusion, the Cubs are giving off the vibes of a team completely out of it in the National League Central.