Chicago Cubs

The Kinks sang the line "paranoia the destroyer" in their 1981 song Destroyer. He was only 3 years old at the time, but it was as if they had Cubs’ outfielder Milton Bradley—who should use the tune as his entrance music— in mind when penning those words.

"Silly boy you got so much to live for
So much to aim for, so much to try for
You blowing it all with paranoia
You’re so insecure you self-destroyer"

Continuing on with my Cubs series, I ranked my top ten Cubs third basemen.

This position was a consistent revolving door from the time Ron Santo left until the trade for Aramis Ramirez, and becasue of that there are a lot of old timers on this list.

While the rankings are somewhat subjective, as they always are, I looked closely at each player's 162-game average during his tenure with the Cubs, as well as whether he was a part of any Cubs playoff teams.

I hope you enjoy this and follow the series as it continues. As always, I look forward to your input.

So, Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley thinks the umps are against him in retaliation for an incident last month that resulted in a one-game suspension.

Come on, Milton, shut up, grow up, and most of all, show up.

Bradley said the umps are forcing him to swing at bad pitches because of a widened strike zone. Excuses, excuses.

Cap Anson was born April 17, 1852 in Marshalltown, Iowa, as Adrian Constantine Anson. He later would be called “Cap” which was a short name for Captain.

An outstanding batter and clubhouse leader, Anson is widely regarded as one of the foremost baseball figures of the 1800’s. He was the National League batting leader three times and was the first player ever to get 3,000 hits, ranking him number 7 in career hits with 3,418.

When Anson was 14 he was sent to a boarding school of the University of Notre Dame for high-school aged boys.

The Cubs offense misses Aramis Ramirez. He's clearly their best hitter and one of the best hitters in the National League. That said, his loss has nothing to do with Chicago scoring 4 runs in 45 innings.

That's right 4 runs in 45 innings against medicore pitching. Cubs hitters need to make adjustments and they need to make them quickley.

I've focussed this slide show on Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, and Milton Bradley. About two weeks ago, Lee would have been on this but he appears to have found is stroke.

It's time for these guys to get back to the basics.

Callers have almost jokingly proposed it on sports talk radio in Chicago the last couple weeks.

Apparently, Lou Piniella can't come up with anything better.

Rumors are swirling that, for the first time in years, the Cubs will put Alfonso Soriano at second base.

This move would open left field for Micah Hoffpaiur, getting his potent bat into the lineup on a more regular basis since first baseman Derrek Lee isn't going anywhere. Minor league bomber Jake Fox might see a promotion soon as well.

It was a busy off season for Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry to say the least.

He brought in many new faces, most notably Aaron Heilman, Aaron Miles, and Milton Bradley.

He also showed the door to several prominent members of the Cubs organization.  And no, I'm not referring to Jason Marquis.

Kerry Wood, once revered to as "Kid-K", was allowed to sign as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians, while Mark DeRosa was traded to, oddly enough, the Indians.

BleedCubbieBlue.com has issued a breaking news update on its site, claiming that Cubs starter Rich Harden has been placed on the 15-day DL with what the team is terming a "mid-back strain".

With Carlos Zambrano coming off of the DL, it had been expected that David Patton would be offered back to his original club, since the seldom used relief pitcher was a Rule-5 draft pick and must remain on the Cubs' 25-man roster.

The move of Harden to the DL is retroactive to May 18. Randy Wells will start in his place Saturday night.