Cubs Finally Above .500, But Injuries Are Going To Be Damaging

The Cubbies have won 4 straight games and finally are over the .500 mark on the season. I have to agree with Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune that Dusty Baker is actually doing a pretty good job of managing this team given all the injuries and holes that is has:

• Nomar Garciaparra injured until August.
• Kerry Wood injured since late April.
• Mark Prior hit by line drive and currently injured.
• Todd Walker (2B) injured for a month.
• Joe Borowski hit by line drive and injured for first month and a half.
• No true lead-off hitter.
• LaTroy Hawkins blowing saves.
• Team draws few walks.
• Aramis Ramirez off to a slow start. (appears to be heating up, though)

The Cubs have been able to keep from completely falling apart because Derrek Lee has been the best player in the National League, leading the league in all three of the triple crown categories. Other players have also played decently for the Cubs. Jeromy Burnitz has been solid and Neifi Perez has filled in nicely for Nomar. Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux have pitched decent baseball and Glendon Rusch continues to blossom into a pretty good lefty. However, the loss of Mark Prior, who was 4-1 with a sub 3.00 ERA when he went down, is going to really hurt this team. Prior is the team's superstar player and perhaps the best young pitcher in baseball when healthy. With Prior joining Kerry Wood on the DL, the Cubs will be forced to start Sergio Mitre and a random minor leaguer--this week it is John Koronka, who has a 5.05 ERA for AAA Iowa. This means that the club will be usually be facing a serious pitching disadvantage 2 of the 5 games it plays in each trip through the rotation. The inevitable result of which is that the Cubs will not be able to make a serious move towards the top of the standings unless everything goes perfectly (such as recently acquired Jerome Williams being called up and pitching well). If the Cubs are at .500 at the end of June, they should count their blessings, hope they get healthy, and try to make a wild-card run in the second half of the season.