The Cubs inked Reed Johnson to a 1-year deal for the 2012 MLB season.  After spending the 2010 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Johnson rebounded with the Cubs in 2011.  He started 49 games and racked up 266 at-bats in 111 games.  He gained significant playing time with a nice .309 batting average and an impressive .816 OPS.  Johnson’s role with the Cubs will remain as the 4th outfielder behind Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd and recently acquired David DeJesus.

Numerous reports have confirmed that the Cubs have contacted Albert Pujols’ agent regarding the big slugger.  While some Cubs fans seem overly excited about the prospects about landing the best hitter in baseball, I have a feeling that this is a HUGE ploy by Theo & Co.  Knowing how the Cubs have been hampered by Alfonso Soriano’s 8-year deal and knowing how Theo & Co. rarely enter into a bad “long-term” deal (the 7-year, $142 million Carl Crawford notwithstanding), the Cubs won’t make this deal.  You heard it hear first.  8, 9, 10 years for a 32-year old 1st baseman entering the twilight of his career?  What happens in Year 6, when Albert Pujols enters the year at 37 years of age and you still owe him a whopping $25-30 million a year for 5 more years?!  That’s exactly what we’ve been doing with Soriano for the last 2 years and we still have 3 more years left on his deal.  Now sure, Pujols is MUCH MORE productive than Soriano, but it still does not justify mortgaging the club again when we’re so close to getting out from the Soriano deal in another year or two.

So why are the rumors spreading about the Cubs making a play for Pujols?  There are several reasons:

1.  It drives the price up on the Pujols sweepstakes, maybe knocking him out of the Cardinals price range and sending him to the NL East Marlins or Nationals or the American League with the Texas Rangers or Anaheim Angels.  That weakens the Cardinals big time with a move like that.

2.  With the Yankees (Mark Teixeira) and Red Sox (Adrian Gonzalez) “probably” out of the mix for Pujols or Prince Fielder (you can never say never with either team however), it is plausible that the Cubs could land either player for a “steal of a deal” without the 2 highest payroll teams driving up the price further.  So it is “conceivable” that the Cubs would make a play for Pujols.

3. It also hides your cards if your real intent is to go hard for the younger (Fielder is only 27 years old) 1st baseman.  Epstein and Fielder’s agent Scott Boras have been known to get deals done and what better way to swoop in and make him an offer he can’t refuse than to let everybody think you’re going after Pujols.  New skipper Dale Sveum was Fielder’s hitting coach in Milwaukee and the 2 have a good working relationship.  With tons of money coming off of the books the next year, Theo & Co. can also make a commitment to Fielder that in addition to building from within, the Cubs will also have much more flexibility to add pieces from the outside through free agency after the 2012 season.  With Theo & Co.’s track record, Fielder has to be reassured that the Cubs will be competitive just about every season once they get things settled.

Maybe I’m just hoping for the best-case ideal scenario – a 1-2-3 combo of Brett Jackson, Starlin Castro and Fielder as the future of a potent offensive lineup – but don’t surprised if Theo & Co. pull off this miracle signing within the next week.  Imagine the buzz on the north side then…

The speculation starts now as Cubs fans eagerly await Owner Tom Ricketts’ next moves for the Cubs organization.  First up will be the hiring of a new General Manager.  Then who knows what else?  Surprisingly, overpaid outfielder Alfonso Soriano summed it up best when he cleared out his locker room last week – “Two things can happen.  It can change, or stay the way it is now.  I don’t know what they want to do.  We don’t have control of that.  We can only play the game and do our job.  The owners have the control.  We’d like to stay together, but who knows?” Amen to that.

Changes will have to be made obviously, but given the financial situation with a few long-term deals still hampering the ability of any GM to make necessary trades/free agent signings, only so much can be done.  With the firing of Red Sox Manager Terry Francona in Boston, there are some rumors floating around that long-time GM Theo Epstein could also be looking for a change of scenery.  The Cubs would need to obtain permission from the Red Sox in order to speak with Epstein and they would be foolish not to ask.  What’s the worst that Red Sox barss can say, no?  Let’s hope Ricketts & Co. have the common sense to explore ALL options, even Epstein.

We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything on the GM front and the rest of the roster.  Aramis Ramirez has a $16 million option for the 2012 season, but has already indicated that he will explore the free agent market to see if he can nab one final lucrative long-term deal.  Ryan Dempster and the Cubs also have a mutual option that can be exercised for the 2012 MLB season, so we’ll have to see what happens there.  Fun, fun, fun…

The Cubs made it 2 in a row behind Matt Garza en route to a 5-2 win over the Giants.

Garza had another solid start and has really shown “ace” stuff since getting settled into his new digs on the north side of Chicago. Garza went 6 2/3 innings, allowing just 2 ER on 9 hits and 1 walk.  He struck out 6 and lowered his ERA to 3.64 and his WHIP to 1.32.  If he can win 3 of his September starts, he will hit double-digit wins for the Cubs in 2011.

Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol recorded the final 7 outs of the game without allowing a Giants hitter to reach base.  Marshall notched his 29th hold, while Wood notched his 20th hold.  Marmol picked up save #31.

Alfonso Soriano hit another HR.  He now has 24 on the season.  He and Garza each had 2 hits in the win.

The Cubs finish up the 3-game road trip against the Giants Wednesday afternoon with Rodrigo Lopez on the bump.  After a day off Thursday, the Cubs face the Pirates and Reds at Wrigley Field from Friday through Wednesday of next week.

Randy Wells tossed his 1st career complete game shutout in the Cubs 7-0 win over the Giants in San Francisco on Monday night.  Wells has turned his season around with some good pitching of late. In his last 4 starts, he has given up just 7 ER on 16 hits in 27 2/3 innings pitched.  He is 3-0 in those 4 starts.  While his ERA is still over 5.00 at 5.06, he has lowered his WHIP to 1.38 and he has re-gained the confidence that deserted him after he went on the DL after just 1 start to kick off the 2011 campaign.

Wells faced only 4 batters over the minimum in the game – 2 hits and 2 walks allowed.  He allowed only 2 runners to reach base 2nd base.

Alfonso Soriano gave the Cubs the 1st lead of the game with a solo HR of Tim Lincecum in the 5th inning.  Then the Cubs blew the game open with 2 more HR’s against Lincecum in the 7th inning.  Geovany Soto hit a solo shot and Blake DeWitt’s 3-run bomb to right field finally chased Lincecum from the game with the Cubs leading 5-0.  Carlos Pena added a solo shot later in the inning and Marlon Byrd singled home DeWitt in the 9th to cap the scoring.

Matt Garza squares off against Ryan Vogelsong in Game 2 of the series Tuesday night.

Randy Wells made his best start of the 2011 season with a dominating 6+ inning effort in Wednesday night’s 3-2 win over the Braves.  Wells gave up just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks as he worked into the 7th inning.  His lone run came on a solo home run to Jason Heyward.  Wells even got into the offensive act in the 2nd inning as the Cubs plated all 3 runs in the frame.  Alfonso Soriano hit a 2-run home run and then Wells’ RBI groundout added the much needed 3rd run.

The bullpen did the rest as Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol closed the door on the Braves bid for a comeback.  Marmol worked a perfect 9th inning with 2 K’s to notch his 30th save of 2011.

The Braves topped Casey Coleman and the Cubs 5-4 on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.  It was the Cubs 3rd straight loss.

Coleman worked 5 innings, giving up 5 ER on 5 hits and 2 walks.  The Braves scored all 5 of their runs in the 4th inning to take a 5-0 lead.  It was Coleman’s 6th loss of the season.

Aramis Ramirez went 5 for 5 on the night with 2 RBI’s and a run scored.

Alfonso Soriano also hit an inside the park solo home run in the Cubs 4-run 5th inning.

Believe it or not – yesterday’s 5-4 win in 10 innings gave the Cubs their 1st 3- game winning streak of the 2011 campaign.  The Cubs were the last team to reach that mark this season.  What a joke…

Jeff Samardzija wasted another great outing from Matt Garza.  Garza allowed just 2 ER on 5 hits and 3 walks over 7 impressive innings.  He struck out 9 and lowered his ERA to 3.72 and his WHIP to 1.30.  He left with a 3-2 lead, but when Samardzija served up Carlos Lee’s go-ahead 2-run HR in the 8th inning, he was forced to take another no decision.

Fortunately, 3 straight hits allowed the Cubs to tie the game on Alfono Soriano’s single to start off the 8th inning.

And after Carlos Marmol survived a bases loaded, 1-out jam in the 9th inning, karma seemed to be on the Cubs side when Hunter Pence lost Marlon Byrd’s flyball in the sun to lead off the 10th inning giving Byrd a “gimme” triple.  After Geovany Soto struck out for the 1st out of the inning, the Astros walked the bases loaded intentionally.  And Jeff Baker came through with the clutch game-winning line drive single to left field that plated Byrd with the winning run.

Byrd had 4 hits and 3 runs scored.  Soto had 3 hits, an RBI and a run scored.

The Cubs are now 42-60 and they have opened up a “safe” 8.5 game lead over the Astros to avoid having the worst record in the NL.  Now that’s something to cheer about – Go Cubs Go!!!

They did it!  The Cubs beat the worst team in baseball 4-2 on a perfect day at Wrigley Field on Friday.  With the heat and humidity finally gone for the most part, Carlos Zambrano labored through 6 innings, but kept the feisty Astros at bay.  Despite allowing 9 hits and 1 walk in his outing, Big Z minimized the damage to just 2 ER.  He had 3 K’s and he improved to 7-5 on the season.

The Cubs scored in only one inning but they made it count.  They plated 4 runs in the 5th inning.  Alfonso Soriano hit his 15th HR of the year as he put the Cubs on the board with a leadoff solo home run.  Darwin Barney and Zambrano each reached base.  After Barney stole 3rd base, he came home on Starlin Castro’s important sac fly which tied the game at 2.  And then Aramis Ramirez put the Cubs ahead for good with his 2-run HR, his 18th of the season.

The bullpen even looked good.  After James Russell allowed a lead-off single in the 7th inning, Jeff Samardzija, John Grabow, Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall retired the final 9 batters to preserve the Cubs win.  Marshall picked up his 3rd save.

Yippee!!! The Cubs are now 40-60 while the Astros are 33-66.  Ah some breathing room…

What a joke – after losing 7 of their last 10 games heading into the break, the Cubs finished with the 2nd worst record in all of baseball at 37-55.  Ouch…

The Cubs trail the Brewers and Cardinals by 12 games in the race for 1st place in the NL Central.  The Cubs trail the Braves by a whopping 17 games for the wild card spot.  Only the Houston Astros (30-62) have a worse record than the Cubs in all of baseball.

Starlin Castro has been the Cubs best and most consistent hitter all season – .307 batting average, 49 runs scored and 39 RBI’s.  Aramis Ramirez put together a phenomenal close to the 1st half to help his numbers look more like his career average numbers – .298 batting average, 15 HR’s and 51 RBI’s.  Carlos Pena leads the team with 19 HR’s after not hitting a single home run in the entire month of April.  And despite a stint on the DL, Alfonso Soriano has put up decent numbers – 14 HR’s and 41 RBI’s.

The pitching stats are not pretty.  Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster are tied for the team lead in wins with 6.  Matt garza has the best starter ERA at 4.26.  Dempster leads the team with 102 K’s while Garza is right on his heels with 99.

Let’s go Cubs — at least it can’t get much worse than what we’ve seen in the 1st half, right?!?!