“There is a richness to the experience of playing baseball that is not visible to fans or commentators….
The stories I tell are every player’s story and are testimonials to the human condition in all its glory and frailties, something not exclusive to baseball.” – Doug Glanville

“The Game From Where I Stand” is the new book written by one of my all-time favorite Cubs: Doug Glanville. Glanville was pure class here in Chicago and throughout all the stops in his 9 season, 1100+ game career. This book is more of the same, built on the character that Glanville revealed to us over that long major league career.

Just reading some of the names of ex-Cubs is enough to send you sprawling down memory lane. Glanville writes about the competition he faced in Cubs camp in 1997. Ozzie Timmons, Robin Jennings and Pedro Valdes stood between Glanville and his first starting job in the bigs.

He writes about how Sammy Sosa asked him to fetch some water for him and how Sammy reacted when he didn’t. He talks about his minor league experience with Michael Jordan and how all his teammates were amazed when Michael Jordan showed up at the clubhouse to visit him.

He spends pages on the “Bests” in baseball. Best nickname for an umpire. Best tattoo. Most ridiculous mascot. It’s fun and entertaining. But mostly Glanville just provides readers with a pleasant journey through baseball, and places only former players can take you. It’s definitely worth your time.

A look at some of the surprising slow starts around baseball…

Aramis Ramirez

Ramirez is all kinds of messed up right now. Not only is hitting a meager .139, but he has already whiffed 23 times in just 72 at-bats. A-Ram usually strikes out only about 60-65 times per season, so something is definitely wrong with his swing right now.

Mark Teixeira

Teixeira has just 8 hits so far and is hitting just .119. He’s still drawing his walks so he’s looking at enough pitches, but Teixeira is having one of the worst April’s of any slugger out there.

A.J. Pierzynski

While Pierzynski may not qualify as a “slugger”, he is a good hitter. But not so much in 2010. He’s hitting .140/.197/.158 with an OPS of a robust .355. Pierzynski hit .300 last year, so this is shocking, especially considering the anemic White Sox offense really needs him.

Nick Johnson

Johnson may have been injury-prone throughout his career, but if he’s playing he’s usually raking. But this year Johnson’s start is similar to Ramirez’ — low average and an uncharacteristic amount of Ks. Johnson is hitting just .135 and has struck out 18 times in just 52 ABs.

Carlos Lee

Lee is the MLB version of the automatic man. He’s going to hit 25-30 homers, hit .300 and drive in 100 or more. But this year Lee’s bat looks slow as he is hitting just .162/.186/.221. Although Lee never draws a lot of walks, his 2 in just 68 at-bats is cause for concern.

Adam Jones

Another hacker on the list, Jones has 1 walk against 20 strikeouts and is hitting .218 this year.

Alexi Ramirez

White Sox fans keep waiting for Ramirez to bust out, but maybe he’s just a bust. He’s a big time hacker in the Soriano mold that hasn’t progressed as a hitter since his fine rookie season. He’s hitting .210 this year and has yet to draw a walk.

J.D. Drew

It’s hard to believe that Drew is already 34 years old. Seems like yesterday he was a top prospect. Drew has had consecutive seasons of .900+ OPS in Boston but he’ll have to break this slump to reach those totals again. He’s whiffed 20 times in only 57 at-bats and is hitting just .180.

Grady Sizemore

Sizemore is hitting just .220 and has yet to hit a homerun. He always strikes out a lot but his 16 Ks in 59 ABs is higher than his usual ratio.

Hunter Pence

Pence is hunting for some hits here in 2010. He’s in the bottom 10 for OBP and is hitting .209 with just 2 walks in 67 at-bats.

The 2010 All NL-Central team…if only to give Cardinals fans something to cheer about. That has been my line in years past and it didn’t apply then and doesn’t now. This is the first year in a long time that I have no confidence in the Cubs to make any noise. Hopefully that will change. But here is this year’s team.

1B- Albert Pujols

I’d say the only thing that could keep Pujols from being the best player in baseball is injury, but then that didn’t even slow him down. He’s gone over 1.100 OPS in 3 of the last 4 seasons.

2B- Brandon Phillips

Phillips doesn’t have all that much competition around the division, but even so he is a good player. He runs well and hits for power. He has 169 extra-base hits over the last 3 years, and more than 20 homers in each of  those seasons.

3B- Aramis Ramirez

A healthy Aramis Ramirez is the runaway winner at third base, but he might even be able to miss time and still be the best in division. Rolen is on the downside of his career. Feliz is decent, but not as good as Aramis. Most interesting is that former Cub Casey McGahee is starting at 3rd for the Brew.

SS- Brendan Ryan

There isn’t anything that impressive about Ryan, but his NL Central shortstops aren’t much to talk about. Ryan played his first full season in 2009 (129 games) and displayed a good glove, good range and a decent stick at the plate. It might be easier to pick Ryan Theriot here, but I think Theriot might not even last the year as the starter on the Cubs.

OF- Ryan Braun

Braun is simply one of the best power hitters in all of baseball. Last year he upped his game by stealing 20 bags, hitting .320 and crushing 39 doubles and 32 homers. He’s not yet 27, but he already has 3 consecutive seasons of 30 or more homers.

OF- Matt Holliday

The Cards made a bold move in getting Holliday from the A’s and he didn’t disappoint hitting .353 with an OPS over 1.000. He won’t be putting up insane Colorado numbers like 90+ extra base hits, but you know he will hit for power, average and get on base. Excellent addition by the Cards.

OF- Garrett Jones

Maximum respect  to Carlos Lee, who has hit over .300 in 5 of the last 6 seasons and hit for power in all of them. But his numbers are declining a bit and Garrett Jones is a star in the making. Jones is a late bloomer, but showed he is a patient power hitter. He whacked 21 bombs and drew 40 walks in just 314 at-bats. He hit .293/.372/.567. He’s already jacked 3 homers this year.

SP- Chris Carpenter

Carpenter made a wonderful return to the Cards and almost won the Cy Young. He was 17-4 with an impressive 2.24 ERA and finished just 6 points behind winner Tim Lincecum. He is a true ace.

RP- Carlos Marmol

There’s not a pitcher in the Central with better stuff than Marmol, who is basically unhittable. The main question is whether or not he will be able to curtail the control problems that he ran into last year. I think he will and he will be one of the games best closers. Before last year Marmol was almost 3-1 in K/BB ratio, and I see no reason why he won’t get back to that.

I wonder what the next one will look like? Some kind of space age, futuristic outfit? Because I don’t think it will happen this year, or any time soon.

Back in June I whimsically amended the all-time home run leader list by scratching out the names of PED/Roid users. It created quite a stir and some good discussion, so it’s time to update it with some new additions. Zoner Sports presents:

The Real All-Time Home Run List

I’m hearing all kinds of sounds lately. Windows slamming shut. Trucks backing up. People saying goodbye, some perhaps laced with invective. They are all emanating from the Cubs.

Is there anything to feel good about for next year? I’m finding little. And I’m thinking that it might just be better to blow it up and get young. Now I know teams that can handle big payrolls rarely do this type of thing. They usually just retool, overpay for middling free agents and trade away prospects to plug holes. Not exactly the winning formula. Here’s what I see when I look at the Cubs…

1. Their best players will never be better than the best players on other contending teams. This is a big problem. Having a solid overall club is an asset. But ace pitchers, closers and big-time hitters win playoff series and trophies. Ramirez, Lee and Soriano are all aging. All prone to injury at some level.  And Soriano has been on a sharp decline for three years. Who’s the man? Who will carry the Cubs?
2. They don’t really have any good young players. I might make an exception for Randy Wells, Soto or Jake Fox, but even then those guys will all be 27 or 28 next year.
3. Their bullpen is in shambles. They have no closer. Who knows what Marmol brings next year. I love Guzman, but can he eat up 80-90 innings? It’s a pen in disarray.
4. The starting pitching is not as good as you think. Zambrano (if here), Dempster and Lilly are all solid but not spectacular. There is no ace. There is no guy who will intimidate and blow batters away. There is no pitcher that will come in and eat major innings. It’s a nice rotation. It’s just not likely to win chamionships. At least without a top-notch bullpen. (See #3)
5. The Coaches and GM are off their games. I suppose this could change some, but Hendry had an awful year. Piniella and Rothschild didn’t do us any favors either. The Cubs still throw the ball around too much, still don’t run bases well and certainly don’t play great defense. Piniella also looked like he wanted to go home. If he comes back, what happens if the Cubs start 9-15? 20-30? The media will be all over him. Will he be able to handle it again?
6. The farm system — from which all good things come — is subpar. There just aren’t that many top level prospects in the system. I suppose Colvin and Vitters show some potential. But overall it’s just not very good.

You could sign free agents, but there aren’t many good ones available. So it looks grim from where I’m sitting, alth0ugh it’s tinged with a healthy helping of 2009 disappointment. I’d be happy to be proven wrong by you. Or better yet the Cubs.

Geovany Soto

After a spectacular rookie season, Soto took Sophomore slump to a whole new level. His numbers went from 23 86 .285 .364 .504 to 11 47 .218 .321 .381.

Alex Rios

Rios was a ballyhooed acquisition coming over from Toronto. He played some nice defense. But in 41 games on the Sox, Rios hit .199, walked 6 times and had an OPS of .530. He will be the target of all boobirds unless he starts hot next year.

Kevin Gregg

Gregg was simply brutal as the Cubs closer. He lost 6 games, blew 7 saves, had an ERA close to 5 and gave up 13 homers in less than 70 innings. The good news is that Gregg is a free agent and he will undoubtedly be playing elsewhere come 2010.

Carlos Quentin

Quentin turned it on some in the second half but it was too little, too late. He couldn’t stay healthy and had no power in the first half. If last year Ken Williams had the steal of the year in getting Quentin, this year is indicative of why Arizona let him go.

Milton Bradley

He played terrible defense, got hurt, didn’t hit for power, didn’t hit for average, made little league-like mental mistakes, didn’t like his teammates, his teammates didn’t like him, called an entire fanbase racist and ended up suspended for the remainder of the season. Other than that, how’d you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?

Josh Fields

Fields was supposed to be a big bat on the White Sox for years to come. Instead, he showed minimal power, hit .222 and struck out 76 times in just 239 at-bats. Inevitably the Sox took his job away from him and sent him to the minors. My best guess is he’s traded for a project arm/low-level prospect this winter.

Alfonso Soriano

Soriano comes in at #10 on the list of most lucrative contracts in baseball. Call me crazy, but I think for that kind of iron we should get more than 117 games, 20 homers, an OPS of .726 and heinous defense. Remember how it was thought that Soriano would come in and be 30-30 or even 40-40 every year? This year he had more errors (11) than steals (9). With no Milty next year, Soriano is sure to hear it if he keeps this up.

Alexei Ramirez

Another guy who was expected to take the next step but tripped and fell instead. Ramirez gave Ozzie Guillen fits with his lackadaisical play in the field. He also had a steep decline in power, failing to slug .400. Ramirez may be one of those guys that will excite the fans from time to time but annoy them on a daily basis.

Carlos Marmol

Marmol was supposed to be the next stud in the Cubs bullpen after his amazing 2008. Instead he went all Ankiel and couldn’t find the plate. He’d get a ton of votes in the “Most Aggravating Player to Watch” poll. You still couldn’t hit Marmol in 2009, but you didn’t need to. He walked almost a batter an inning.

Rich Harden

Like some of the players on this list, Harden was not a complete flop. But relative to his level of skill and talent — I recall Jim Hendry calling it “World-class stuff” — Harden can only be viewed as a disappointment. He had an ERA over 4, gave up 23 homers in just 141 innings and regularly had trouble making it past 6 innings. Add in the inevitable trip to the DL and I’d say 2009 was a flop for Harden.

Dishonorable mentions: Bobby Jenks, Scott Linebrink, Jose Contreras, Aaron Miles, Aaron Heilman, Jeff Samardzija, Mike Fontenot, Jim Hendry