Mid season report cards

[Mookie4ever]

Hey Cubs fans!

The Cafe wants to prepare Mid-Season Fantasy Report Cards for MLB teams and we're asking the fans to prepare them. The report cards would be in this format:

Catcher:

First Base:Derrek Lee 0.392 19 HR 58 RBI 54 Runs 10 SB Grade: A+

Derrek Lee is the best first baseman in baseball, the best fantasy player of the first half and could continue the same pace for the second half of the season.

The Cards think that Pujols is special but Lee tops him in every category but Runs. Lee is on pace to win the triple crown and should be #1 on everybody's cheat sheets for the second half of the season.

Second Base:

Third Base:

Shortstop:

Outfield:

SP:

RP:

One person can prepare the list but we would prefer that it be done in collaboration. You can work on it together or split up the positions.

We are looking to have these finished by the all star break. Once the report cards are done we will be posting them in the Leftovers forum.

Show the Cafe which team has the best fans.

The Cafe thanks the fans of the Chicago Cubs.

[Mustangs989]

Anyone else interested in helping me do some of these? I've already started and finished C, 1B, 2B and 3B. Let me know by either PM'ing me or just posting here.

[RugbyD]

I'll throw in anywhere and will help with the editing process, we should get 2-3 people reviewing each position since there's bound to be some difference of opinion.

[CubsFan7724]

Offense: Overall B+
C- Michael Barret-B+ Is on his way to proven last year was no fluke. Hes been stroking the ball, and he doesn't play bad defense either. Another good Hendry signing
1B- Derrek Lee-A+ Hes flirting .400 and triple crown. Need I say more? Oh, and hes got gold glove caliber defense.
2B- Walker-B Has been quite good coming off the DL. Little bit of pop, hitting for good average. A bit of a liability in the field, but solid so far when he has played
3B- Aramis-A Started off slow, but has been extrodinarily hot the last month. His defense has improved each year, and he is still stroking the ball. Him and DLee make a great offensive combo.
SS- Neifi Perez- A From what you expected out of this position when Nomar went down, you have gotten a huge bonus. Neifi has played way over his head and hes starting to come down a bit, but for someone thrust into the starters role hes done great.
LF- Hollandsworth/Dubois- D+ Inconsistent. They can't get solid production out of these guys. Dubois was hot for a bit but has cooled off. Todd has done nothing all season. Hendry made a mistake by not addressing this weakness.
CF- Corey Patterson- D+ Another supposed breakout year, another disappointing half. Where is the guy that in 2003 was on pace for .300, 30/30 before suffering the knee injury at the halfway point of the season? He simply does not have the leadoff hitter role, and hes a hacker. Strikes out too much. And now hes batting leadoff? Yuck.
RF- Jeromy Burnitz- B- Hes actually been quite a surprise. I was expecting .250 average, and hes keeping it near .280. I'm quite impressed.
Starting Pitching- Overall- B
Zambrano- B Flashes of brilliance, but a recent meltdown the past 3 starts. Im convinced he'll turn it around, hes young and very good
Prior- B+ Would be A+ if not for a fluke line drive beaning him in the elbow. When hes healthy, hes utterly dominant
Wood- D He hasn't seen the field in nearly two months, and he was hardly tearing up the league when he was playing. Wild, inconsistent and fragile, when will he finally play to full potential? They'll need him if they are going to make a run at the wild card.
Maddux- D+ This is not the Maddux that won 300 games. Hes just hasn't been plain good, and I guess I chalk that up to him being old. Hes running out of gas after a marvelous career.
Rusch- B+ What more could you ask for in a 5th starter fill-in? Hes outperformed many of those higher on the depth chart. Hes had a rocky start or two, but he's kept the Cubs in the race while Prior and Wood were down.
Bullpen- Overall- C-

Dempster- B Has actually been quite solid in the closer role. His ERA is a bit inflated from earlier starts/appearances. The Cubs have found a decent patchwork closer for the time being.
Joe Borowski- F Has been absolutely atrocious and worthless. His time with the Cubs is rumored to be over. At least we'll always have that magical 03 season to remember.
Wuertz- C Looks brilliant at times, then looks awful at times. Needs to be more consistent to benefit Cubs
Ohman- B Has been solid pitching, but has made some fielding blunders and blown some clutch moments of a game. Pretty consistent.
Remlinger- D What a total waste of money. The guy is a complete bum. What kind of left hander can't get left handers out? Speaking of that, what kind of pitcher can't get anybody out
Novoa- C+ Rather inconsistent, but has shown some promise. Hes pretty inexperienced, so thats probably the problem
Jerome Williams- Too Early- not enough info, only one bullpen appearance, but he also looked quite good starting. But still not enough appearnaces

OVERALL CUBS MIDSEASON GRADE: B+
The Cubs still remain in the chase despite constant injuries. That is quite impressive. As they get healthy, they can make a run at the wild card. They need Derrek Lee and Aramis to keep crushing the ball, and Corey Patterson to live up to potential. Prior needs to avoid line drives, Zambrano needs to get his groove back, and Wood has to not suck. I was quite impressed with them taking 2 out of 3 from the ChiSox, so that is a good sign. They need to go out and get another bullpen piece, and possibly a left fielder, and then they should have the parts to be legit WS contenders.

[Pogotheostrich]

Pretty solid CubsFan7724. The few points that I disagree with are:
1. Corey Patterson the guy has been horrible all year and looks more like he is regressing than improving. C- seems very generous.
2. Hollandsworth/Dubois are not getting it done. C- seems generous here too.
3. The bullpen is bad. On their best day they are a C.
4. Overall grade B+. I know there have been injuries but if I told you before the season that the Cubs would be 2 games over .500 at this point I don't think you would be giving them a B+.

[CubsFan7724]

Pretty solid CubsFan7724. The few points that I disagree with are:
1. Corey Patterson the guy has been horrible all year and looks more like he is regressing than improving. C- seems very generous.
2. Hollandsworth/Dubois are not getting it done. C- seems generous here too.
3. The bullpen is bad. On their best day they are a C.
4. Overall grade B+. I know there have been injuries but if I told you before the season that the Cubs would be 2 games over .500 at this point I don't think you would be giving them a B+.

If you told me they wouldn't have Prior, Wood, Nomar, Walker, and their LF sucking, I'd would have expected them to be quite worse than .500. I was going to give Corey a D+ but I just barely gave him a C- because he hasn't been terrible defensively. I could give Hollandsworth/Dubois a D+ too. I just usually think a C is quite bad (it is in my house at least ) and there has been one or two bright spots in the bullpen. Though I think I meant to give them a C- and forgot to add the dash. It was 11:00 in the evening

[reznorsboy]

Pretty solid CubsFan7724. The few points that I disagree with are:
1. Corey Patterson the guy has been horrible all year and looks more like he is regressing than improving. C- seems very generous.
2. Hollandsworth/Dubois are not getting it done. C- seems generous here too.
3. The bullpen is bad. On their best day they are a C.
4. Overall grade B+. I know there have been injuries but if I told you before the season that the Cubs would be 2 games over .500 at this point I don't think you would be giving them a B+.

Can't trust a St, Louis fans opinion on the Cubs!! Just like you can't trust a Cubs fans opinion of the Cardinals!!

[reznorsboy]

Pretty solid CubsFan7724. The few points that I disagree with are:
1. Corey Patterson the guy has been horrible all year and looks more like he is regressing than improving. C- seems very generous.
2. Hollandsworth/Dubois are not getting it done. C- seems generous here too.
3. The bullpen is bad. On their best day they are a C.
4. Overall grade B+. I know there have been injuries but if I told you before the season that the Cubs would be 2 games over .500 at this point I don't think you would be giving them a B+.

If you told me they wouldn't have Prior, Wood, Nomar, Walker, and their LF sucking, I'd would have expected them to be quite worse than .500. I was going to give Corey a D+ but I just barely gave him a C- because he hasn't been terrible defensively. I could give Hollandsworth/Dubois a D+ too. I just usually think a C is quite bad (it is in my house at least ) and there has been one or two bright spots in the bullpen. Though I think I meant to give them a C- and forgot to add the dash. It was 11:00 in the evening

Good points Cubsfan!! I agree with most except Closer! I think Dempster is closer material and will remain the closer until he is no longer affective. I don't think he is just a stop gap until they get another closer!!

[CubsFan7724]

Jesus this team is two faced. I was going to edit my post after that 8 losses in a row garbage, and then they rattle off 6 out of 7. You never know what you are going to get out of them.

[Invictus]

on the bright side, at least they DID rattle off 6 of 7.