The Cubs began the 2009 season with big expectations. However, as August comes to an end the Cubs find themselves 7 games out of 1st place in the NL Central. Every Cubs fan is painfully reminded of that fact each time they turn on the radio. Chicago sports radio personalities seem determined to blame certain players or people involved with the Cubs for the team’s failures this season. Their arguments, however, as so idiotic that I cannot stand to listen any longer. Let’s take a look at what is wrong with Chicago sports radio as it relates to the Cubs.

At this point, it is fair to say the Cubs have not lived up to their lofty expectations this season. On paper, the Cubs appeared to be the best team in the NL Central if not the entire National League at the beginning of the season. Now that the Cubs have struggled, everyone wants to place the blame on someone. One of the biggest names thrown out there is GM Jim Hendry. Sports radio personalities, and fans, rip Hendry for the contracts given to both Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley.

This view does not seem completely off-base, but you have to wonder how no one saw this coming. Let’s focus on Soriano for a second. When the Cubs signed him, he was coming off of a 40 HR 40 SB season. He set career highs in OBP, SLG, and OPS. The same people who blast Soriano right now were praising the signing at that time. The media, and the fans, had reason to celebrate. Soriano was the best free agent in that off-season and he was about to come to the North Side. However, many intelligent analysts (Keith Law, Will Carroll, etc.) looked at the contract and knew that it was going to be a major problem for the Cubs in a few seasons. Soriano has never had a really high OBP, and he isn’t the type of player that ages well. The point being, smart people knew that Soriano, and his contract, would become a problem for the Cubs in a few seasons. How did the Chicago media and the fans not realize this at the time?

Another name mentioned is Carlos Zambrano. This one, I can’t understand at all. Zambrano is having a pretty good season thus far (3.35 ERA, 101 Ks). However, this brings forth another issue with the media and the fans in Chicago. I have never seen a town care so much about a player’s personality before. Zambrano gets lambasted for being emotional on the mound at times. Yes, there are games where his emotions get the best of him, but the talk out of Chicago is crazy. There was talk early in the season about how Zambrano wasn’t an ace, wasn’t a top twenty pitcher in the MLB, needed to be traded, etc. It seems as if the media and the fans will ignore the stats and rely only on his personality. This makes absolutely no sense to me! How is Zambrano to blame when he is giving the Cubs another season of quality pitching?

Another player who suffers from the same issues is Milton Bradley. Bradley’s contract was a problem with the media and the fans the day he was signed. Everyone was concerned about his personality and how it would affect the team. Thus far, Bradley hasn’t blown up or been out of control. However, he has not performed up to expectations. Early on, when Bradley was really struggling, Cubs fans shunned him immediately. No one got behind Bradley, they all booed him or called in to the radio shows and ripped his signing. For a city that was so quick to accept a moody, whiny Jay Cutler, it is odd that Chicagoans and radio personalities couldn’t do the same for Bradley. I’m not making any excuses for the way Bradley has played this season. He is clearly having a down year. However, he had no support from anyone in Chicago from the get-go.

So, who is the blame for the Cubs failures this season? Who cares? Hendry did hand out some bad contracts, but the fans praised these deals initially. A few years ago, people in Chicago praised Hendry for being one of the best GMs in baseball. All of the sudden, they are calling for Hendry’s head. It doesn’t make sense and it isn’t consistent. Chicago fans deserve better from the media, as well as their fellow fans. Instead of focusing on the failures this season, the media should be looking at the how the Cubs can change in the future. Then again, as history shows, they only seem to see things in the short term.