Bryan LaHair has been an absolute force in the Cubs’ lineup this year, making a statement that perhaps he should have been in the bigs before 2012. LaHair has done the work this year both with a steady bat as far as his average goes, as well as the big power numbers. He likely won’t maintain his absurd .352 average and .445 on-base percentage, but his power numbers (10 home runs) are legit.

At this point, it’s pretty much established, finally at 29 years old, that LaHair is a Major League first baseman, and not the “AAAA player” that most assumed he was. Most fans and experts figured that LaHair would be nothing more than a placeholder for Anthony Rizzo. Instead, the Cubs could have a good problem on their hands within the next couple of weeks.

Anthony Rizzo has been spending his days with the Iowa Cubs mashing Triple A pitching. He has 13 home runs on the year, and is hitting .339. He might be up at this point, if it weren’t for the emergence of LaHair. But at some point, and it’s going to be soon, Rizzo and LaHair are going to be in the same batting order.

Scenarios abound as to how the Cubs can get the already anointed ”first baseman of the future” into the Chicago lineup. Some involve a trade of LaHair at some point, or of Alfonso Soriano, but neither of the two sound very likely to be going anywhere anytime soon. It’s also been suggested that Rizzo could move to third base. He throws lefty, though, so that’s out.

So how do the Cubs get Rizzo and LaHair into the same lineup? Any potential lineup features Rizzo at first regardless, given his outstanding defense and the fact that LaHair is more than capable in the outfield. Do they bench Soriano? Move David DeJesus to center field? The latter seems more likely there, given that money talks and the team is much more likely to bench Tony Campana than Soriano, who isn’t going to be benched, cut, or traded any time soon.

No matter how the lineup shakes out, it’s going to be an exciting day when the Cubs send out a lineup dressing both Rizzo and LaHair in the batting order. Rizzo is going to force the Cubs to call him up, and once he is up he is going to stay, which is likely part of the hold up in calling him up. With the front office already looking at ways to get both of them into the lineup, it shouldn’t be long before we see both in the lineup.

I anticipate the Chicago Cubs looking at the best arm available, and my hope is that Lucas Giolito is available. Giolito was the number 1 ranked high school pitcher walking into this year. Unfortunately, he hurt the UCL in his pitching elbow and missed some time. Teams could be scared of drafting a kid with a beat up elbow, but if I were Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein- I wouldn’t be. Giolito will likely need Tommy John surgery at some point, but the odds that every pitcher having that surgery are up anyways. The odds Giolito recovers from a hypothetical surgery are always good, and in his favor.

Giolito could be a staple in the Cubs rotation for a long time, and I think it makes the most sense for the Cubs to snatch him up if he falls. Hopefully things work out, but you can only go with what you see. Giolito has major league stuff. There’s no way anyone can pass up on that.

Half-way into May, it’s usually clear what’s working with any team. For the Cubs, starting pitching has been working, as well as the bats, from a few select players.

The middle of May is when, what’s not working, also starts to be apparent. Two names in particular come to mind in the not working department, Geovany Soto and Chris Volstad.

Soto is just not cutting the mustard, period. He’s hitting a measly .151, with 3 home runs, and 5 RBI. Not to mention only throwing out 7 of 31 runners attempting to steal on him. His 24 stolen bases allowed, give him the 2nd most in all of baseball.

Once back-up Steve Clevenger returns from the DL, I see no reason not to give him a shot. In limited action this season, Clevenger is 11/22 at the plate. It would be very hard for him to perform worse than Soto offensively.

I haven’t seen him enough behind the plate to make a determination there, but the guy made a big league roster as a catcher… I’m sure he’ll do just fine.

As for pitcher Chris Volstad, the team has said he will make his next start, but I have a feeling it could be his last for awhile. Volstad has had numerous chances (7 to be exact), to get a win, and has yet to succeed this season. He’s currently sporting a 6.92 ERA, and just can’t stay away from the big inning.

I’m not completely writing off Volstad yet, I’m just saying if he can’t get it going, let someone else have a chance. The top 4 spots in the Cubs rotation as basically locked in, so the last spot should be filled by whoever is performing the best out of Travis Wood, Randy Wells, or Volstad.

Volstad deserves his next start, but if he fails again, it’s time to let Travis Wood get a shot. He pitched well enough to win in his only start earlier this season. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but he threw 6 solid innings, and the Cubs eventually pulled out a win. Volstad has just not done that this season.

Regardless of who fills the final spot in the Cubs rotation, you certainly can’t expect too much from them, but someone can do a better job than Volstad currently is.

For both Soto and Volstad, it’s put up or shut up time. They’ve had their chances, and if they aren’t performing, the backups deserve a chance on this young Cubs team.

Follow Andrew Fisher on Twitter @the_realfish

A lot of Cubs’ fans like Ryan Dempster, and that’s great. He’s definitely fan friendly, and fun to watch. He cares about his craft, and the team. He’s not selfish, and does a ton of charity work around the city. As much as I like Ryan Dempster the person, the Cubs should move Dempster and continue stockpiling young talent. With teams like the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers in the market for a starter, it makes sense for the Cubs to see if they’d be interested and maybe snag a Manny Banuelos or Jacob Turner. Would I trade either for Dempster? Heck no- but I don’t have the face the pressures of a fanbase in a major market. The Cubs NEED to take advantage of Dempster’s hot start. They just have too.

Ryan Dempster would be a great addition to any team on and off the field. The Chicago Cubs need to actively search for a trade partner because they aren’t far away from being a contender all over again themselves. Trading Ryan Dempster would be a great start.

As a fan, I’d love to see a guy like Dempster get a shot at a ring. He’s worked his tail off for the franchise, and has far exceeded all expectations in his career. It’s time for Ryan Dempster to go after a ring with an organization that could get him there. I hope for the Cubs sake, they can get something for him. I hope for Dempster’s sake he gets the ring.

While a big majority of fans were happy to see Kid K return for another season of Cubs baseball, there was also another group that questioned whether or not it was worth it to bring Wood back, given his age and obvious injury history, or set him free to another club.

At this point, those who fell into the later category are already firing up their “I told you so’s”. Wood has struggled mightily this season, both with his health and with his pitching. Those struggles have done no favors for a bullpen that has had plenty of issues getting it together this season.

The biggest issue for Wood has been his command. His strikeouts are down, instead walking an absurd nearly 13 hitters per nine. That was on display when Wood threw nine consecutive balls in the 12th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

It’s the command that has Wood down, with an ERA near 10 this year. Luckily his ground ball rate, at a touch over 41 percent, is as high as it’s ever been in his career, or it could be worse for Kerry Wood.

Health must be playing a heavy hand in this. Wood wasn’t right during spring training, sitting most of March out, and has already made one visit to the disabled list this season, with fatigue in his throwing shoulder. After how great Wood was last season, it’s nearly impossible to come up with a decent explanation for his quick decline other than his health.

Hopefully, Wood’s outing against the Brewers on Friday was a step in the right direction. Despite those issues with his control, Wood didn’t allow a run in two innings of work and touched 95 MPH on the radar gun. We’ll see if that has a positive impact on him at all moving forward.

I’m not ready to jump on the bandwagon with the folks proclaiming that this is the end of Kerry Wood. But there are some obvious issues, most likely his health, that need to be worked out. Until we see a Kerry Wood that can actually say is healthy, we can’t really pronounce his career dead.

In 2011, the Cubs’ rotation was decimated by injury, forcing the likes of James Russell, Casey Coleman, and Ramon Ortiz into starting duty. The Cubs came into the 2012 season with certainty at the top two, but we really didn’t know what to expect from the rest of the rotation, outside of Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza.

What we’ve got has been much better than expected, as the Cubs have boasted one of the top rotations in the league, at least in four of five starters.

Dempster has rebounded very nicely from his poor 2012, sporting the league’s top ERA, at 1.02. He’s been simply brilliant. He’s struck out 36 hitters against just 10 walks in 35 innings, with opposing hitters batting just .166 off of him. The only thing he doesn’t have at this point is a win.

Garza has also been stellar, which was expected from the Cubs’ top pitcher from 2011. Despite the trade rumors that still surround him, Garza has performed admirably. After a slow start last year, Garza has gotten down to business early, with a 2.67 ERA and opposing hitters going for just .175 against him.

But as great as the two have been, it’s not incredibly surprising that either is currently among the best pitchers in the National League. It is, however, very surprising to see what Jeff Samardzija and Paul Maholm have done in this rotation early on.

Samardzija has been much better than anyone expected in his return to the rotation, having spent the entire 2011 in the bullpen. He hasn’t been without his struggles, but his last two starts have demonstrated the fact that Shark has established himself as a legitimate starter in the National League. Few pitchers have better velocity on their fastball and as long as he continues to mix in the breaking stuff, we should continue to see improvement in Samardzija, which is scary for the rest of the NL.

After a rough start to the season, Paul Maholm has also found himself in a recent trend of success. He allowed six earned runs in each of his first two starts, but has settled down greatly, allowing just three earned in his last four combined. His best performance was his most recent, going for seven innings against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, while not allowing a run.

The only damper on the rotation has been Chris Volstad. Volstad still hasn’t recorded a win since last July, and he’s had issues avoiding the big inning this year. While he hasn’t been completely terrible, he has still struggled to maintain consistency over the course of a game. Until he does that, there are going to be questions about whether or not he belongs in this rotation.

Few expected the Cubs’ rotation to be of the quality that it has been to this point. It’s been a pleasant surprise to watch this come together, just as the Cubs have as a team over the past couple of weeks. They have established themselves, at least early on, as one of the best rotations in all of baseball. If Volstad could be at least average, they have a chance to jump into one of the top few groups in the league.

Now if they could only get a little bit of run support.

Now, 8-7 for most teams is not good, for the Cubs however, especially this year’s team, it is. After a win today against the Atlanta Braves, the Cubs sit at 13-18, 6.5 games out of 1st in the Central.

When you look at the fact that Carlos Marmol blew 3 saves, it shows that the Cubs are basically playing .500 ball so far. For a team that has no expectations, that’s not too bad.

Slowly but surely, you can see the pieces coming together in Chicago. The starting pitching has been outstanding, with the exception of Chris Volstad, everyone else has taken care of business. Ryan Dempster has the lowest ERA in the National League at 1.02, while both Jeff Samardzija and Paul Maholm have notched 4 wins a piece.

The bullpen is certainly a work in progress, but is settling in with Rafael Dolis and James Russell working the 9th. Kerry Wood has been the worst of all the bullpen guys this season, but I’m confident he will get it going. Wood is 34, and didn’t really have a Spring Training. He’s already spent time on the DL, so it’s going to to take him awhile to get to full strength.

As for the offense, they’re getting better too. Bryan LaHair has obviously carried the load so far in the power department, with 8 home runs and 18 RBI, while batting .384. Starlin Castro is tied for 1st in the NL with 43 hits and batting .359. Clearly, both would be All-Star selections at their current pace.

So what does this mean for the Cubs and their fans?

All I can say for sure, is don’t give up on this team yet. It’s a “Moneyball” type of team, one that won’t come together over night. It’s going to take more time and patience for this team to take full shape.

If and when the Cubs do peak, will they be good enough to make any noise? At this point I’d say no, there’s just not enough star power, but it remains to be seen if more stars could develop.

Overall, I like what I’ve seen in the Cubs over the past 16 games. Players are finding their roles, and performance is trending upward. After 31 games with this team, I’ll take it.

Follow Andrew Fisher on Twitter @the_realfish

The Cubs and Braves certainly aren’t rivals. They play in separate divisions, and let’s face it, the Braves have just been way better than the Cubs for years, but you wouldn’t have thought that Monday night.

It all started in the 3rd inning when Tommy Hanson hit Reed Johnson in the shoulder. The pitch got up and in and Johnson real quick, and nearly hit him in the face. This was not intentional. Reed Johnson is known for crowding the plate, and on this pitch the Braves were coming inside, it’s going to happen.

Fast forward to the 7th inning, and Cubs hurler Jeff Samardzija plunks Jason Heyward in the back. Heyward coincidentally hit a home run off Samardzija earlier in the game. Crazy right?

Well the Braves didn’t like that, and wouldn’t you know it, Eric O’Flaherty hits Cubs outfielder David DeJesus in the arm.

At this point the home plate umpire has had enough, and issues a warning to both teams. Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez comes out to argue, and is subsequently ejected.

The retaliation by the Braves proves to be a failure, as DeJesus ends up scoring a crucial insurance later in the inning.

I am all for the chippiness that was on display Monday night at Wrigley Field. I don’t know if the players were fired up by Cole Hamels admission of intentionally hitting ‘the next big thing’ Bryce Harper, or what? I don’t care how it happens, I just like to see it happen.

Throwing at people is a classic baseball tactic, and it makes the game more interesting. Sure, some might call it Busch League, I call it entertainment.

Throwing at people in baseball, can lead to a bench clearing brawl, one of the greatest thrown downs in all of sports. Who doesn’t love a good baseball fight?

People can complain about player safety, but I say, whatever. They’re grown men, they know what they’re doing, and if they happen to get hurt, screw’em.

I hope to see the bitterness continue between the Cubs and Braves the rest of the series.

Follow Andrew Fisher on Twitter @the_realfish

Much of the verdict depended on the type of performance the Cubs got out of Jeff Samardzija, who opinions were also divided on. There were those who felt Samardzija should remain in the bullpen, where he was effective last season, and some felt with the low expectations for this team, he should be given a shot to start.

Regardless of where opinions on Shark fell, most assumed he’d be in the bullpen when the season started. But after a fantastic spring, probably better than any other Cubs pitcher, Samardzija earned a spot in the rotation and hasn’t looked back.

On the season, Samardzija is 4-1 with a 3.03 ERA, much better than anyone anticipated. His first start of the season was dominant. He tossed 8.2 innings of three hit ball, allowing just one earned run and getting the Cubs their first win of the year.

His next two starts weren’t all that great, in fact he lasted just 3.2 innings against the Miami Marlins back on April 19th, but his last two starts have showed that when he’s on his game, Samardzija has the stuff to be one of the more effective pitchers in the entire National League.

He continued to show how legitimate he is as a starter with a dominant performance against the Atlanta Braves on Monday. Shark tossed seven innings, allowing just one earned and surrendering just five hits, helping the Cubs to win their third game in their last four outings.

Jeff Samardzija has the stuff to be as good a starter as there is in this league. And it’s when he’s mixing pitches that he’s at his most effective. We saw how it could hurt him in spring training when he doesn’t, a problem that we have yet to see this year. His fastball carries as much power as there is in baseball. His average velocity, at 95, is the third best in the league. When he mixes in his slider and curve, he’s tough to hit. And we’ve seen it so far this year.

Just as many of us laughed or expressed our concerns when Samardzija announced his plans to be in the rotation this spring, it’s time to officially acknowledge the fact that he is a legitimate starter in Major League Baseball. As this season wears on, he’ll be a fun one to watch in what is a dynamite top three in this Cubs rotation.

Now if we could just get him to cut his hair…

Wood was acquired in the deal that sent Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds, and was expected to take one of a couple of vacant spots in the rotation. But his disastrous spring left him with a spot in Iowa.

His stay in Iowa wasn’t going too hot either, prior to his callup. Wood posted an ERA over five in his five starts with the Triple A club, with opposing hitters batting .310 off of him, which isn’t too surprising after his struggles in the spring.

Nonetheless, Wood got the call for Garza in Sunday’s series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers and immediately got a break when Matt Kemp was scratched for the lineup.

But even with the game’s best hitter out, he was still faced with the task of taking down one of the hottest teams in baseball and performed better than expected.

Wood tossed six innings of three-run ball against the Dodgers after a rain delay that lasted over two hours. He didn’t allow a run in the first before struggling a bit through the second and third, surrendering all of his three earned runs in those two innings. He struggled a bit with his control in those two innings, walking three hitters for the game.

He did overcome those struggles, though, throwing just 30 pitches in his last three innings of work against the 70 he threw in the first three frames. Overall, it wasn’t necessarily a good start by Wood, but it wasn’t terrible either.

The Cubs have a spot on the roster right now, having designated Blake DeWitt for assignment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Wood will stay. Many assume Adrian Cardenas will get the callup, but I am intrigued at the possibility of Wood getting another look at some point soon, especially considering the struggles of Chris Volstad at this point.