Yesterday Cubscast was fortunate to be invited to cover a charity event hosted by Derrek Lee and Mark Buehrle, and it was a blast. It was organized by Charity Wines, an organization that has helped raised over $1 million for charity to date by partnering with some of the best and most generous players out there.

The entire event was very relaxed, which was nice. Both D-Lee and Buehrle set the tone as they were in good spirits, so to speak, and looked like they were having a lot of fun as they joked about the Cubs/Sox series at Wrigley.

As you might have heard in our latest episode (download mp3), I was able to ask the Cubs first baseman a few quick questions about his recent hot streak at the plate and how fans can support his 1st Touch Foundation. I was a little nervous and stumbled through the first question (the audio in the episode had to be edited), but felt a bit better after D-Lee got the wine-making joke.

Speaking of, the wine was solid. The bottle itself is awesome and well-worth the $12-15 purchase price.

Please show your support for the work D-Lee is doing, and enjoy a glass of Caberlee!

Special thanks to Gabriel from Up All Day who helped us out by taking photos. Click on the photos below to see a larger version.

As announced in Monday’s episode (download - mp3), the Cubscast Photo Caption Contest is back! To submit an entry, simply click on the photo below and enter your caption as a comment. Everyone is welcome to participate (even if you’re rooting for the wrong team). First prize this week is a Cubscast Prize Pack which includes a Cubs-related book. Official Photo Caption Contest Rules.

Contest ends on Sunday June 21st at 8 p.m. CT..

Thanks to everyone that participates!

I’m a fan of Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and really like him, but one of the enjoyable aspects of being a baseball fan is second guessing the moves your team’s general manager makes. It’s easy to grumble when a player misses a hanging curveball, but let’s be honest here, you or I would have swung through it too. But on the flip side, how many of us would have traded away Mark DeRosa for…um… what did we get for Mark DeRosa again? With that in mind, here’s my personal scorecard of Jim Hendry’s decisions regarding the ’09 Cubs so far, with each move judged to be a Win, a Loss, or as they say in Vegas (and I’m guessing in Reno too) a Push.

Traded Away Mark DeRosa. Even if you ignore the fact that DeRosa was, by all accounts, a great clubhouse guy, this move has been a clear mistake in terms of numbers. Sure DeRo’s contract was fairly big and it’s not like Cleveland has been thrilled with him, in fact there was talk they wanted to trade him a few weeks back. But DeRosa’s 38 RBI would be tops on the Cubs by a large margin over current leader Alfonso Soriano’s 27. His .262 average would place him in a 4th place tie with DLee among regular players with more than 100 ABs, and his 9 HRs would be second on the team. But more than any of that, I think the moment Aram was lost to injury and the Cubs really didn’t have a true backup third baseman, the decision on this decision was in. Big time LOSS for JH. Oh, and for us.

Let Kerry Wood Walk, Replaced by Kevin Gregg. The Kid K fan in me wants to call this one a huge mistake, but Wood has struggled in Cleveland. His ERA is over 5 and half, he’s blown 2 saves and he has 2 losses. And while Gregg hasn’t been much better (he has 2 more saves, the same number of blown saves, an ERA that is better but just by about a run) I think you’d have to say this one has been a breakeven situation. Yes there are some intangibles with having Wood’s leadership, but the difference in salary helps to negate that. I’m by no means wowed by Gregg, but this one is a PUSH.

Traded away Jason Marquis. A few months ago no one would have thought the Marquis deal would look worse than parting with Wood, but that’s the reality. I’m tempted to call this one a push because Marquis is notorious for having a solid first half followed by a rough second, and his contract was ridiculous, but when a guy leads your league in wins on a near last place team (Marquis now has eight) you just can’t ignore that. Luckily the Cubs starting pitching has been fine, but the simple fact is that as of right now Marquis would be a welcomed addition to any staff. So though I expect this one to change by the end of the year, this is a LOSS for JH.

Said Goodbye to Pie. Felix is hitting .200 in 90 ABs and struck out 24 times for the O’s. He also has only stolen 1 base in 3 attempts, which is what happens I guess when you can’t get on base. In retrospect this should have been done when more teams wanted a slice of Pie, but this one is a WIN.

Ditched Bob Howry. Some might say this one is too obvious to reward with a win, but when a guy hits a homerun it doesn’t matter if it’s off a Cy Young winner or a AAA call-up, you still put the run on the board. Howry’s ERA is at 4.64 for the Giants and he’s blown 3 save opportunities despite not being the closer. WIN.

Signed Milton Bradley. I don’t know how long I need to go off about how violently this move has blown up in Hendry’s face as I think it’s pretty obvious. And it doesn’t help when one of the other left-handed options the Cubs could have had, Raul Ibanez, is leading the NL in everything. But what’s been so confusing about this move from the start was not just that Bradley hits better from the right side, but that there wasn’t any reason to think he’d be healthy, as he hasn’t ever been throughout his career. He has averaged about 90 games a season over 9 seasons and has only had more than 500 ABs once. Bradley is a DH on an NL club, and even when he turns things around at the plate the question will still be can he stay healthy, and the answer to that is simple…No. That’s why this one is, at least so far, a LOSS.

Gave the final Bullpen Spot to David Patton, Dropped Luis Vizcaíno instead of Neal Cotts. These are really two separate moves but I’m combining them into one. The Cubs didn’t have a lot of decisions to make towards the end of camp, but as inspiring as it was to hear they were taking a gamble on Patton it hasn’t worked out too well. He did just get his second win in a solid extra innings outing on Sunday, but he has a 6 ERA and Lou has only elected to use him 12 times this year. As for Cotts v. Vizcaíno, Cotts is now in the minors and Vizcaíno is, where else, on the Cleveland Indians… where his ERA is at 2.31, he has a win, a hold and a save in 8 innings of work to go against 2 losses. LOSS.

Results to Date: 2 Wins – 4 Losses – 1 Push. Not so good. But if you convert it into a batting average, you could argue Hendry’s 2 for 7 and thus has a .285 average. Which is a full 67 points higher than his new right fielder.

There much to be said about yesterday’s devastating 6-5 loss to the Braves, and without a doubt today’s episode of Cubscast (we’re recording in a couple hours) is going to be pretty lively. Going from a no-hitter and 5-run lead and ending the game the way the Cubs did was excruciating, and though it was almost entirely due to the bullpen, something else has bubbled up to the surface that I can’t ignore any longer.

Alfonso Soriano is never going to be my favorite player. I like him, I acknowledge the fact that he is instant offense as evidenced again on Tuesday, but I also acknowledge that his contributions in other areas are terribly lacking. I remember watching Andre Dawson in my formative years and seeing a full spectrum of on-field skills. He quickly became my favorite Cub, and always will be. He was a fearsome hitter, a great fielder with a cannon for an arm, and a guy that knew how to run the bases. However, it isn’t because of glowing memories of Dawson that I don’t accept Soriano’s on-field effort. It is because Soriano has these abilities but isn’t using them, and no one knows why.

Yesterday as I pondered Soriano’s misplay (bobble, bad throw) on Escobar’s single in the 12th, all this came to mind. And yes, it’s nit-picky because it didn’t even cost the Cubs a base. It cost them in other ways, though, and has already cost them this season. You don’t have to be a stat freak to realize that teams are trying to score from 2nd on Soriano more than they have in years past, and why the heck not. A quarter of the time he doesn’t pick up the ball and throw it cleanly.

That wasn’t the capper, however. The play that made this post possible was the game-ending single by Chipper Jones, which went right to Alfonso. It wasn’t clear from the play (or the replay) what happened with that ball when it got to our left fielder, but Escobar scored without a throw, and that is unacceptable. Yeah he probably was going to score anyway, but either Soriano misplayed it, or he ate that ball and decided in his own mind that the Cubs had lost. If it’s the latter, he’s got an even steeper hill to climb in my book.

So Alfonso, it’s time to choose your own adventure. Do you realize that your game has become one-dimensional? You aren’t the same player the Cubs acquired several seasons ago. Will you do whatever you have to do so that you can run full speed again? Full speed isn’t first gear, fyi. Will you take some extra time and work on your fielding? The coaches are paid to help you, but the word on the street is that you’re unapproachable when it comes to criticism. Choose wisely, and young Cubs fans will place your baseball cards in hard cases instead of between bicycle spokes.

I don’t know what will happen with this Cubs season. People getting paid to write are saying that game was a turning point. I just hope the bulb goes off for Soriano and he actively tries to improve his game. Otherwise we’re stuck with Adam Dunn.

The comparisons of this year’s Cubs team to last year’s repeat division-winning team have been constant this season, and at times stifling. It says a lot that you can hear an audible groan in our episodes whenever Mark DeRosa’s name is uttered. I thought that all the “what would have been”-type talk would die down by the end of April, but it’s still going strong until June. Here’s hoping it ends as soon as possible.

It’s been a strange season in a lot of ways. The injuries. The ejections. The suspension. That poor Gatorade machine. However, what’s most interesting to me is that one player (or several, but I’m not trying to be greedy) hasn’t gone All-World for the Cubs yet this season. Sure, we’ve seen some awesome performances:

* Ted Lilly’s no-hitter through 6 2/3 on a frigid April day

* Dempster’s 7 shutout innings in Saturday’s outing vs. the Dodgers

* Reed Johnson’s RBI method clinic that same Saturday

* Tuffy Rhodes’ 450th HR in Japan

* Soriano’s 2 HR game in Houston and his HR on the 2nd pitch he saw this season

We’ve also seen a good amount of suckitude, and I won’t make that list for a variety of reasons. Still, nobody pops out (poor terminology) on this Cubs roster as a runaway All-Star, even despite cleverly titled articles on the flagship Cubs site such as Soriano, Fukudome making All-Star impact.

I’ll vote for those players and will hope they make it, but if All-Stars are chosen based on a rounded game from April through June, I think Kosuke Fukudome is the only deserving Cub. Soriano can get hotter than a car on a desert highway any given game or week, but the fact that his average has dropped nearly 30 points in May doesn’t bode well for his selection. He’s still obviously one of the most feared home run threats in the league, and that counts for something to a lot of players.

Last years Cubs All-Stars: Kosuke Fukudome, Soriano, Soto, Wood, Dempster, Ramirez and Zambrano.

Is anyone more deserving in your opinion that Fukudome? Post a comment and let us know.