28-year old righty starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano didn’t have his best season in 2009 for the Cubs. He has started 27 games this season for the Cubs and he is 9-6 with a 3.69 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. In nine seasons with the Cubs, Zambrano has pitched in 258 games (237 starts) and he is 105-67 with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. I know that Lou Piniella has had some problems with Zambrano this season but he would be very hard to replace especially if the Cubs goal next season is to win a World Series.

The Cubs have shut down 31-year old righty reliever Kevin Gregg for the remainder of the season. Gregg pitched in 72 games for the Cubs this season and he was 5-6 with 23 saves, a 4.72 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. Gregg lost the closer’s job for the Cubs late in the season as he was just pitching awful for the Cubs. He gave up 13 homers in only 68 2/3 innings this season and that can’t be tolerated for a pitcher who works late in ball games. The Cubs will probably let Gregg walk after the year is officially over.

20-year old righty swinging 3B Josh Vitters was the Cubs’ top rated prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. He played in 119 games in A-ball this season and he was 130 for 458 (.284 avg, .770 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 18 homers, 68 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. He does like to swing at everything as he only walked 12 times this season. But he still makes a lot of contact whiffing only 65 times. With Aramis Ramirez entrenched at 3B for the near future the Cubs can be patient with Vitters bringing him along slowly.

The Cubs have shut down righty starting pitcher Rich Harden for the rest of the year. This was decided to protect him from injury. He started 26 games for the Cubs this season and he was 9-9 with a 4.09 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Since coming over from the A’s last season Harden has pitched in 38 games (all starts) in which he is 14-10 with a 3.31 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He has only allowed 161 hits in 212 innings with the Cubs while whiffing 260 batters showing just now nasty his stuff is. The biggest problem with Harden is just keeping him in one piece as he has only started more than 30 games 1 time in his 7 year major league career.

26-year old catcher Geovany Soto busted onto the scene with the Cubs last season as he played in 141 games and went 141 for 494 (.285 avg, .868 OPS) with 66 runs scored, 23 homers and 86 RBIs. This season though he appeared lost and some of that was because of injuries but not nearly all of it. Soto has played in 95 games for the Cubs this season and he is 68 for 307 (.221 avg, .716 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 11 homers and 43 RBIs. The fact that Soto has lost playing time to Koyie Hill shows how far he has fallen in the eyes of the Cubs’ front office.