32-year old starting CF Marlon Byrd will be the Cubs’ lone All-Star next week. He has played in 81 games for the Cubs this season and he is 95 of 307 (.309 avg, .838 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 9 homers, 35 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Byrd has turned out to be a solid free agent signing for the Cubs as he has been their best player overall this season. He deserves the honor he will get next week and it will be his first appearance in the All-Star Game.

34-year old righty swinging 1B Derek Lee finished 9th in the voting for the N.L. MVP Award. Lee played in 141 games last season and he was 163 for 532 (.306 avg, .972 OPS) with 91 runs scored, 35 homers and 111 RBIs. He has now played 13 years in the majors appearing in 1,681 games in which he is 1,701 for 5,980 (.284 avg, .873 OPS) with 946 runs scored, 293 homers, 939 RBIs and 101 stolen bases. Lee continues to be the player that the Cubs depend on the most as he is a great hitter and one of the best defensive first basemen in all of baseball.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Randy Wells finished sixth in the voting for the Rookie of the Year Award in the N.L. Wells pitched in 27 games (all starts) for the Cubs last season and he was 12-10 with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. Wells was one of the MVPs of the Cubs last season and they hope that he can continue to excel in 2010 and beyond for them.