Just 13 days ago, 25-year old righty swinging 2B Darwin Barney was hitting .293 for the Cubs. But, in his last 13 games, Barney is 4 for 43 (.093 avg) with 2 runs scored, 0 homers, 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 126 games for the Cubs this year and he is 128 for 466 (.275 avg, .662 OPS) with 58 runs scored, 2 homers, 40 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. If he doesn’t pick the pace back up with the bat, he’s going to have competition for his starting job next spring.

28-year old righty swinging catcher Geovany Soto is having another rough year with the bat. He has played in 46 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 35 for 159 (.220 avg, .691 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 5 homers and 15 RBIs. A look at Soto’s career shows that in odd numbered seasons, he just doesn’t produce. In his four odd numbered seasons with the Cubs, Soto has played in 167 games in which he is 128 for 545 (.235 avg) with 57 runs scored, 19 homers, 70 RBIs and 1 stolen base. In his three even numbered years, Soto has played in 257 games in which he is 236 for 841 (.281 avg) with 114 runs scored, 40 homers and 141 RBIs. The Cubs hope that Soto breaks out of his funk soon.

25-year old lefty swinging outfielder Tyler Colvin burst onto the scene with the Cubs last season when he played in 135 games in which he was 91 for 358 (.254 avg, .816 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 20 homers, 56 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. This year has been a different story as he is having a rough go of it. Colvin has played in 7 games so far in May and he is 0 for 11 (.000 avg, .000 OPS) with 1 RBI. He has now played in 28 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 7 for 62 (.113 avg, .449 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 2 homers and 8 RBIs. I don’t think Colvin is going to get things straightened out at the major league level, especially with sporadic P.T. With that in mind, I think the Cubs are going to send him to AAA soon, unless he breaks out in the nex couple of days.

32-year old lefty swinging 1B Carlos Pena was supposed to provide a lot of pop in the middle of the Cubs’ batting order, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Pena has played in 25 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 11 for 70 (.157 avg, .457 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 double, 0 homers and 6 RBIs. He has walked 13 times so far this year and that is the good news. The bad news is that he has whiffed 24 times already this year, often looking hopeless at the plate. The Cubs don’t really have a backup plan if Pena doesn’t pick up the pace as Tyler Colvin is also struggling right now. The GM is likely going to take big time flak for giving Carlos Pena $10 million bucks for this year.

The Cubs would love to find a taker for 33-year old lefty swinging RF Kosuke Fukudome. He has played in 65 games for the Cubs this season and he is 51 of 189 (.270 avg, .791 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 6 homers, 24 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Fukudome came to the Cubs three years ago from Japan with the reputation of being a big power hitter but he hasn’t shown much power in the majors yet. Fukudome has now played in 361 games in his three years with the Cubs and he is 309 of 1,189 (.260 avg, .771 OPS) with 182 runs scored, 27 homers, 136 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. The Cubs really want to move Fukudome so they can give the full time starting job in RF to 24-year old lefty swinging rookie Tyler Colvin. Colvin has played in 67 games this season for the Cubbies and he is 40 of 135 (.296 avg, .945 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 10 homers and 27 RBIs.