33-year old lefty swinging 1B Carlos Pena doesn’t have much of a batting average this year, but he has provided good power and a great glove for the Cubs. The Yankees really wanted to deal for Pena at the trade deadline but the Cubs said no because they want to try to re-sign him for 2012 and beyond. Pena has played in 142 games for the Cubbies so far this year and he is 107 of 460 (.233 avg, .831 OPS) with 68 runs scored, 27 homers, 77 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Pena has whiffed 145 times already this year, but he has also walked 89 times which has helped the Cubs’ offense. Pena has now played in 1,215 games in his first 11 years in the majors and he is 978 for 4,080 (.240 avg, .840 OPS) with 627 runs scored, 257 homers, 727 RBIs and 24 stolen bases.

Despite having a dismal year, the Cubs are still happy with 21-year old righty swinging SS Starlin Castro. Castro has played in 133 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 173 for 569 (.304 avg, .763 OPS) with 77 runs scored, 8 homers, 57 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. He has now played in 258 games in his first two years with the Cubbies and he is 312 for 1,032 (.302 avg, .760 OPS) with 130 runs scored, 11 homers, 98 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. Castro will likely develop more power as he gets older, while maintaining a solid batting average. The Cubs hope his defense catches up to his bat at some point in the near future.

33-year old lefty swinging 1B Carlos Pena has been a good defensive player and a solid power hitter for the Cubs in 2011. He has played in 19 games so far in August and he is 14 for 60 (.233 avg, .922 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 3 homers and 15 RBIs. Pena has now played in 122 games for the Cubs so far in 2011 and he is 88 for 396 (.222 avg, .797 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 23 homers and 67 RBIs. He has already whiffed 125 times this year while walking 73 times, as he shows a good eye at times despite all the K’s. Pena came just as advertised to the Cubs as a low average, good power hitter with an outstanding glove.

25-year old lefty swinging outfielder Tony Campana is playing pretty well so far this year for the Cubbies. Campana has played in 13 games so far in August and he is 7 for 17 (.412 avg, 1.059 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer, 3 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 65 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 29 for 103 (.282 avg, .655 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 1 homer, 5 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Campana is a hacker though as he has only walked 5 times so far this year. Still, the rookie outfielder has injected some speed into the station to station offense of the Cubs when he’s on the field.

33-year old righty swinging 3B Aramis Ramirez was a popular guy at the trade deadline but he didn’t want to leave the Cubs, so all of the talks went nowhere. Ramirez has played in 106 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 116 for 407 (.285 avg, .828 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 20 homers and 68 RBIs. He has now played in 1,081 games in his first 9 years with the Cubs and he is 1,189 for 4,074 (.292 avg, .884 OPS) with 623 runs scored, 233 homers, 781 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Ramirez is currently #5 in Cubs’ history in OPS with a .884 mark and he’s also #6 in team history in homers with 233. The Cubs probably wish they could have dealt Ramirez, but on the other hand it’s nice to have him still on the team because he’s a good run producer.