I know how many of us are tired of throwing up in our mouths listening to the most frustrating start to any season in my life. The reason why this team will not make the playoffs this year (crucify me if you want, but I was dead on about the rapid decline last year, and the problems are still here) is because there are simply too many people to point the finger at, and too small of a time frame to take care of all the issues.

Jim Hendry: What the hell did you do? You took the best Cubs team, most of us have ever seen and turned it upside down. You shipped off Jason Marquis to save money, and yet, you burn a couple million getting rid of the guy you traded him for. You got rid of Kerry Wood for a a guy who has a bad pin, can only get up once in the bullpen, and on the rarest of occasions, is actually good. Say this next part out loud: you gave up a good big league hitter, who can play all over the field and has the personality you want on a team for a a guy who has significant personality problems and even more significant health concerns. You went and signed that player, largely off his production last year as a DH. Sounds pretty slick to me. Its hard to fathom that Hendry makes better business moves on a hospital gurney than he does from his office chair.

Lou Piniella: My keyboard’s batteries may run out before I’m done with Sweet Lou. I’ve said it time and time again. Lou Piniella is a terrible fit for this team. I know the popular reaction will be that he led this team to two consecutive division titles. Well, I firmly believe that if you have good talent like he has had, a manager’s job is completely overrated. Example: Joe Torre. However, you can ruin that talent by making terrible decisions and having the wrong personality for the team. When a team buckles like the Cubs did the last two postseasons there is no doubt that the problem is the mental preparation of the team. It is my belief that the main focus of a manager should be to get his team mentally prepared to win the must win games. Again, the popular response to that will be that they won 97 games last year. They must have been mentally prepared. To that I ask, how many of those games were must win games? You can’t tell a lick about a teams character when you’re not playing must win games. The only times they did last year, they went down 1-2-3 without a fight.

More on Lou: Derrek Lee. Anyone who thinks Derrek Lee is not in a decline does not have a clue what they are talking about. And what does Lou do? He puts him in the premier production spots. What the hell has to happen before Lou realizes that Lee is 6’ 5" of complete softness. Lee hits with about zero authority anymore. Its clear. His offensive approach is disgusting. He’s a 3 hitter that looks like a pitcher trying to draw a walk. There is no denying that he is completely punchless. Go ahead, say its “still early”, you don’t look that feeble, then just wake up and find it because the calendar turns over a month. But hey, Derrek had a monster year 4 years ago, he’s due to break out again….

Leadership: Again, as shown the last two postseasons this team has had zero leadership. Not a lick. Who would have thought that Soriano would be the one calling guys out? But wait, the big bad Derrek Lee thinks he shouldn’t be questioning effort. Really? You have a guy like Soto taking protective swings in a 3-1 count. You have Ryan Theriot dropping balls thrown to him because he’s got the carriage in front of the horse trying to turn an impossible double play. You have Mike Fontenot getting thrown out at 3rd in a tremendous rally that looked nothing but promising. Sorry Derrek, being unprepared mentally is a lack of effort.

This team is not a smart team. There is no way around that. That is why, in my opinion this team will fail to make the playoffs. When you’re in your mid 20’s and 30’s you don’t just wake up one day and start understanding the game. You don’t just start to get smart overnight. These are mentality issues that have nothing to do with slumps or bumps in the road. Its character. Who is ultimately the one in charge of changing the character of a team? The manager, and this manager has shown when push comes to shove, when its must win, his team’s character is tremendously shallow.