Everyone's slamming Jim Hendry right now for putting together a roster that has limited depth and couldn't handle an injury to Ramirez.  Well, I'm going to argue that the Cubs' bench is just as good as any other team's and the real problem lies elsewhere.  You can wish we had DeRosa all you want, but there are maybe 2 or 3 teams in the league with a guy of that caliber off the bench.  In my opinion, the Cubs' bench is better this year, with Hoffpauir an upgrade over Ward, Aaron Miles an upgrade over Cedeno, and Koyie Hill an upgrade over Hank White. 

The real problem with the Cubs this year doesn't lie on the bench.  The problem is the superstars just aren't hitting.  Milton Bradley hasn't produced at all.  You can blame Jim Hendry for that, but who honestly predicted that a few months ago?  Soriano has hit a bunch of HRs, but a .260 average isn't up to par with his past production.  D-Lee's struggles have been well-documented, as have those of Geovany Soto and Mike Fontenot.  Theriot has gone into a nosedive, and of course, Ramirez is out.  That leaves Fukudome as the one hitter who has met or exceeded expectations this year.  I don't care how good the bench is, your team won't produce offensively with all but one of your starters underperforming.  Can we honestly blame Jim for that?  The bright side is that there is no way all of these guys slump forever.  Soto and Bradley will not hit .200 the rest of the way (Fontenot, on the other hand might).  Lee's getting his average back up.  Soriano will go into one of his patented hot streaks.  The Cubs will start to score runs again.  If not, well at least we'll know for sure the Cubs are cursed.