The Cubs will not, and cannot, trade either the Dome or Gameboard. Neither will they let all that money ride the bench. Like it not, those two and Soriano are our regular outfielders and will remain so. From my perspective, I really think Bradley is going to come back strong in the second half, assuming he can stay healthy. I’m not as sure about Soriano. I think he’ll have some hot stretches, but they’ll be fewer and shorter than we’ve seen in the past. That being said, as long as we keep him out of the leadoff position, we can win with him hitting .225, as long as our other studs hit like they can.

I don’t see us making a huge trade. First, we don’t have the prospects to sell. Second, the ownership is still unsettled and impacts how much money we can spend. Third, who are we going to trade for? Our pitching is strong, the bullpen, while not great, is better than average, our infield and catching are passable and, as I stated above, our outfield is what it is. The only positions I can possibly see are a second baseman, or a shortstop and move The Riot to second. I don’t see very many middle infielders out there that are significantly better than what we have and that will be available. I also don’t believe Hendry will sacrifice any of our limited young talent unless he feels the player we get will not only get us into the post season, but also into the World Series. I just don’t see that happening.

All that being said, I still believe we’ll win the division. The Cardinals are loaded with rookies, some of whom will likely hit the wall in the second half. I think the Brewers are playing over their heads and they’l be under .500 the second half. Fearless forecast: The Cubs will go 45-31 for the rest of the season and finish 3 games ahead of the Cards and 5 games ahead of the Brew Crew.