Reading some comments from the past couple days, I'm amazed at the level of despondency on BCB. Oh, I know the worst losing streak in 10 years is cause for concern and the team is certainly hard to watch right now. I'm not saying some sadness/disappointment isn't appropriate -- but the degree of it really surprises me.

I guess what I'm saying is, didn't we all sort of expect this generally? More after the jump.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying anyone should not, say, decry individual items, notably Dale's somewhat goofy managerial decisions. But I'm forced to wonder if the collective BCB community would be so down if we had, say, sneaked away with two or three wins in the past nine games -- which was certainly possible, given that some of the losses were close.

In other words, are two or three wins in May of a rebuilding year really enough to put so many in the collective doldrums?

Since January, if not before, it was pretty clear that 2012 would be the low point for the Cubs for the near future. Hendry left our farm system pretty bare at the higher levels, and we're paying three guys (Byrd, Zambrano and Pena) $26 million as they play for OTHER teams. Plus, we're spending $18 million on a guy (Soriano) who would hit seventh for a good team (if he was even in the lineup)

There certainly have been developments that have disappointed me (Marmol, in particular, has been worse than I could have ever imagined). But Marmol's struggles/injury and the terrible bullpen generally were evident before the recent losing streak -- a streak in which we are playing with our fourth- and fifth-string catchers.

And, you know, things are going to get better -- in the long term AND in the short term.

Within the next month or so, the Cubs will likely see two young players in Chicago (Rizzo and Clevenger) who could improve the team (even marginally) and should make it more interesting to watch at the very least. Further, the demotion of Volstad and the callup of Travis Wood should bolster an already decent rotation and (recent struggles aside) I've got to believe that Jackson's imminent callup later in the year is another reason for optimism. I know not everyone agrees with that, however.

All this said, everyone is obviously entitled to his or her own opinion. But I think it would be good for some of us to step back and realize that this is about where we expected to be -- indeed, that the overall record is probably only slightly worse than what we could have expected two months ago.

Last point: I didn't write this to be condescending (and, sorry, it comes across that way).