10 - Neal Cotts
In the mid 2000s, I was a huge Neal Cotts fan. He was on the Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series winning team, filling the role as one of the best set-up men in the league. He finished 2005 with a 1.94 ERA while allowing only 1 HR. Needless to say, when the Cubs traded for him in 2006, I was ecstatic. He was one of those guys I thoroughly enjoyed watching on the crosstown rivals to the Cubs and I couldn't wait for him to don a Cubs uniform. Too bad his career came to a screeching halt with the Cubbies as he forgot how to throw strikes and struggled with injuries. By 2007 he was already playing in the minors and has since been released by several other major league teams.
9 - Nomar Garciaparra
Nomar Garciaparra is one of my favorite players of all-time and a future Hall of Fame inductee. Just not with the work he did with the Cubs. On the trade deadline of 2004, literally at the very last moment, the Chicago Cubs traded with the Boston Red Sox, receiving the all-star shortstop for the stretch run of the season (at the time, the Cubs were leading the NL Wild Card) The Cubs went on to miss the playoffs, while the Red Sox ultimately won the World Series with Nomar gone. The next season, in 2005, Nomar was put on the disabled list for more than 3 months with a torn left groin. The Cubs let Nomar go to the Dodgers and he went on to have an all-star year, winning the Comeback Player of the Year award, forever leaving a bad taste in this Nomar & Cubs fan's mouth.
8 - Felix Pie
Felix Pie was one of those "can't miss" prospects for the Chicago Cubs. At the beginning of the 2007 season, this young outfielder was called up to the bigs to replace the injured Alfonso Soriano. He was the number 1 prospect in the Cubs system and was batting .444 in the minors at the time of his call-up. Pie went on to get sent down to the minors and brought back up several more times during the season as the organization tried to get him consistent at-bats. He often times struggled with discipline at the plate, striking out much more than the average MLB player. In 2008, Pie won the starting center field spot in spring training but started off badly and ultimately lost his spot to veterans Reed Johnson & Jim Edmonds. In 2009, the Cubs gave up on their former number 1 prospect as they traded him to the Balitmore Orioles where he has shown flashes (including hitting for the cycle) but still remains a disappointment.
7 - Todd Hundley
Here's an example of a guy who not only SUCKED, but he was also a jackass as well. He had a respectable year with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000, hitting .284 with 24 HRs in only 90 games. What'd he do in 2001 with the Cubs? A stellar .187 average in just 79 games with a crap attitude to boot. While rounding the bases after hitting a rare HR, he saluted the Wrigley faithful with a middle finger. For a guy who is suspected of steroid usage (being named to the Mitchell Report in 2007) and made far too much money for an idiot with a God complex, he sure has left an awful reputation for himself here in Chicago.
6 - LaTroy Hawkins
Oh look, another extremely disappointing player with a crummy attitude. In 2004, LaTroy Hawkins was brought in to Chicago to bolster the bullpen for a team considered to be in contention for the World Series. Unfortunately, this supposed World Series team, didn't even make the playoffs. Hawkins did nothing to help that. He had two stellar years for the Minnesota Twins as their set-up man and eventually signed with the Cubs as a free agent. He was going to be the set-up man, but became the closer due to an injury to Joe Borowski. Hawkins went on to prove just how un-clutch he is by blowing 9 saves, including 2 key games late in the season, costing the Cubs the playoffs. In 2005, Hawkins had blown 4 saves before the end of May and lost the closing job to Ryan Dempster. Hawkins was booed vehemently by the Wrigley faithful and eventually traded to the San Francisco Giants. He has had an up & down career since leaving Chicago, playing for several different teams.
5 - Alfonso Soriano
Ask an average Chicago Cubs fan and they'll tell you how much they dislike Alfonso Soriano. From his atrocious fielding to his disappointing numbers after signing a massive contract, Soriano doesn't have a lot of fans left in Wrigley. I was never a hater of Soriano, I think he has been unfairly ripped and blamed for shitty Cubs teams, but I can't deny he has been a disappointment. In 2007, the Cubs signed Soriano to a 8 year contract worth $136 million, the most lucrative contract in Chicago Cubs history. In 2006, his only year with the Washington Nationals, Soriano batted .277 with 46 HRs and 41 stolen bases. With the Cubs, he had some power, but has never hit more than 33 HRs in a single season and his speed has vanished due to multiple injuries. He has never had 20 stolen bases in a season with the Cubs. Considering he was signed as a center fielder and lead-off man, he hasn't remotely lived up to expectations.
4 - Corey Patterson
Remember Felix Pie and how much of a "can't miss" prospect he was? Well, Corey Patterson was EVEN MORE of a "can't miss" prospect. He was supposedly a "5 tool" player, meaning he had power, speed, fielding, hit for average, & a great arm. Yeah...no. The former number 3 overall pick tore it up in the minor leagues en route to being named the number 1 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. He made his major league debut for the Cubs in 2000 and hit a HR for his first career hit. His first full season in the majors, 2002, was disappointing as he only hit .253 but returned with a vengeance in 2003. In only 83 games he was batting .298 with 55 RBI, but had a terrible leg injury running out a base hit and missed the rest of the season. He was never the same after the injury as he struggled with hitting the following year in 2004 and had terrible discipline at the plate. He was demoted to the minors in 2005 and traded to the Balitmore Orioles in 2006 where he continued with at times decent, but often mediocre play. He's played for 6 more teams since leaving Chicago, never living up to potential.
3 - Mark Prior
The Chicago Cubs have really made quite a home for these disappointing "can't miss" prospects, huh? Prior was taken number 2 overall by the Cubs in 2001 as he signed a $10.5 million contract before ever playing a game for the Cubs organization, the highest for a draftee at the time. 2003 was the coming out party for Prior, as the Cubs made the playoffs for the first time since 1998 and Prior was the ace of the staff, finishing third in National League Cy Young voting, despite the fact that he missed several weeks of the season after a collision with Atlanta Braves player, Marcus Giles. Cubs manager Dusty Baker was reckless with his young pitcher, often times allowing him to throw a huge amount of pitches in his starts, more often than not exceeding 110 pitches per game. During September he was averaging 126 pitches per start and 120 in the post-season. Prior was the losing pitcher in the pivotal game 6 of the NLCS against the Florida Marlins. Prior missed the first two months of the 2004 season due to injury and when he returned, struggled mightily. His health was called into question. There were even more injuries in 2005, staring the season on the DL for the 2nd straight year and was put back on it after getting hit by a linedrive in May. 2006 started off with more injuries for Prior, missing the first 2 months of the year and getting hit hard upon his return and placed back on the disabled list 2 more times during the season. More injuries were reported during the offseason and in 2007 it was discovered Prior had structural damage in his throwing shoulder and missed the season. He left the Cubs as a free agent in 2007 and has continued a career mired with injuries and disappointment.
2 - Carlos Zambrano
Another guy who is tough to label as a bust or disappointment, but you can't deny the fact that he's left a bad taste in Cubs fans' mouths. Here's a guy who was beloved in Wrigley Field, being the face of the pitching staff for the past several years as well as being a thrill to watch at the plate belting HRs. His no-hitter as a Chicago Cub against the Houston Astros in Milwaukee (yes that sentence is correct) was the high point of his career. He made 3 all-star teams as a Cub, as well as winning 3 Silver Sluggers and leading the NL in wins in 2006. Too bad his career as a Cub had to come to such a terrible ending. Throughout his career he's struggled with nagging injuries, often times being linked to cramping due to bad hydration. His volatile attitude has often been worrisome for the Cubs, in 2007 he got into a fight with his catcher Michael Barrett in the Cubs dugout. That was just the tip of the iceberg. In 2009, Zambrano was ejected from a game and threw a temper tantrum, tossing a ball into the bleachers and his glove. He then turned his attention to the Gatorade cooler in the dugout and smashed it with a baseball bat. He was suspended for 6 games and fined $3,000. Later on in the year he missed a flight to Atlanta with the team and announced his intentions to retire when his contract comes to an end, which would be at a very early age. In 2010 Zambrano struggled and was ultimately moved to the bullpen and brought back to the rotation several times. In June he got into yet another dugout altercation with a teammate in the dugout after getting shelled by the White Sox, he got into a yelling match with Derrek Lee. Zambrano was suspended by the team indefinitely and moved to the bullpen and made to go through anger management therapy. He returned to the rotation to finish the year. 2011 saw Carlos' coup de grâce with the team as he was ejected in a game in August after giving up 5 HR and proceeded to clean out his locker during the game and informed personnel he was retiring. He was placed on the disqualified list and his pay was suspended. He apologized and claimed he wanted to "remain a Cub for life." He didn't pitch for the remainder of the season and was traded to the Miami Marlins earlier this month.
1 - Milton Bradley
In 2009, the Chicago Cubs panicked. 2007 & 2008 they had back-to-back division titles, but no playoff wins to show for it. Because of that, clubhouse staples, Kerry Wood & Mark DeRosa, were traded and one of the bigger moves of the offseason was the addition of switch-hitter, Milton Bradley, signing a 3 year $30 million deal with the Cubs. He had multiple issues with other teams, including altercations with fans, but Chicago took a chance on him anyway. He got suspended before the end of April for arguing with an umpire and was already drawing the ire of Cubs fans. He started off slow, with little to no power to show and not to mention he didn't play very smart. In June, after catching a fly ball, Bradley tossed a ball into the stands when there were only 2 outs, costing the Cubs a run. Bradley showed attitude problems and often threw hissy fits on the field when he didn't perform well or things didn't go his way, so bad that manager Lou Piniella told him to go home in late June, which resulted in a clubhouse altercation between the two. Bradley conducted an interview in which he bashed the Cubs & their organization in September and the team suspended him for the rest of the year. In December of 2009, the Cubs traded Bradley after just 1 season to the Seattle Mariner where he has continued to act like an immature idiot and has since been released. The last time this moron made news was a year ago when he was arrested for threatening his wife.
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