Mayday! Mayday! I mean, May Day.

It's the first of May, May Day, also my sister Mandy's birthday. And while some Cubs fans are screaming "Mayday!" because the Cubs are in 5th place, I'm simply taking May Day as an opportunity to analyze the first month of Cubs baseball.

The Cubs were 17-10 last year in the month of April, tied for first in the Central with the Cardinals. This year, they sit at 10-11 and if you check the standings, you'll see that they're just one line above the last-place Astros. Not real good, right?

Well, no, April wasn't real good. But it's too early to panic. Some teams who weren't in first place on May 1, 2008, include the Dodgers, Phillies and Rays. And the Dodgers, White Sox and Phillies were just one, one and two games over .500, respectively (they all won their divisions). Also, keep in mind that the Cubs were 10-14 in April '07, but they of course turned it around and won the first of their back-to-back division titles.

The Cubs as a team have played 21 games, but several individual players have missed significant time, including:

Ramirez (8 games)
Bradley (7)
Soto (6)

Also, the Cubs have the payroll flexibility to make necessary changes as the season moves forward, a luxury many teams don't have. And with the apparent lack of depth on this roster, Hendry will no doubt be taking advantage of said flexibility in the coming months. The Cubs will almost certainly need another reliever, and while Gathright has gotten a bit of a raw deal in terms of opportunities to prove himself, I'd be surprised if he were on the roster come August.

Positives
Fukudome: 7th in the NL in average, 5th in OBP, 10th in slugging, 9th in OPS. Heading into the season, Fukudome was one of the biggest question marks on the roster. Through April, he's been the biggest exclamation point.

Soriano: The weirdest thing about Soriano's hot start is his consistency. He had just four games in April without a hit. He's just one behind Pujols for the league lead in runs scored, and his seven home runs represent his fourth highest monthly total as a Cub.

Ramirez: .358, three home runs and 14 RBI. And though ESPN says his middle name is Nin, I'm pretty sure it's actually Clutch.

Heilman: He leads the team in relief appearances (12), and don't be misled by his 4.91 ERA--it was 0.82 before the Marlins lit him up on Thursday.

There's not a whole lot more positive things to say about the pitching, which is why the Cubs rank 12th in the NL in ERA (starters are 10th, relievers are 12th). One good thing, though, is that Cub relievers have pitched the third fewest innings in the league.

Negatives
Carlos Zambrano didn't have a hit until Tuesday, yet he still has a higher batting average than Bradley, Fontenot, Lee, Johnson, Miles, Soto, and Gathright. And I'm referring to the .231 average Big Z had before pinch-hitting Thursday and raising it to .286.

Bradley: It's been well-documented, but thus far Bradley has lived up to all the negative hype, and none of the positive. He's been suspended (a suspension he appealed rather than serving it while he was hurt), ejected and injured, and has just four hits in 14 games. Is he going to hit .118 all year? Of course not. But he needs to pick it up and make significant contributions for this team to win.

Fontenot: He's batting just .232, and while he's shown some "pop" with four home runs, it can't be ignored that the reason Hendry felt comfortable trading Mark DeRosa was because he felt Fontenot could step in full-time at second base. For the record, DeRosa is batting .236 with five home runs and 18 RBI with the Indians.

Lee: He's batting just .189 with one home run. I'll refrain from further criticism because you've heard it here before.

Soto: Last year's NL Rookie of the Year has looked like a completely different person. In 15 games, he's batting .111 with no home runs and just two RBI. Amazingly, Koyie Hill has completely outplayed him, batting .323 with one home run and six RBI in half the at-bats.

Rotation: Apologies to Sean Marshall who has the best ERA of the bunch (3.32), but the rotation's ERA is 4.55, their record just 7-6. Harden has thrown just 21 innings in four starts; Dempster and Zambrano have ERAs over 4.50.

Relievers: I realize the negatives are really piling up here, but you can't ignore a 4.88 relief ERA. You also can't ignore that we have just three saves as a team, or that Angel Guzman is the only reliever with an ERA under 4.00.

Well, that was cathartic. So why am I not shouting "Mayday!" while jumping ship? Because with struggling starters, terrible relief pitching, and very minor contributions from Bradley, Lee and Soto, the Cubs are just one game under .500. Teams like the Angels (9-12), Indians (8-14), Rays (9-14) and Mets (9-12)--who are also expected to compete--have fared even worse.

The offense may not be as productive as we anticipated, but it isn't going to be as bad as it was in April for the entire season. Nearly all of the starting pitchers will almost assuredly improve on their April numbers, and while the relief corps remains a huge question mark, one can hope that it will improve once Marmol is healthy and Samardzija gets settled in.

My biggest concern is that the Cardinals look like a real contender, as I thought they might. Despite Chris Carpenter finding his way to the DL once again, the Cards are an ML-best 16-7. However, the Cardinals were 18-11 in April last year, but eventually faded and finished 11.5 games out of first.

It was not a very pleasant April in Wrigleyville, but it's time to take a deep breath. We're only 21 games into the season, and the calendar wants you to know something--there's no need to panic, it's May Day.