The 2009 baseball season may still be young, but for the Chicago Cubs these are desperate times.

These are desperate times beyond a five-game losing streak or an offensive slump that makes the current economy look robust. These are the desperate times that have no easy fix.

They have no easy fix because, thanks to the open-checkbook policy of general manager Jim Hendry, Chicago Cubs baseball is locked into a laundry list of long-term contracts of some worthy, but mostly marginal talent.

With the third highest payroll in major league baseball, this current 2009 club is not only a reminder of the Ghosts of Cub seasons past, but a preview of those to come.

Only the New York teams - the Yankees and the Mets - have larger payrolls than the 2009 Cubs’ $135 million.  And only the Houston Astros, with a team payroll over $102 million, have gotten less for its money.

Success has its price.  With Hendry at the helm one can’t argue that the Cubs have found a certain degree of it.  I’m afraid, however, Cub fans are finally beginning to see its cost.

To say this Cubs team is a collection of mostly overpaid, under-performing  players would merely be stating the obvious. It also required a degree of bad judgment, which Hendry with the unbending leadership of manager Lou Piniella, so aptly provided.

In the process of creating a winning team for Chicago Cub fans, Hendry has built a haven of job security for himself.  In April, he signed a deal that will take him through 2012 as the Cubs general manager.

When he took over the general manager’s job in 2002 Hendry was smart enough to recognize the Cubs were long on loyalty, but short on talent.  His strategy to build a winning team through the addition of players -  some marginally talented, some not - has worked to a degree.

The starved-for-winning Cub fan base finally got its taste of success in recent years.  But a couple of division titles and playoff appearances does not a World Championship make.

So each subsequent year, Hendry and the Cub brain trust keep adding pieces to long-term deals that will ensure winning.  And season the Chicago Cub faithful hinge their hopes to a phony bill of goods - signed, sealed and delivered to us via Hendry.

Each piece Hendry has added has brought some shiny credentials with him.  Even erratic closer Kevin Gregg had a good season or two.

But are they the right pieces?  Hardly.  The holes in the Cubs game are as big and wide as an Alfonso Soriano swing.  Unfortunately, the results have been the same - an occassional big blast, but mainly just a lot of misses.