The Cubs have been, and still are the most inept franchise in pro sports over the last century. The Cubs, regardless of which players are on the fiels, seem to get a laugh out of kicking their own fans in the stones on an annual basis. But this past season was different. The Cubs have always sucked, make no mistake about it, but they have never sucked with such little effort like they did just a few weeks ago against an Arizona team that got demolished by the Rockies. Maybe the sale of the Cubs will trigger a chain of events that somehow leads to the world series, or maybe it wont, but if Cubs management wants to put an end to the drought, here is what they need to do before next year starts, position by position.
Very rarely does a team completely need to clean house and virtually rebuild from nothing, and this Cubs team is no exception. They have a bunch of very good players who are locks to play at their respective positions, and these are the locks:
1B- Derrek Lee- Despite putting up fairly respectable numbers, he had a dissapoining season for a guy with his power potential. Nevertheless, he will be at first on opening day.
2B- Mark Derosa- Although he will be remembered for his double play ball against Arizona in the DS, he did have a pretty solid year.
3B- Aramis Ramirez- Mr. Clutch, like the rest of the Cubs, forgot how to swing the bat in offseason, but is still a top 5 third baseman.
C- Geovany Soto- Yes, he is young, but from the looks of things, the Cubs will put all their eggs in the Soto basket after being named MVP of his AAA league.
LF- Alfonso Soriano- No matter how bad this guy plays, Lou Piniella seems to see things in Soriano that nobody else sees. He stinks, but with his fat contract, he will be stinking as the starting left fielder for the Cubs for a very long time.
SP- Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Hill- The only really good thing the Cubs have is a strong top of the rotation. HIll will only get better, Lilly will be steady and Zambrano will be Zambrano.
RP- Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry, Michael Weurtz, Kevin Hart- Those four guys were really good last year, but aside from them, i dont feel comortable with anybody else in the bullpen, and neither should Cubs' management.
These are the needs for the Cubs:
SS- I kind of got sucked into the Ryan Theriot lovefest, but as the season winded down, it was clear that this guy is not the answer at SS. His OBP% is bad, his fielding is decent and he seemed to wear down badly as the season went on.
RF/CF- The Cubs dont have a viable starter at either of these positions. It would be foolish to enter the 08 season banking on Felix Pie and Jacque Jones, especially consider the fat free agent class of outfielders that will be out there this offseason.
SP- The back end of the rotation is up in the air. Rumor is that Steve Trachsel might be resigned to be the fourth or fifth starter. The minute that happens, the season is over. Jason Marquis was what we expected, but his terrible second half killed the Cubs. If the Cubs can find a taker, pull the trigger get Marquis, and his 7 million per, out of town and I thought Sean Marshall did a decent job and is one of the better fifth starters in the game, but Lou doesnt seem to have faith in him. Why, i have no idea. Mark Prior is also due for a comeback, but management knows better to rely on him, but if he shows flashes of the old Prior, he needs to be in the rotation. At this point he is an insurance policy.
RP- Ryan Dempster needs to be traded. He is terribly inconsistent and doesnt have closer stuff. If the Cubs could get a decent bench player for him, do it. Will Ohman and Scott Eyre need to go to, and maybe they can take Lou's lefty-lefty matchup lovefest with him too. Righties CAN get lefties out.
Some Possible Replacements:
SS- The free agent class at SS is very shallow. There are no good shortsops in the group. Eckstein, Uribe and Vizquel are all below average, and there is some Cuban kid that nobody knows about as well. The other option might be Ronny Cedeno, who had a great year at AAA. If the Cubs cant get a replacement for Theriot, I would give Cedeno a shot. His defense is much better than Theriot's, and he has much more upside.
RF/CF- The free agent class is chock full of outfielders. The Cubs need to end up with at least one of the following players: Milton Bradley, Mike Cameron, Torii Hunter, Kenny Lofton, Aaron Rowand, Jose Guillen or Bobby Abreu. I like Bradley. He will probably be on the cheaper side and he is better than advertised. Lofton still has another season left in the tank and would be great influence on the Felix Pie, who has similar tools to those of Lofton. Jose Guillen wouldnt be a bad option either. Odds are thet Hunter, Jones and Rowand will be too pricey for the Cubs, and they arent all that much better than those other guys. The Cubs really need to tap into the outfelders market, bigtime.
SP- Not much doing here in free agency. Like i said before, i wouldnt mind having Marshall take the mound every fifth day. I dont wanna see either Trachsel or Marquis at the fourth spot, and a possible replacement could end up being Prior or somebody from their Minor Leagues. They could try and sign either Josh Fogg, Jason Jennings or the new steroids man, Mr. Byrd from Cleveland. Something nees to be done at the four spot, fast.
RP- Free agency is not the way to go for relief pitching. They are too unpredictable and there is no way they wanna end up with another money eating nobody like Scott Eyre. Looks like the Minor Leagues is the way to go here. That or either trading for another cheap, youngster, perhaps danglig a guy like Jacque Jones as trade bait.
The Cubs have some serious work to do, lets get after it and do something for a change.
I liked your article, was good writing. I hope we keep Jose Guillen but if he does leave I hope he becomes a Cub. He became one of my favorite players here in Seattle. I liked his intensity, which was needed here, I saw very little of the temper things he was supposed to have in Anaheim and loved watching him play. Good luck to the Cubbies, I loved Lou, too!
chitowns'
One would have to ask why and what has become of management and the hierarchy withing the Cubs' organization ?
Their ineptitude is only surpassed by the player's woeful attempts of play on the field. All that money spent this year and only a divisional crown to show for it seems unfair to the loyal Cubs' fans. Time for a change at the top with regard to ownership as well as in the front office.
I feel positive about the Cubbies, but our bullpen worries the heck out of me. Unless it is severely addressed during the off-season, trouble looms on next season's horizon.
Burnout, i too am a fan of Jose Guillen. He put up good numbers last year and would be a welcome addition to the Cubs. As far as Lou Piniella goes, the key word is lovED. The Lou Piniella of old is gone. I personally like a manager that doesnt have a problem getting in a guy's face and benching him for half assed efforts, like Bobby Cox did in his famous benching of Andruw Jones. Lou Piniella's has more rocks than brains in his head and i really think some senility is setting in. Now that Guillen dude on the other side of town, he's a manager i could live with.
If Felix Pie is your future centerfielder then sign Kenny Lofton to show him the ropes, platoon Jaques Jones, Matt Murton in right. Please get another starter even if he can only give you six strong innings. The bullpen should be built through the system. Sign a veteran SS, for a year to help Cedeno. Coaching plus learning from a solid vet is the answer from theese youngsters. Lets give the Traschel's, Marquis, the boot along with Ryan Therot, trade them for bench some singles hitters, guy's who will take walks. I know Sorriano likes to hit leadoff but in order for this group to succeed he sould bat 4th. My line up would be; Lofton/Pie cf, Jones/Murton rf, Lee 1b, Sorriano lf, Ramirez 3b, Mark DeRosa 2b, Soto C, Uribe/Cedeno ss,
Judging from the at bats he had at the bigs this past season, Pie doesnt look ready to start at all, let alone lead off. His defense is superb, but the Cubs can il-afford to start him yet. Lofton would be the best choice to sign, because the other free agents would demand long term deals, forcing Pie out of the Cubs plans, unless they decide to move him to right field. Plus, of all the free agent outfielders, only Lofton or Abreu really fit the leadoff mold. I wouldnt mind hitting a slower guy up there, so as long as he gets on base, but i am sure that Lou doesnt go by that line of thinking.
Please, i hope you dont really think Uribe would help the Cubs. He sucks. Its that simple.
Was that just some idle sports writer's ramblings I heard a couple of months back about A-Rod being involved in an ownership group to buy the Cubs and then he would play SS? The basis was the affection shown between A-Rod and Lou... What's this about Dusty being interest in Prior and Wood now that he's been signed as the Reds new manager? Heck... package them and bring in Griffey for right field. A-Rod at SS, what else do you need? I'm sure the Cubbies have got a young phenom in the minors that could man left. If the pitching improves... The Cubs could put together a real murderers row... I like it!
chitown nice post and I feel for you man. The Cubs are sorta like the Saints of the MLB. Why not bring in Andruw Jones at center. His defense is great only thing is he's hot/cold at the bat. My braves are going to miss his Defensive skills though.
One more thing... Pitching, defense and speed beats hitting, always has, always will. Shore up your pitching... If the other team can't score, guess what, you're in the game. If you can manufacture runs (speed) you win with good pitching and defense. The problem is there aren't enough good pitchers to go around... Why else do we see these 40+ year old pitchers still taking the mound?
I am college kid out of chicago and love Chicago sports aka a huge homer. My writing may contradict this, but i do care and know about sports outside of Chicago, although I may never blog about it.
