As a Cubs’ fan…no, that’s too narrow…as a Chicago sports fan, you learn never to expect anything. So even thought the Cubs won 97 games and were playing an 84 win team in the first round of the playoffs, you’d have been daft to expect them to win.
But to get swept? Again?
Guh.
But there they were, the flaws of the team as obvious and exposed as Patricia Heaton in High Definition. All 97 wins bought the Cubs was three games, six runs and six errors.
No wonder the Cubs extended Lou Piniella’s contract before the series. They probably figured he’d be tempted to quit by the time it was over.
I suppose, we try to figure out what the Cubs need to add to this team to finally milk a playoff win or two out of it.
1. Lack of a great player. The Cubs currently pay at least four players as though they are superstars. Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, E-ramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano all are paid as though they are great players. They are not. They are good players. They all have flaws, and it’s true they are better than most humans at playing baseball. But all four of them earn well above $10 million per year and all of them have complete no-trade protection. Paying a guy more won’t make him better. Though, if someone would like to try that with me, I’m all for it.
2. Kosuke sucks. The conventional wisdom was that Kosuke would struggle early on while he became accustomed to the big leagues. The opposite happened. He was really good in April and May, and then he fell off a cliff. Defensively he’s a very good player, he’s a smart baserunner, but you know what? So is So Taguchi. And frankly, that’s what Kosuke played like. The Cubs have to make a pretty big decision, pretty fast. Are his problems fixable? If they aren’t, they’re probably going to have to turn him into a very expensive, platoon centerfielder. At best.
3. They need an adult at shortstop. I know Ryan Theriot hit over .300, and I know his on base average was over .380. Those are good things. But they don’t make him a shortstop. He’s too little, doesn’t have the arm for it, nor the instincts. He’s a second baseman at best, a utility infielder in all likelihood. Truth is he saved the Cubs in 2007 when he wasn’t terrible at short after the predictable failures of the Cesar Izturis experiment. But he wasn’t any better defensively this year, and won’t ever be.
I know, I know, two teams in the 2000s have won shortstops with a dwarf (the 2002 Angels and I forget who won it in 2006). That doesn’t make it any more likely to ever happen again. It probably makes it less likely.
The Cubs are going to have to go out and find a shortstop, because clearly they don’t have one on the roster or in the organization. I know Ryan Theriot is gritty and cajun and all that meaningless bullshit. It won’t make him a real shortstop.
4. They need a real lefthanded bat. The fact that Lassie’s 19 homers, all of them completely unexpected gave the Cubs their only lefty bat threat should be enough to smack Jim Hendry to action. A washed up, 37 year old was your best lefthanded hitter. Gee, how could that have failed?
When you look at the potential spots to add hitters, there aren’t many. First, third and left are taken, and you couldn’t move any of them even if you wanted to. You have your catcher. That leaves, center, right, shortstop and second base. It’s pretty likely that center will be the timeshare domain of Reed Johnson and Fukudome. You can shake every tree everywhere and a lefthanded hitting shortstop isn’t going to fall out of it. So that leaves second and right.
You know what? You probably need to add a lefthanded hitter to both spots. Anybody have the numbers for Jeromy Burnitz and Todd Walker? Oh, never mind.
The biggest misnomer of the season was that the Cubs failure to scrape up enough minor league fodder to pry Brian Roberts from Baltimore didn’t end up hurting them. Hell, some people (Dave Kaplan) even think it helped, because look at the “great” year Mark DeRosa had.
DeRosa did have a good year. He was a huge part of the Cubs 97 regular season wins. Hell, except for the ground ball that he fell on in game two, he was one of the few Cubs who showed up for the playoffs.
Problem is, DeRosa’s biggest value to the Cubs is as a guy who can play anywhere. First, second, third, left or right. Every team needs a guy on the bench who can do that. It’s hard to do that when you have to play second base every day.
There was, and still is, a place on the Cubs for both DeRosa and Roberts. Roberts is a far better defensive player at second base. He stole 40 bases in 50 attempts. He bats lefty (and righty). He’d be a real leadoff hitter. The Cubs need to make another run at him, or someone with his basic skill set.
In right field? They’re going to need a lefthanded hitter with some power to break up the Soriano-Lee-Ramirez middle of the order (Soriano in the middle? We’ll get to that.)
One name that pops out is a free-agent-to-be. A Gold Glove player who bats lefthanded, has driven in 100 or more runs six years in a row and seven of the last eight. A guy with power (career slugging percentage of nearly .500) who has also finished in the top ten in his league in walks eight times, and he’s “only” 34.
He’s perfect.
He’s Bobby Abreu. Oh. Shit. Well, that’s not going to work.
Why? He’s another addition to the growing club of good players you pay like great ones. Another guy who is laid back (somewhat comatose) like Soriano and Ramirez and Lee. What the Cubs need is one position player who’s actually a leader.
Abreu would fit right in in the postseason, since he’s been in the playoffs three times and his teams haven’t advanced past the first round. He is a career .303 hitter in the postseason. But don’t worry, I’m sure he could bring that down.
Would that be enough? If you added Abreu and Roberts? Can you even pull it off and add both, or either of them? Abreu will only cost money. Roberts would still cost prospects, and it’s hard to see where the Cubs have added to that depth much since last March when they tried to get him.
5. The batting order doesn’t make sense. After a horrendously slow start, Soriano got hot and carried the team for a couple of weeks and got his stats all pretty again. His on base average was up at .350 or just over for most of the second half of the season. Conveniently it nose dived (nose dove?) and he ended up at .344.
It was inevitable that at some time in his long run with the Cubs that Soriano would have to leave the leadoff spot, even if he won’t like it. That time has come (and gone and come back). Let’s pretend for a second that the Cubs add players in the offseason.
This would make for a nice batting order.
1. Brian Roberts-type second baseman
2. Reed Johnson/Kosuke Fukudome platoon in center
3. E-ramis Ramirez
4. Alfonso Soriano
5. Bobby Abreu-esque right fielder
6. Derrek Lee
7. Geovany Soto
8. Adult Shortstop
9. Pitcher
6. How are they going to sort out the pitching? When the Cubs re-sign Ryan Dempster (and you know they’re going to), it will give them six starting pitchers under contract for 2009. Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, and Rich Hill. Hah! You forgot about Hill, didn’t you? Fact is, you likely can forget about him. His problems went from mental to physical to metaphysical? Oh, who knows? And then you’ve got Sean Marshall and his Ron Darling “yellow hammer.” Not to mention some will begin the clamor for Jeff Samardzjia to become a starting pitcher, even though it’d be nice if he could first become a competent (strike throwing) seventh inning set-up man.
Bob Howry’s contract is up, and I have a hunch (you’re all going to cringe) that he’ll be back. Not at the $3 million per year, but back none the less. And given that relievers are so unpredictable from year to year (for example, Grant Balfour of the Rays (ERAs on the last three teams he’s pitched for 20.25, 6.14, 1.54) who the hell can tell what’s a good middle reliever signing and what’s a bad one? OK, Derrick Turnbow is a bad one.
Kerry Wood will be back and with him and Marmol, and one would hope a better Samardzjia, the bullpen shouldn’t be much of a problem. Especially if they can keep Chad Gaudin from falling into a dumpster again this year.
There aren’t really that many pitching problems. Obviously Harden’s health is always a concern, so you’re almost compelled to keep a guy like Marshall on the staff somewhere in case he suddenly has to jump into the rotation for a month or three.
This really is a team in need of two lefty bats, and somebody in the lineup with some fire.
Seriously, if you ranked the 2008 Cubs by toughness, you’d probably have top five of:
1. Ted Lilly
2. Kerry Wood
3. Carlos Zambrano
4. Ryan Theriot
5. Reed Johnson
Three pitchers (two of whom are insane, one just more outwardly so) a 170 pound middle infielder and the fourth outfielder. Great? You know what’s sad? If we extended the list to six, Mike Fontenot probably makes it. He’s 130 pounds soaking wet! (Actually, the catchers probably make the list before Theriot, but this made a much more dramatic point. I’d rank the catchers, Hank-Geo-Koyie. No, wait, Koyie cut four of his fingers off, put them in a plastic bag went to the hospital, they sewed them back on and he was ready for spring training. Koyie wins. We have a new number one.)
Maybe more than the bats, the Cubs just need some balls.
Andy, who are you kidding? Like I said at HJE:
With Zell looking to sell the team at the highest profit margin possible, they had this year to win it all. There’s no way he’s gonna add salary next season or eat contracts on some players that failed to perform in October, so they’ll be in this state of flux until new ownership takes over and rips up this blueprint.
Glad to see I am not the only person that was praying for Lou to move Soriano to 4th and Lee out of the 3-hole.
By this analysis, I would be an All-Star SS because I’m tall and big!
Zell probably won’t add salary but he might eat contracts. The sale will now not close for a great while. If he can clean up or reduce long term contract obligations (like Soriano), that helps with long term cash flows post sale which can increase the cash Zell would receive from the sale.
What about Raul Ibanez? He’s 36 and a free agent, and had good numbers for a dogshit bad Mariners team. You can probably get him for a 2/20 type deal.
I could prolly play SS. Who do I talk to about someting like that?
You, sir, are a heightist. From my vantage point Theriot is average to above average height. And what is wrong with Fontenot weighing 130 pounds soaking wet? Johnny Evers was around 115 pounds. I am going to report you to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Shrimps.
Short people got no reason…
“As a Chicago sports fan”? I guess I’m showing my age here – do the ’85 Bears not count? The Bulls of 1990’s? For me, it most specifically is as a Cubs’ fan that I have learned never to expect anything.
We need to drive a giant truck full of cash into Teixiera’s driveway and then tell DLee he needs to learn how to play right or be traded.
Or sit him for all I care.
Mark Teixiera would fill that hole in the order. Period.
Or, to take it in a different direction, a friend noted last night that he thought Eric Byrnes could be available at the right price. Gives you an every day CF and solves the leadoff problem in one fell swoop. More importantly, it gives you a bit of that emotional leadership that the Cubs were so lacking this post-season. Put Johnson in a platoon with Kosuke in RF.
Please tell me Hendry’s not going to be the sucker to give Dempster 4 years/$50 million.
Byrnes has a full no-trade clause and has make public statements that he will invoke it if they try to move him.
Plus he sucks.
What about Ichiro? He’d solve 2 problems,leadoff&CF or RF, give Fukudome another Japanese to talks with.
I agree with most of your points except for Theriot. I’m not sure why you are singling out a guy who had the second highest batting average of ANY Major League Shortstop with over 500 at-bats and finished second in the ML in OBP behind ONLY Hanley Ramirez. Yeah they were a bunch of singles, but he avoided the Sept. swoon that he hit last season.
However, he does have the worst range factor of any everyday shortstop in the National League, so your argument has merits there. I’m just now sure who the hell would replace him. I say stick him in the 8-hole and then you can live with him.
For the hitting:
I would suggest signing Furcal for 4 years 55mm(swith hitting leadoff hitter), move Theriot to 2B (DeRo play UT starting 5x a week somewhere), platoon Fuku and Reed in CF, and sign Bradley (wants a multi-year deal 3 years 32mm) to play right.
The lineup looks like this:
SS Furcal B
2B DeRosa/Theriot R/R
3B Ramirez R
LF Alfonso Soriano R
RF Bradley B
1B Derrek Lee R
C Geovany Soto R
CF Fukudome/Johnson L/R
SP Pitcher
Fairly well balanced with speed at the top and bottom. Should be a good defensive team as well.
Bench:
IF/OF Hoffpauir
IF/OF Fontenot
IF/OF Theriot/Derosa
C Hill
OF Reed/Fuku
OF Pie
For the pitching:
Re-sign Demp 3 years 32mm and Wood 3 years 25mm. Also sign B Lyon 3 years 9mm and let Howry walk. Marquis should have some trade value, trade him for a bench player/bullpen guy.
Starters:
Zambrano
Dempster
Harden
Lilly
Marshall/Hill
Bullpen:
Cotts
Samardzjia
Wood
Gaudin
Marmol
Lyon
Wuertz/Hart/Marshall/Hill
I figure payroll would be close to 140mm.
Theriot’s not a shortstop. He’s just not. I could live with him at second base, but not at short.
Raul Ibanez sucks.
Eric Byrnes blows.
Milton Bradley is actually too crazy to help this team. If he were only 40 percent as crazy as he is, he’d be perfect. They could use a guy with an edge to him, but Milton’s all edge. He and Carlos would duke it out right on the field during a game. And both would get hurt and miss the rest of the season.
What do we owe D. Lee? I would like to see him shopped for something and for us to go after Texiera. He is a GoldGlover, and a switch hitter with pop from the left side.
Just a thought…
What about me? Seriously?
I’m your first baseman next year. Trade DP Lee. Please.
I’d love to see Lee moved, Theriot given regular AB’s without starting at SS, and solid lefties at 2nd and RF. I also want a great glove at SS who can hit.
I hope they let Howry leave. I wish they’d let Dempster go, but I don’t see that happening. And I’d be terrified of having Abreu on this team. He’s Lee 2.0: he’s getting progressively worse each year and will be grossly overpaid.
If Roberts isn’t a Cub next year, I wouldn’t mind seeing Fontenot start at 2nd provided we get a good glove at SS.
Re-signing Dempster for the silly crazy money he’s going to demand is idiocy. He just face-raped all of his career stats, and did so at the age of 32, in his walk year. Adrian Beltre, anyone? Darren Dreifort? Carl Pavano?
In this year’s free agent SP class, there’s one clear top prize, and that’s C.C. Sabathia. The next tier underneath him comprises two players: Ben Sheets and Dempster, and those guys are going to be the consolation prizes for everyone else who loses out to the Yankees in the Sabathia sweepstakes. Dempster’s going to be getting four or five years at $12 million-plus, and the odds of him repeating this monster season are slim, at best. Let him walk, instead of tying up silly money in a guy who has historically been a #3 starter at BEST.
I think that they (and by we I mean Hendry and/or the Cubs) ought to, in no or any or this order, trade Lee (and others) in a 3-way-deal to a team with more prospects (probably most likely there are good chances with Florida) in order to pry Holliday away from Colorado. Thirdly it should be that Dempster and Wood are signed to a contract. Next sign Texiera and then Furcal and next Roberts, all to money contracts, as well. Secondly trade Fukudome (and others) for Mclouth to share center sometimes with Reed J. Lastly sign the tough and, I must say, quite scary Hank White. And I know I’m missing a couple of moves, but if they can do about 87-93% of these moves then I think that they can at least win a couple playoff games but surely make the playoffs and maybe get to the NLCS though definitely not further unless over 94% of the moves are done (rough math). So I’m confident thought surely not overly confidential that we will be OK next year.
Thank you Andy. Thank you for backing up my point I’ve made all season: Ryan Theriot is not a starting major league shortstop. Look, he hit over .300 and had what, like a .380 OBP? Great. The guy has no power and like Reed Johnson, thinks he’s a lot faster than he actually is. You can hide his lack of power and his glove at 2B if he keeps the AVG and OBP up, but you cannot put him at SS. He’s been a 2B his whole life, and he still is one. They just put him at SS because when a ball is rolled to him, he can pick it up and sometimes just barely beat the runner.
I am all for signing Furcal. The man is a good hitter and a great SS. Take Soriano the fuck out of the leadoff spot, no matter how much he bitches, and leave him there for longer than the 3 games he goes hitless. And as much as I like Milton Bradley, I’m not sure we need the Rich Harden of position players. He’s easily one of, if not close to the best hitters in the majors when he’s healthy, but he’s never healthy. This was even one of his best years, and he missed substantial playing time. That’s as a DH.
What part of no-trade contracts for Lee, E-ramis and Soriano do you guys not understand?
Hey guys, how about adam dunn? SPLOOGE
It’s not we—well, I don’t want to speak for everyone, so maybe I should say I—don’t understand no trade clauses, it’s that if I’m going to dream about how to make this team better, I’m going to dream that Lee would waive his.
Besides that, I just came back to mention the piece on Fukudome at cubs.com. It’s interesting that the guy who speaks the least English is the most (and maybe only) stand-up guy on the team.
Andy, is it not at all conceivable that any of those three would be willing to waive said clause in order to get the hell away from this “cursed” team; plus, Derrek may want to get back to a team he was actually able to WIN with (i.e., the Marlins).
I’m injured most of my Dodgers’ career, I get a lucky well-timed bunt single against the Cubs, and now you fools clamor for me.
Put me in, coach.
“Derrek may want to get back to a team he was actually able to WIN with (i.e., the Marlins).”
If you think the Marlins are willing to take on a contract of his size, you’re out of your fucking gourd. Ditto for the dope who suggested the Pirates would be willing to take on $36M worth of Fukudome, while giving up their best young player, who will be salary controlled for three more years on his rookie contract.
Look, I have no problem moving big contracts, if you can get value in return, but suggesting that Zell or anyone else just eat those deals and not getting major-league talent back is just moronic.
I’m of the opinion that we should be looking to add instead of subtract.
Would you make a deal with the devil for…(gulp) ManRam?… His October bat commands respect.
I know he is a royal pain in the pink taco, but he does rake!
Thoughts anyone?
P.S. Bears! Sausage! Dikta! Chicago!
I’m sure ManJam will be a Yankee next year too.
I believe the winning shrimpy shortstop(s) you are referring to in 2002 and 2006 are the same guy. David Eckstein won it with Angels in 02 and the Cardinals in 06, right? For the record, I think he also won the WS MVP. I think that proves your point though, it’s happened twice and it was the same guy, you don’t see shrimpy shortstops dominating the Post Season unless their name is David Eckstein…that sounds so wrong.
Geez, I’m surprised this post hasn’t degenerated into the Obama Kool-Aid and Dick Sucking Contestâ„¢ that has become the Desipio Message Board anymore. Fuck all of you nasty groupthink wingnuts, you kill the joy out of this site for self-immolating Cubs fans that just don’t happen to share your politics. I’d point out several of the most bent of this ilk, but it’s really pointless as they no commandeer the site.
Sorry Andy, this is why you should never bring politics into a fun, entertainment, and/or sports fan site. Ugh.
#34: Who’s the assclown mentioning politics in this thread? Oh wait… it’s you. Idiot.
Here’s my needless obligatory mention of how nearly all of Desipio hollered at me for years for ever having the gumption to doubt The Riot as a big league shortstop.
Welcome aboard, bitches/femdogs/whatever hip phrase is “in” now!
A list of desipiot conservatives/Republicans who freely express their viewpoint at the Messageboard:
TJ Brown, Gil Gunderson, Tinkers to Evers to Chance, Morpheus, Taylor, BC, powen, Mike C., Dave B., flannj, Paul Popovich Experience, Brian, Bonk.
I’d say it’s a pretty fair representation.
Go slam your dick in the door, your frustrated old codger.
did somebody say codger? Don’t do that. O 2nd thought thats OK – they didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves.
Aubrey Huff. Lefty with good pop. .304 32 108 .360 .552. Can play the OF but could be spelled by the Hoff and Dero. Only one year left on his contract at 8 mil.
You people just think we can sign and trade for every player in the major leagues? #22, if you’d like a lineup as improbable as that one, go buy mlb 2k9 and go to town. in fact, i bet u could get arod, manny, mariano rivera, cc, and pujols!! we’d definitely win the world series then!!!
MLB 2K9 isn’t out yet.
then get it next year dumbass
is polyanna a term for a multi sided retard?
No, because then this dude wouldn’t be the ANTI-Polyanna.
Haha, yeah, Desipio is real “open-minded” #37. Check out the thread “General Election Clusterfuck” and get back to me. I looked at the last ten pages, that was enough to see groupthink-cubed. Dick muncher.
Does Dolan get a check from KOS like the other Desipio posters? I hear the Obama people pay $10/hour, true? Good pay for sitting in your mom’s basement I’d think.
No, because then this dude wouldn’t be the ANTI-Polyanna.
Zing
All great points, except Soriano won’t be moved out of the leadoff spot. He should be though.
I will be a success as long as we don’t re-sign Dempster. Anyone who pays him “ace” money after seeing his gutless Game 1 start is insane.
Oh yea, and D-Lee needs to be hitting 6th.
What did I miss? Did we start posting Obama and McCain ads in the articles?
There are two political threads on the whole messageboard, out of (at this count) 6,269 discussions.
Calm the fuck down.