With the winter meetings to a close, and the holiday season approaching, how much action will there be out of the Cubs? Of course this can only be answered depending on how you look at their post season moves. And the real answer doesn't come until the first day of Spring Training, and even then the work is never done.
Of course the biggest news out of the Cubs organization, and the entire MLB, was the signing of free agent Alfonso Soriano. With his great speed, and power bat, this guy is a great addition to any big league club. The only downside of his career has been his surplus of errors while at 2nd base. The Washington Nationals may have just fixed that problem for the Cubs, but this raises the question of where will Soriano play? The projected position is in right field which would move lefty Jacque Jones to center. Jones has played in center with his time with the Twins, so this wouldn't be anything new to him. Plus this ensures keeping a left handed batter in the line up which the Cubs desperately need. And NO, Jones has not formally requested a trade, so it seems for now he will still be a Cub.
The great news from all of this is we secured our lead off spot, and now have our starting outfield in position. You hit two birds with one stone on this signing. But if Soriano is playing right, then who's on second. No, who's on first, or is it third? Anyway, there are a handful of options just as last year. The only difference is, every single one of them can make a difference for the team. Mark DeRosa was signed after a strong showing in '06. Lets just hope it carries over once he may become an everyday player. The Riot (Theriot) is in a close second after what he showed in the second half of the year. He became the most consistent hitter, and was guaranteed to get on base. His defense is no question his strong point as he makes a great utility player. Even if this guys doesn't start, he will be one great player on the bench. Unfortunately, Cedeno didn't live up to expectations, but if you ask me, there was a lot of pressure on him. He did commit too many errors, and slumped on the hitting later in the season. But if he can come out and show us the person we saw at the beginning of last year, you may be seeing him more than you expect.
But the big question becomes about our pitching. This was the most inconsistent position last year that hurt any chances of the club winning. Three acquisitions have been made since the end of last season that will hopefully make our weakest position into our strongest.
First and foremost was the trade of David Aardsma for Neal Cotts. This was a great move because it gave us another lefty in the bullpen, and depending on the progress of our injured pitchers, possibly another lefty starter. Cotts has struggled some last year, but has remained a constant pitcher to rely on. Now if that wasn't enough, the Cubs went out and landed free agent Ted Lilly from the Toronto Blue Jays. Here is another lefty who has shown signs of being able to go late in games and keep any team in the hunt of winning. He might not be an ace, but our major problem was having to rely on our bullpen so much last year that everyone got wore out. And now just recently, there is speculation that Jason Marquis has signed with the Cubs. Unfortunately coming off a disappointing couple of season with the Cardinals, he hasn't shown that he can go late into games, and is struggling with his control. Larry Rothschild thinks its all about mechanics. And a plus side is, he had a good season in '04 by leading the team into the playoffs.
So coming off the end of last year there were 4 goals that Hendry clearly had to accomplish;
Sign Aramis Ramirez - check
Acquire two good pitchers - check, check, and check
Sign Juan Pierre or a new lead off man - check plus
Secure a strong infield - check
So all goals have been accomplished according to the list, but are there still moves that could be made? With Prior, Wood, and Miller all uncertain at this point, another pitcher could be in the works. You do have Marshall as an option, but he was too inconsistent and more time in AAA would do him good. In fact all the young guns showed signs of one day being a big league starter, but all need more time.
I think the bulk of the transactions have been completed and anything from here on out will be securing a strong bench or a good group of relievers. This year Hendry has gone out and spent the money to push the Cubs from last to first, but the games need to be won first.
Go Cubs!
Of course the biggest news out of the Cubs organization, and the entire MLB, was the signing of free agent Alfonso Soriano. With his great speed, and power bat, this guy is a great addition to any big league club. The only downside of his career has been his surplus of errors while at 2nd base. The Washington Nationals may have just fixed that problem for the Cubs, but this raises the question of where will Soriano play? The projected position is in right field which would move lefty Jacque Jones to center. Jones has played in center with his time with the Twins, so this wouldn't be anything new to him. Plus this ensures keeping a left handed batter in the line up which the Cubs desperately need. And NO, Jones has not formally requested a trade, so it seems for now he will still be a Cub.
The great news from all of this is we secured our lead off spot, and now have our starting outfield in position. You hit two birds with one stone on this signing. But if Soriano is playing right, then who's on second. No, who's on first, or is it third? Anyway, there are a handful of options just as last year. The only difference is, every single one of them can make a difference for the team. Mark DeRosa was signed after a strong showing in '06. Lets just hope it carries over once he may become an everyday player. The Riot (Theriot) is in a close second after what he showed in the second half of the year. He became the most consistent hitter, and was guaranteed to get on base. His defense is no question his strong point as he makes a great utility player. Even if this guys doesn't start, he will be one great player on the bench. Unfortunately, Cedeno didn't live up to expectations, but if you ask me, there was a lot of pressure on him. He did commit too many errors, and slumped on the hitting later in the season. But if he can come out and show us the person we saw at the beginning of last year, you may be seeing him more than you expect.
But the big question becomes about our pitching. This was the most inconsistent position last year that hurt any chances of the club winning. Three acquisitions have been made since the end of last season that will hopefully make our weakest position into our strongest.
First and foremost was the trade of David Aardsma for Neal Cotts. This was a great move because it gave us another lefty in the bullpen, and depending on the progress of our injured pitchers, possibly another lefty starter. Cotts has struggled some last year, but has remained a constant pitcher to rely on. Now if that wasn't enough, the Cubs went out and landed free agent Ted Lilly from the Toronto Blue Jays. Here is another lefty who has shown signs of being able to go late in games and keep any team in the hunt of winning. He might not be an ace, but our major problem was having to rely on our bullpen so much last year that everyone got wore out. And now just recently, there is speculation that Jason Marquis has signed with the Cubs. Unfortunately coming off a disappointing couple of season with the Cardinals, he hasn't shown that he can go late into games, and is struggling with his control. Larry Rothschild thinks its all about mechanics. And a plus side is, he had a good season in '04 by leading the team into the playoffs.
So coming off the end of last year there were 4 goals that Hendry clearly had to accomplish;
Sign Aramis Ramirez - check
Acquire two good pitchers - check, check, and check
Sign Juan Pierre or a new lead off man - check plus
Secure a strong infield - check
So all goals have been accomplished according to the list, but are there still moves that could be made? With Prior, Wood, and Miller all uncertain at this point, another pitcher could be in the works. You do have Marshall as an option, but he was too inconsistent and more time in AAA would do him good. In fact all the young guns showed signs of one day being a big league starter, but all need more time.
I think the bulk of the transactions have been completed and anything from here on out will be securing a strong bench or a good group of relievers. This year Hendry has gone out and spent the money to push the Cubs from last to first, but the games need to be won first.
Go Cubs!
