I’ve been talking to lots of pretty knowledgable Cubs fans recently about what the team needs to change this offseason in order to get them back into the playoffs and make ammends for their disastrous performance from this year. And it’s been surprising. Everything from trading Derek Lee and installing Micah Hoffpauir as your starter to trading Zambrano for prospects.
To all these outlandish schemes I say: NO.
Are you kidding me? This was a team that won 97 games last year despite an “off” season by their number one starter and a whole bunch of games that Soriano missed. And the whole hop thing. RIch Hill caught the Ankiel bug and was banished to the minors, Felix Pie continued being Felix Pie, and Jason Marquis enraged everyone. And still they managed to pull off a season like this?
Why would you change anything? I’ll tell you why: fans only remember the very latest thing the team did, and that was their horrible play in the postseason. The offense sucked and the pitching was just OK. So now they want an offensive overhaul and more pitching.
I’ll admit that something needs to be done about right field—a right-handed bat to complement Fukudome (or replace him outright depending on how things go), another lefty in the pen (that can throw strikes, pretty please), or a second baseman if DeRosa is moved to right field. So there are legitimate issues but not on the scale that the fans I’m talking to are thinking.
Let’s be honest, they are Hot Stove happy. And I understand, but let’s not forget the wise words of Billy Beane: the playoffs are a crapshoot.
I believe that’s true and I think that a full season of the same offense that put up an NL leading .354 OBP (with some tweaks) could put the team right back in the playoffs.
As for the outfield situation (see Fukudome), tune in later for more rumor mongering on that one…
The Stretch 