A Complete Look at The 2009 Chicago Cubs As of June 29th
With the White Sox series now in the rear view mirror it is time to analyze the 2009 edition of the Chicago Cubs with an eye towards the remaining 90+ games and their chances to save a sinking season. I spoke with my go to baseball sources today who include 2 former GM's, a former manager and several scouts and broadcasters and here is what we have come up with: (I would appreciate your comments and ideas on what you would do if you were put in charge of the Cubs).
Let's begin with the offense which is a far cry from the 2008 model which led the National League in runs scored. There is not one regular who would tell you that he is having a good season. At catcher, Geovany Soto's production is nothing short of awful. He is hitting just.223 with 7 home runs and 24 RBI's. At third base the Cubs are getting very little since Aramis Ramirez went down with a serious shoulder injury. Mike Fontenot has been brutal offensively and his lack of production has shown the spotlight even more brightly on Ramirez' absence. Ryan Theriot is having a solid season offensively but he is an average shortstop defensively. Several scouts concurred with what I wrote earlier that Theriot should be moved to 2nd base and the Cubs should look to acquire a standout shortstop. At first base Derrek Lee has been solid but unspectacular with his power numbers far below what a superstar first baseman should be delivering. Defensively, he remains one of baseball's best.
Moving on to the outfield, the Cubs may have the worst defensive outfield in all of baseball. There wasn't one expert that I spoke with who felt that the Cubs defense was even adequate to win a championship. Alfonso Soriano is hopefully showing signs of coming out of his slump having had 4 multi-hit games in his last five. However, defensively he is awful. He has no feel for the game and is a huge liability for his team. Not a single baseball source I spoke with would want him as the left fielder on their team. The former GM even went as far as to say that he would explore trying to move Soriano even if he had to pay half of his salary. Kosuke Fukudome is a very average center fielder defensively who plays far too deep in center because he is not comfortable going back on the ball. He is below average offensively and is struggling much as he did the second half of the 2008 season. The panel of experts do believe that he is an excellent right fielder and you could see more of him there with Milton Bradley struggling so mightily in all aspects of his game.
General Manager Jim Hendry took a 97 win team from 2008 and got rid of 12 players from the roster. If you factor in injuries you have the 110 RBI's from Aramis Ramirez out of the lineup, the 87 RBI's from Mark DeRosa gone and Hendry replaced them with Bradley who has 16 RBI's and Aaron Miles who has the grand total of 4. Add in the struggles of Soriano, Soto, and the decreased production of Mike Fontenot and it is fairly easy to see why the Cubs are among the worst teams in baseball with runners in scoring position.
Now on to the manager who is being ripped by the fans and media on a daily basis. While I don't agree with everything that he does you have to look at the facts. 1) It was not his decision to bring Milton Bradley to Chicago. 2) He is not batting .221 with runners in scoring position. His players are. 3) He is not averaging a walk an inning as Carlos Marmol is. Lou Piniella doesn't rip his players publicly, he refuses to make excuses for the struggles of the team understanding that when things don't go well the manager takes the hits. However, let's not forget that he has won two straight division titles for an organization that has never done that and went 30+ years without back to back winning records.
The Cubs look lifeless right now and they need to make some changes to their lineup. Here is what my experts suggest that Piniella do: Surprisingly, they believe that Soriano should remain in the leadoff spot. The former manager I spoke with believes that he is starting to look more comfortable at the plate and that by leaving him there he could get on a hot streak that could propel the Cubs forward in a big way. All of the experts I spoke with believe that the Cubs must markedly improve their defense to turn the season around. In addition, all of them expect the team to hover near the top of the division if for no other reason than the division is the weakest in all of baseball.
Cubs Notes....Aaron Miles is headed back to the DL and CF Sam Fuld has been recalled from Class AAA Iowa. Expect Fuld to start in center tomorrow night in game two of the Pirates series....Cubs management is talking extensively about what moves they can make to jump start the club. One thing on their radar screen is the addition of a set up man who could team with Angel Guzman to take some of the load off of Carlos Marmol as he struggles to find his command....The Cubs were offered Mark DeRosa back from the Indians but they did not want to part with Sean Marshall and a minor league prospect to re-acquire a guy whose contract is up at the end of the season.
5 Comments
Bad Kermit said:
My first move as GM would be to trade this Derrick Lee character for Derrek Lee.
Andy said:
Hey Kap, great column. Is Derrick Lee any relation to Derek Rose?
I enjoyed the insights of your gold ribbon panel of experts. So you talked to six of them and you guys came up with:
1) Ryan Theriot should play second and the Cubs should get a "standout shortstop." Maybe Hendry should call the Phillies and see if they want to make Jimmy Rollins' benching permanent and trade him to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus?
2) Derrick Lee doesn't hit for power anymore. In June he only hit six homers, drove in 20 runs and posted a 1.033 OPS.
3) Kosuke plays too deep.
4) They need to get another middle reliever to help out Angel "Hey look, my elbow just fell off...again" Guzman and Carlos Marmol.
Good stuff.
Ramboner said:
DERREK LEE is NOT in Kap's CORNER
csteves said:
Well, obviously I think passing on reacquiring DeRosa was a poor move, but moving on. Is Marshall not a Lefty Specialist. I thought that is where he should stay. I was surprised that the Cubs even got Bradley, if they were looking for a left of switch bat, they should have gone with Orlando Hudson. Kosuke should have stayed in Right Field especially after last year where many people stated that he was the best right fielder they had seen play at Wrigley Field. With that Joey Gathwright would have gotten more playing time, and not traded away. Mile's was questioned right away by all Cubs fans, just because he is a switch hitter does not mean he can replace Mark DeRosa. And not just the bat, but the personality in the clubhouse and utility on the field, and report with the fans. As for the bullpen, I would look more for a closer than a setup man. Gregg just does not look like he has confidence on the mound.
CB said:
Derrek is the least of the Cubs problems, as he has been the only position player that has been producing consistently. He's never been a super star first baseman. There is arguably only one superstar 1B right at this time(until two years from now when he breaks his hip rounding first and we find out he's really 52 years old). Derrek had one amazing year, and a good stretch of 4 years, but he'll never be remembered as a "superstar." In the last 11 years, he's avg 23 hrs per season, and with 11 this year through some sixty odd games, he's on his pace. I'm not sure how or why you found time to mention something negative about Lee, but somehow I have the feeling that you'll still be waiting for him to hit 45 homeruns again, 5 years after he's retired.
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