7 Starters, 6 Roles

So obviously we didn't get Sanchez. Shame. But hey, we signed Villanueva and Jackson. We now have seven, yup, seven starting pitchers. Only five will start, one will be the long man and one will be left out. Who will that be? Baker and Garza's readiness may just answer that question kindly for everyone, but for the sake of argument, let's say they're all ready.

Jackson, Garza and Samardzija are in.

That leaves Baker, Feldman, Villanueva and Wood. Two will start, one will be the long man.

Villanueva looks to be a quality long man and occasional spot starter, so lets fill that role with him.

Wood is a lefty who performed good enough last year for the Cubs. Bonus points for these facts. Pencil him in as the #3 starter, breaking up all the righties.

That leaves just Baker and Feldman, and Baker has had a much higher upside in the past. He was the ace of the Twins staff just two years ago. He is just the kind of player the Cubs want and need. High potential upside, low contract, and if it all works out well, trade bait for prospects. You gotta give the final spot to him.

 

Sustained Success

The Cubs message boards are, for the most part, filled with a bunch of hate. Filled with a bunch of people who think Theo Epstein is stupid and Ricketts even stupider. I've even seen them called Dumb and Dumber. But here's the thing about message boards: 1. No matter what message board you read, they are always filled with much more hate than positivity. 2. Statistically speaking, they are probably young kids, most of which are 18 or younger.

These people don't really understand baseball. Baseball is a complex sport, that has constantly changed. Even if you do study the game and come to understand it, it will soon change and you're going to have to relearn it all over again. The steroid era redefined what superstars in their mid to late thirties can do. Even before we knew it was the steroid era, it was changing what we knew about baseball, which players need to be signed to long-term contracts, how to put together a winning team. Now we're in yet another new era. We're in the post-steroid, sabermetrics era. This new era redefines yet again, what players should get signed to long term contracts and which should be ignored. Yet still, many teams are locking up free agents until they're in their late thirties. Sabermetrics tells us this will be a mistake, but only time will truly tell us anything.

I'm on board with the concept of not signing high priced free agents to long term contracts that will put them in a Cubs uniform until they're 40. I completely agree that building a strong farm system, waiting until they develop, seeing which ones work out then, and only then, fill in the holes with free agents or trades. It's kind of a new concept, a concept that many teams don't use. So for a team to begin using this system, it will take them two to three years for it all to flesh out. That's two to three years of going into the season knowing your team will not compete and make a run for the playoffs. That is a hard pill to swallow as a fan, and even more so for a Cubs fan.

But here's why it should be swallowed: Sustained success. Since I've been a cubs fan, there have been a few runs to and in the playoffs and obviously no world series victories or even appearances. Furthermore, none of those teams had any sustained success, most went right back to a losing record the very next season. I, for one, am willing to buck-up and hold my breath for a couple of years for the chance at sustained success. For a chance to be able to cheer for my team through September year in and year out.

If you mention this on any of those message boards, you'll be laughed out of the room. They'll tell you you're "buying into the hype," or that "you're believing their propaganda." Except "you're believing their propaganda" will look more like "your beleving there propognda." Yes, there is nary a person on the message board who knows how to properly use the different variations of there, were or to (or even care to spell correctly). This is how you can tell they are under 18. This is the result of an education system that has been seriously underfunded for way too long. Every time you cut the budget a little further, one more child graduates high school not knowing the difference between then and than.

But the thing is, the Cubs sucked last year and they probably will suck again this year. So the "stupid" message board kids are right, at least for now. They're right when they say the "Cubs suck" or "Theo is an idiot and he's gonna fail to win again this year." So until all of the young prospects develop and our minor leagues are fully stocked, we won't be able to tell these kids "I told you so." And even then, they won't care anyway.

The Return of Hope

Hamilton, Greinke, Napoli...As each free agent left the market and as the Cubbies countered with yet another pitcher coming off Tommy John, I felt another little piece of my positivity die.

I went into this offseason with a lot of positivity (see earlier posts). No, I didn't think we'd be champions next year and no, I didn't think we'd be in on the Hamilton or Greinke sweepstakes, and you know what? I didn't want them anyway. I wasn't too impressed with any of this year's free agent crop. In fact, I entered the offseason hoping only for Anibal Sanchez, but not expecting him.

When the Cubs signed the Tommy John brothers known as Scott 1 and Scott 2, I believed our rotation complete. I began fantasizing about one of the Scotts working out good enough for a Maholm like prospect trade at the deadline. Dreams of Anibal Sanchez had officially died.

But when the Dodgers signed Greinke and the Royals traded for Shields, I began to feel a little down. Ok, more than a little down. I know we're not supposed to compete this year, but why should the Royals have a better pitching staff than us? Why?

Then the Angels signed Hamilton, and better yet, they only have to keep him for 5 years. LA fever was in full effect this morning and I was damn jealous.

But then came surprise word that the Cubbies were one of the final two teams bidding for Sanchez. At the time of this writing, the Cubs have a firm offer on the table and now we're all holding our collective Cubbies breath to see if the Tigers will match or beat it.

Chances are, the Tigers will beat it, or at least match it. I know this. 15 million a year is not bad for Sanchez. But it's the return of hope that I'm enjoying right now. It's knowing that if the right player comes along right now, even though we're not quite ready for our run, we'll try to get him.

The signing of Fujikawa has the potential to be a huge game changer for the Cubs next year. The only problem is that they would need to keep Marmol for this to happen.

Imagine Russell and Camp sharing the 7th, Marmol holding fort in the 8th and Fujikawa closing. I think this would be a really solid bullpen. This would be a bullpen that I could trust, but if Marmol gets traded, it's significantly weakened.

Having a solid 8th inning guy is becoming more and more important to the point that to be a contender, a team needs to have a closer-caliber type guy, or even an actual closer, working setup. Problem is, I think it's a real long shot the Cubbies keep Marmol. If they have the opportunity to unload his salary and get a prospect in return, there's no way they won't jump at it.

But, on the positive note, Madson signing with the Angels possibly knocks out the team that already has shown interest in taking Marmol.