New Year's Wish List

For my New Year's wish list, I'm wishing all the way through December 2013.

1. One of the Scotts breaks out and performs well enough to be traded for quality prospects in July.

2. Jeff Samardzija out-performs 2012.

3. One of our outfield prospects arrives earlier than planned and is better than expected.

4. Starlin Castro has less than 15 errors.

5. Darwin Barney hits .280

6. Tony Campana improves his on-base percentage enough to garner real playing time.

7. Fujikawa performs great, earns the closer spot, Marmol is happy to take the ball in the eight, performs well enough to cause a bidding war for him at the trade deadline, brings in a top 25 prospect (MLB Rankings, not individual team rankings).

8. I don't yet know what the free agent class of 2013 will be, but I hope there's better pitchers on the market than this year and I wish for the #1 ranked free agent pitcher, signed to no more than a four year deal.

9. The Cubs play well enough in 2013 to make a run for it in 2014.

10. All the young "Kids" bring enough excitement to the team to keep me interested and watching even though the Cubs are playing .500 ball (yes, I'm sneaking in the ".500 ball" wish here too).

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.