Wait till next year's hot stove

Well, the Cubs' season was about as successful as I was at keeping up the blog over the summer. It was a dissapointment, and I think it had to do mostly with injuries and the moves that were made in the offseason. I'm normally pretty supportive of Jim Hendry, but this year's moves, I think, were an over reaction to a poorly timed slump. We didn't need as much change as we got. And even though it is easy to quickly point to the new people as the cause of the cubs' swoon in 09, I think it had more to do with what we lost than who we got.

The greatest of these, in my opinion, was the bullpen. We lost Wood, Howry, Eyre (and yes, I know we got rid of him during the season) and probably others I'm forgetting. We ended up with Gregg, Heillman and a bunch of others, many of whom didn't even play a game for the cubs. There was no one in the bullpen who we could go to that we could be sure would shut em down. Each reliever had strings of solidness, but then they'd get shaky again. Our bullpen, in my mind needs the most work of everything on the team.

Next, is the bench. Our bench was an undervalued key to our success in '08. Cedeno, Fontenot, Johnson, and sometimes DeRosa were all playing very well, and really stepped up during the injuries. This year, no one stepped up when we had injuries. Miles was hurt most of the year. Fontenot was a starter, but didn't even hit well enough to be a back-up. Jeff Baker came in and did a pretty solid job. But, he should be a back-up next year. I think he's perfect for that. But, we did very little to replenish the bench this year, and we paid for it. That's not to say some minor leaguers aren't showing promise. Fox looks like the real deal. But we need more than just promising prospects to make up the bench. We need people who have been there too (which brings me to my next point).

We lost important leaders. Kerry Wood had been with the Cubs the longest, and he, from what I can tell, is a great guy to have in the clubhouse. Mark DeRosa also looked to be a great clubhouse prescense. We lacked that this year. In fact, we added Milton Bradley. I adore Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, but they seem to me to be more leaders by example. Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly have the personalities to do this, I think, but as you know, they are in the dugout only once every 5 games. The club needs some good clubhouse guys. So, here's my synopsis of what the cubs need to do in the offseason:

1) Get some arms, especially bullpen arms. We need a few more lefties, and we need to have a closer. That is a tall order, seeing as how there are probably about 7 or 8 real closers in the game right now. If it means settling on Marmol or going out and getting someone good, it needs to happen for the Cubs to step to the next level. We are pretty darn good as far as starters go, we just have to figure out what will do with Rich Harden. Do we sign him back, do it in house, or get out on the free agent market. There are some good ones out there this season (Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb), but I don't think the Cubs need to empty the pocket books in this area.

2)We need some leadership. Bring in some people who have won before who will help the youngsters and inspire the others. We have a really talented team already. But, you can't measure a good clubhouse. Until the Cubs create a good clubhouse, it's just going to continue to be a talented team.

3)Forget about getting another big bat. We have truckloads of RBI guys. We need people who do other things. It would be nice to have a few who just mash out hits and work the count. Someone who knows how to steal a base and execute on the hit and run. Every player on the team doesn't have to get 25 homeruns. We haven't had a leadoff man since Kenny Lofton. You know when the last time we won in the postseason was? (Oh yeah 2003. Who was our leadoff man then?)

4)It'd be nice to have at least one good arm in the outfield.

So, here's some free agents that really interest me. I know there are going to be many others that are more desirable and more high profile, but that's not always what makes a good team. These are the guys I think would be interesting to throw in the mix:

-Orlando Cabrera: He's not a big name, but he wins wherever he goes. He's won championships and he plays a decent infield. He might not even be a starter if we got the right people, but he would be a fantastic grab if someone was injured.

-Chone Figgins: If you miss Mark DeRosa, you gotta love the idea of Chone Figgins. He also plays every position. Again, he's been a part of a winning team. He gets on base too.

-Ben Sheets: If he's cheap, it might be a good one to take on. I don't think the Cubs should depend on him to be the number 1 starter or anything, but just imagine if he got into the form of 2 seasons ago along with our 4 starters already. He wouldn't have to carry the team and could be rested.

-Orlando Hudson: Why didn't we sign him last year? Second base seems to be the position everyone is looking for us to step up in. Hudson seems obvious. He's a type A free agent, so my guess is that the Cubs may not pony up the cash.

The outfield seems the only other place to stash someone. We really need Soriano to come back and produce. Who knows what will happen in center field, and everyone says we're getting rid of Milton Bradley. We could easily, in my opinion, end up with the same starting line-up in the outfield as we did in '09, but here are some better options: Carl Crawford, Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, or Xavier Nady. None of those are likely to happen. And we may even try to pull in some over the hill outfielders on the decline like Bobby Abreu, Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, or Johnny Damon to see if we can have the most expensive ineffective outfield in all the majors. Who knows?

Regardless, I'm looking forward to finding out. Come on, make the World Series a quick on.