Where to begin? I guess the easiest place to start is the new ownership group. The Ricketts Family is now the proud owner of this 102 year drought. Despite a renewed sense of optimism, encouraging talk about winning while ensuring the public trust will continue between the fans and Wrigley Field, they still managed to try and get away with a Cubs tax in Mesa. So it's fair to say they have a mixed review so far.
Let's get away from the new owners for a moment. This is now year number four of the Lou Piniella Era. For everything that has happened during that time, there's no question that Lou Piniella has been the most successful Cub manager in their franchise history. He's the only Cub manager to see the postseason in back to back years since Frank Chance over 100 years ago. Unfortunately for Lou and the Cubs, the postseason has not been as kind as it was to Frank Chance. It appears that the window to a World Series title is closing fast. Personally, I don't think that is the case. Despite the overspending on Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and the recently departed Milton Bradley, the Cubs have guessed right on more pieces than they guessed wrong about (Dempster, Lee, Lilly, Aramis) over the years as well as had some young players emerge (Soto, Fontenot, Theriot, Wells, Marmol, etc). Will the 2010 mix equal another division championship? Here's what I see:
HOW THE PLAN TO WIN GAMES - LINEUP : One thing that I can say for sure is that the Cubs will hit this season. Rudy Jaramillo is one of the few coaches in sports who actually does have an impact on his teams performance. This could mean tremendous numbers for Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez if they both stay healthy. Not to mention if Rudy would be able to rejuvenate that $136 million dollar stiff DH in left field, the Cubs would have three really big sticks in the lineup. The rest of the lineup is also pretty well rounded out with newcomer Marlon Byrd (another Rudy success story), Fukudome, Fontenot, and Theriot. Geovany Soto lost 40lbs, which I would only imagine would benefit him. Soriano no longer in the leadoff role will be interesting to watch as well as Tyler Colvin. He is just interesting, for lack of a better word, and somehow I believe he will find his way into the lineup more often than not this season.
HOW THEY PLAN TO WIN GAMES - PITCHING : The Cubs will be featuring three rookies (Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad, and James Russell) in the bullpen this season. This means that the Cubs rotation will need to have about three starting pitchers that throw around 200 innings each to minimize those rookies exposure. The good news is this Cubs rotation has guys that have thrown 200 innings in a season in Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Tom Gorzelanny, and Carlos Silva. Each of them have thrown 200 plus innings at least once within the past 3 seasons. Plus Randy Wells had an impressive debut last year, and if Ted Lilly can (eventually) come back and be the same pitcher he has been since putting on a Cub uniform, that should give the Cubs plenty of guys who can eat innings. While the Cubs have a good chance of getting games to the 8th and Carlos Marmol 9th inning, they have big question marks. Someone will need to step up and own the 8th inning details between John Grabow, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija and the rookies.
Prediction : I believe the Cubs will win 90 games and retake the NL Central Division Crown. I believe they will hit better than the .255 BA, .332 OBP, .738 OPS they posted as a team last season. I also think their pitching will be the difference for them this year as the rotation is quietly deeper than most teams in the National League. After that who knows? While I won't bet against 102 years of history, if the Cubs pitching holds up they might actually win a playoff series for the first time since 2003.
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