Chicago Cubs

The Cubs and city of Chicago are on the precipice of a deal that will keep fans singing during the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field for the foreseeable future as well.

According to Dan Gelston of the Associated Press, the team and its home are on the precipice of a $500 million renovation deal for the historic ballpark:

One of the new advertising billboards for the Chicago Cubs is a simple saying: "Not if. When." Although this is a clever campaign that will give fans hope, there should probably be a question mark at the end of the second sentence. 

Times are changing in Chicago, and for the better. The Cubs are going through the rigors of a rebuilding process that started last year when Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were brought on board to give the front office a makeover. 

In their first year with the team, Epstein and Hoyer made a point to blow as much of the ship up to start over. They did make some smart moves with the big league team—giving Starlin Castro a team-friendly, seven-year extension, for example—but the farm system was the main focus. 

While the on-field product and overall result may be uninspiring for the next several years, the future is undeniably bright for the Chicago Cubs.

Carlos Marmol’s 2011 campaign was a disaster. His 2012 season was equally awful.

Why would the Cubs stick with Marmol as their closer?

They say “hindsight is 20/20.”  But what about foresight?  Does that score somewhere around 20/1200 on the Snellen chart?

The evidence—an article of mine published last September—would suggest to the affirmative.  Granted, some of my predictions are correct, or will turn out to be correct, and deserved of a self-congratulatory pat on the back.

The Cubs are still in the process of retooling their farm system.  The organization has some decent prospects at the higher levels of minor league baseball, but most of their best prospects are plying their trade at the lower levels.

When composing this lineup, there were some selections that caused some second-guessing and hesitation before the final decisions were made—not just whom to include, but where to place them in the field for those who played multiple positions.

There was some internal debate on where to play Ernie Banks on the Chicago Cubs’ All-Time Team.  He played parts of nine seasons at shortstop and 11 at first base, with some time at third base and in the outfield sprinkled in.

Chicago Cubs team president Theo Epstein may say that the 2013 season will be considered a failure if the team doesn't qualify for the playoffs.

The saga of Sammy Sosa could have gone much differently had the Cubs traded him to the Yankees in 2000. At the time, Sosa was coming off of two historic seasons in which he hit 66 and 63 home runs, respectively.