Ahhh yes, once again, hope springs eternal for the Chicago Cubs. The 2009 version of the team, seems to have an even better chance of capturing the ever-elusive World Series title, even better than last year's 97-win team.
The offseason was a very busy one for the Cubs. Jim Hendry has had his hands full. Making trades, and signing free agents. Gone are Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa, Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds, Jason Marquis, and others.
Even the once-highly touted Felix Pie. New arrivals include: OF Milton Bradley, IF/OF Joey Gathright, IF Aaron Miles, P Aaron Heilman, and P Kevin Gregg, among other lesser known commodities.
With Spring Training well under way, among the questions that need to be answered; Will Kosuke Fukudome recover from last year's second half-long slump?; Will Milton Bradley stay healthy?; How often will Lou Piniella switch around the lineup?; And will their be any more surprises, compliments of the impending finalization of the sale of the Cubs?
The addition of Milton Bradley to an already very potent Cubs offense, make it a very real possibility of having five 20-30(+)HR hitters. That may seem somewhat optimistic, the ability is there.
All it would take is for everybody to be healthy. Adding Joey Gathright, brings more speed to the team. The trick is, putting together the right lineup to optimize the talents of everyone. Koyie Hill has been brought to the big club as Geovany Soto's backup, the Cubs apparently believe it is time for him to fully develop into the No. 2 catcher.
If that does not work, they brought back Paul Bako, to fill the gap.
It is not out of the realm of possibility, that the Cub's could lead the National League in Scoring once more. Thus possibly propelling them to the top spot in the National League Central.
Sure there will be some competition, the divisional games always seem to be very close. I won't say for sure, but I believe you can count out Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Houston, right from the start. Which just leaves St. Louis and Milwaukee for a three-horse race.
The Starting Five Pitchers: Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, Harden, and newly donned fifth starter, Sean Marshall. This gives the Cubs three righties and two lefties, enough to put an effective challenge to any three-game series.
The bullpen seems to be solid; a nice mixture of youth and experience. Kevin Gregg seems to be the choice for the closer, although if that experiment does not work, expect Carlos Marmol to jump in and dominate.
The bench will include a versatile group of guys who can play several positions. Reed Johnson proved to be a very gritty player, at least initially he will be in the running for the center field position with Kosuke Fukudome.
Micah Hoffpauir, Aaron Miles, Joey Gathright, and Mike Fontenot will round out the rest of the bench. With the way Lou Piniella juggled the lineup last year, expect these guys to see quite a bit of action.
Which brings us to the sale of the Cubs that is expected to be final somewhere around May.
If the new owner gives Jim Hendry the green light, expect him to be very active. The landscape of possible trades, including Jake Peavy; and other player's that are currently on teams that have no seeming hope of playoff contention.
The one remaining question is: can the Cubs figure out how to stay together as a team through October. As seen in the previous two years, they certainly know how to reach the post- season, but have not figured out how to win, anything.
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