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* I was thinking yesterday that the White Sox have some clear deficiencies in their lineup that simply must be addressed during the off-season. We’ve got a center-fielder who only plays six innings, a third baseman with a mysterious injury that never heals, a replacement third baseman who swings out of his shoes on every pitch, and a rapidly aging DH, to mention just a few. There’s room for improvement.
But it occurred to me this week that Cub fans and many respected analysts firmly believed all year that the Northsiders had close to the perfect team, with an “A-List” manager and a corporate parent finally willing to shell out the big bucks for talent. Yet, they got steam-rolled in the playoffs. What are they now, 0 for their last nine post-season games? Oof.
So, my question is: How can that unmentionable team from the North possibly trade or deal its way into success next year, if the dream lineup proved so awful in this year’s post season?
Snark is encouraged, of course, but I’d also like you to think of some “real” answers. Thanks.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:09 am
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A true leadoff hitter is essential. Soriano runs too hot and cold, and if he’s off during a playoff series, it seems to infect the whole squad.
I’m also very concerned about DLee’s stunning drop off in production. He’s morphed into a double play machine. I’d strongly consider dealing him before his reputation begins to catch up around the league, if it hasn’t already.
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:15 am
The Cub team was perfect. They just needed more practice. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:17 am
Completely agree with VanillaMan for a change. Heck of a job, Zelly!
Comment by Tom B. Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:23 am
1. Sign Mark Texiera, a left-handed slugger, then trade Lee for a possible leadoff man/center fielder or more bullpen help.
2. Need a left-handed run producer, in either center, left or go with Texiera at first.
3. find a leadoff hitter. either give the job to Theriot, Pie, or go outside of the system. Bat Soriano 5th next year.
4. If Lee stays, get him out of the third hole and move him to second or sixth in the order.
5. Start Fukudome in the minors next year if he struggles early. Move DeRosa to left, and then go with Fontenot or find a second baseman.
6. Need at least one more middle-relief guy.
Comment by Pickles!! Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:27 am
Perfect team? All evidence to the contrary. I think the two positions that need to be reconfigured for the Cubs are off the field: owner and general manager. My votes are for Mark Cuban and a chimpanzee, both of which would be improvements over the incumbents.
Comment by Dr. Jon Osterman Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:27 am
What do the Cubs need to do?
Well lets start with a platoon of bulldozers and a half dozen Indian witch doctors. Flatten Wrigley field and then do some kind of tribal dance to banish the curse into Lake Michigan. Maybe have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly and have Shawn dunston airmail a throw into the stands for good measure.
Secondly have Mark Cuban buy the team, find out what the biggest payroll in the MLB is and triple it. Buy everybody, ala the Marlin teams of the 90’s.
If all of that doesnt work, have the white sox and cubs teams meet in Soldier Field for a Gladiator style death match. After 30 minutes whoever is left standig gets consolidated into one Chicago baseball team called the Cubsox.
Comment by Speaking At Will Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:31 am
Heat and daytime resistant robots!
Comment by Levois Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:31 am
I read an article addressing some of these issues this morning. They mentioned maybe the Cubs needed Brian Roberts after all!
That may be true. A big mistake was believing Fukudome was the big leadoff/left-handed answer. Near the end of the season, the scouts finally solved him…he’s scared to get hit. He’s a great late-game, defensive player and sub for a full-time player. But wow! His salary…ugh.
The Cubs have the pitching pretty much in place. I wish they would’ve used Lilly in Game 2. Zambrano pitched well, but I would’ve liked to see Z pitch in LA.
Cubs need a productive center fielder. Need more (productive) lefties to send to the plate on a full-time basis.
I agree with VM for the most part…the Cubs will be in a good position next year. Santo made the comment that the players looked tired near the end of the season. I agree. They also didn’t look hungry. The Red Sox strike me as a team that just has that drive, determination. They know how to get it done, as a team.
The Cubs didn’t look like they were a “team” at the end of the year. I also think they got psyched out. They truly wanted the Mets in the first round, and to see LA come to down, in my opinion, freaked them out. They were not prepared.
Cubs will be favored next year. And they will be talented up and down the line-up, all the way through the farm system.
162 games are a lot. They need to shorten the season by a month. Baseball in 40 degree weather is just plain ignorant.
Comment by BandCamp Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:32 am
Enforce the Body Mass Index rule.
Comment by A Citizen Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:46 am
A VERY GOOD sports psychologist.
Comment by SPICubFan Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:47 am
Election of Ron Santo to the hall of fame will be the signal the curse is broken.
Comment by Leave a light on George Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 11:51 am
STOP LETTING G-ROD ATTEND GAMES!!!!! Elvis wanna be is a major distraction, and he needs to be banished!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by ivoted4judy Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:00 pm
They can’t, they’re cursed. And not that silly Billy Goat. Something much deeper and sinister.
A team should be able to win a World Series in one hundred years by accident. It’s not just 1969, 1984. It’s not just that they’ve lost their last nine playoff games.
It’s the way they’ve lost all those times. Blown leads. Inexplicable errors. Weird plays. Bats turning to mush. Pitchers serving up beach balls.
A curse is the most reasonable explanation. I’m a believer.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Lou Pinella,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:06 pm
I love how everyone was talking about the Cubs. Like Ozzie put it, the Sox need speed again. They went straight power and they either lived or died by the long ball. Anytime the Sox had a 2nd baseman they had a winning team. When Durham was good the Sox were good, Tad, and now Alexi. AJ did well in the two spot but they need a true 1-2 punch with speed at the top to be succesful. We need one more SP with Jose down and some bullpen help as usual.
As for the Cubs. I still think D Lee is a Gold Glove first baseman. They have a strong rotation and a great bench. They need a leadoff hitter as well. Both the Sox and Cubs could use a Brain Roberts and a little bullpen help.
Comment by Dr. Awesome Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:09 pm
I don’t think winning the World Series means that the winner is necessarily the best team in baseball. The 2004 Red Sox were a wild card that beat the Cardinals, who did have the MLB’s best regular season record. I would not say that Boston was the best team that year, but they were the best team in October. Sure the series is fun, and probably about the only baseball I watch all year, but it’s a professional sport played by millionaires, and I lost real interest long ago.
Comment by Captain Flume Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:11 pm
I suggest the Cubs take a year off from Wrigley so they can rebuild it before it falls apart. They can split their home games between Sox Park and Brewers Park, which is like Wrigley North anyway. Perhaps the time away from that crumbling museum will revitalize them and they could even manage to win one playoff game. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the year the Cubs actually won the World Series were the year they played not one game in Wrigley, and then they go back to losing upon return to the rebuilt Wrigley Field.
Comment by SoxCan-CubsCant Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:11 pm
I feel they need a solid lefty bat in the lineup..who that is..not sure at the moment. I mean they came close to winning 100 games, it’s just this postseason thing.
.
Comment by scoot Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:14 pm
Both the Sox and Cubs could use a Brain
I think Dr. Awesome has nailed it!
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:15 pm
Ban Ronnie Woo-Woo.
Comment by The 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:15 pm
Both the Sox and the Cubs need to get back to the basics, the same basics that won it for the Sox in 2005. That’s “grinder” baseball, or small ball if you will. You need to move the base runners to scoring positions and get them in. The Sox and the Cubs tried to rely on the big hitters, like Thome and Griffey for the Sox and Soriano, Ramirez and Lee for the Cubs. And for heaven’s sake, get rid of anyone who has a first name “Crane” from the front office. Anyone named Crane was more apt to be put in a garbage can growning. He reminds me of “Smalls” from the sandlot.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:17 pm
Change the calender to 1908!! IT’S GONNA HAPPEN!
Soriano is untradeable due to his large contract (take a bow, Jim Hendry!)
Send Fukudome to minors.
If Felix Pie can play CF full-time, great. If not, I don’t see who the leadoff hitter will be.
Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:26 pm
in football, the playoffs reward those teams who enter the post-season with a healthy starting line-up. baseball is more emotional, it seems, with momentum being more important than in america’s past time. the cubs, of course, could reward themselves by leaving wrigley and getting a stadium with better training facilities. they are in need of better facilities than better players. there’s probably a good reason why the cubs have never won a world series from it’s sub-standard stadium (from the athlete’s pov).
but people have always told me that it doesn’t matter if the cubs win, “it’s a great place to watch a game!” i assume they mean “watch a game” in the loosest sense. none of this really matters. the bears are at the top of their division (and likely to win it, if you listen to da coach) and the fire look headed for the playoffs. it’s *always* a good thing when baseball season is over, since the marlins get the hell out of dolphins stadium — where no one believes they belong. what to buy a baseball team? please get the marlins out of florida! doesn’t naperville need a team???
Comment by bored now Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:27 pm
On behalf of doormen, limo drivers, and waiters in Chicago: TRADE CARLOS ZAMBRANO.
It might not help the Cubs, but it sure would make Chicago a better place.
Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 12:28 pm
Fire Piniella and move Zambrano in is manager. This team needs a calming influence.
Comment by Marco Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 1:23 pm
Fire Piniella and move Zambrano in as manager. This team needs a calming influence.
Comment by Marco Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 1:23 pm
I was hoping they would have traded Aramis Ramirez last off season for a good pitcher and signed someone like Mike Lowell or Joe Creedy. Aramis is a slug. dump him.
Soriano is a freak and not a winner. he is a mistake that needs to be hidden in the #7 spot.
A great lead off hitter would be nice, but everyone needs that. They need a stud right fielder and Fuko isn’t it. Trade him.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 1:41 pm
The Cubs need major revamping. The problem is that some of the biggest suspects in the debacle are also some of the ones that are signed for the longest/most money. Soriano is not the player he was 3 years ago, let alone 5; same goes for Derrick Lee. Dempster proved he was as ready to lead the Cubs in the post-season as Ted “Glove-Slammer” Lilly did last year. Aramis Ramirez seems to be a ghost when the Cubs need him most. Fukodome is an $11 million defensive replacement, until further notice.
The only absolute, no-touch players to me for the Cubs are Soto, Samardzija, Marmol & Zambrano. Some of the role players and younger guys are definitely worth keeping around too, but one thing seems clear after watching the Cubs fail the past two seasons with a very similar roster: These guys do not have the kind of mental game to be able to do what Cubs fans want to get done in this city for them - win a World Series. Not even close, and to go into next year with much the same roster & expecting different results is the definition of insanity to me.
My Dad has always said that the biggest problem still for the Cubs (and I’m inclined to agree) is the park itself. No, not for some stupid curse, but for a very practical reason: it is a ballpark with two faces, wind blowing in & wind blowing out. I do not know of any other park as Jekyl & Hyde as Wrigley can be, and that creates difficulties in both for the GM in creating proper team composition, as well as requiring a very intelligent and adaptable set of players in terms of their approach. You want to have some bashers to take advantage when balls are flying out of the park, but also be good enough at manufacturing runs when conditions dictate. More important is the pitchers being able to have a game plan for each face of the park, it’s light years different pitching in Wrigley, depending on the wind.
Whether it is taking a wrecking ball to the roster, or to Wrigley itself, some major things need to occur and it will be a long time coming before they occur, I’m sorry to say.
Comment by Baines 4 Prez Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 1:44 pm
Ughhh, stop choking Cubs. DLee still hit just shy of .300 and had 90 RBI. He is not hitting 30-40 HR, but he is still productive. All the hatred is crazy.
Move Soriano
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 1:47 pm
How ’bout they just ask Piniella what he thinks he needs, and see if maybe he doesn’t know what he’s talking about?!
He did a good job with the team this year, working through a bad bullpen at the beginning of the year, and putting together a pitching rotation and second-half bullpen that did the job for the most part.
A year or two more giving Piniella the tools he needs, and he might actually win one. Not sure anything can be done about the curse, but good teams do lose in the Playoffs. That 2004 Cardinals team won 106 games in the regular season and got swept by the BoSox in the Series. One thing is for sure, though: The more you go, the better you get at it.
I enjoyed watching the Cubs self-destruct in the playoffs, but their division is good enough, that with the exact same team, they might come in third or fourth next year if the rest of the division can make a decent move or two. The Cards finished fourth in the division and were 10 games over .500. That’s a good division.
No excuse for a team from Chicago willing to spend money not to win playoff games, if not the Series.
Anyway, there’s always next year.
Comment by Amuzing Myself Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 2:11 pm
Why are we discussing ways to strengthen the Cubs? While I respect Pinella, I’m simply not interested.
Today is a day for reflection on a job well done - the White Sox exceeded expectations in all areas, i.e. moving past the pesty Minnesota Twins, winning the Division, taking a game from respectable Tampa Bay.
I am contented for now. I will always treasure 2005 and 2008 (weren’t we in last place two seasons ago?)
Next year - a clean slate for the Southsiders.:)
Comment by Black Ivy Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 2:16 pm
CC Sabbathia and a true lead off hitting second baseman.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 2:26 pm
The Cubs just need a holy-water showerhead in the dugout.
Comment by JimMc Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 2:32 pm
Cubs got Derek Lee mainly because he killed us in the 2003 playoffs, but he hasn’t done much in the postseasons since. When they signed Alfonzo, I remember some Washington writer saying he was a great mistake pitcher but when it came to facing top-of-the-line pitchers he was outmatched. We clearly saw that against the Dodgers. He doesn’t even run anymore, so I say move him to 3 or 5 with Lee in the other spot. I hope Kosuke doesn’t become the next So Taguchi, but unless he makes some major adjustments he is at best a bench player. He certainly is not the dream lefty-hitting right fielder he is being paid to be. The Cubs are limited in trading any of their right-handed bats (Lee, Soriano, Ramirez) because of their large contracts. So unless the Cuban checkbook opens wide, we’re stuck with basically the same lineup. Pitching-wise, we have Zambrano, Lilly and Harden locked in for the rotation with Marshall as a probable. How much does Dempster want? I think rotating his glove in the windup made him lose control in Game 1. For the bullpen we should re-sign Wood (with Marmol in perpetual back-up mode) and give Howry a shove out the door. Since July he showed he is done. I like perhaps getting Juan Cruz back as a Cub. But I retain the right to declare fan free agency and pick a different team…
Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 2:41 pm
I think the Cubs need to move to the Philipenes. They will now be known as….The Manilla Folders.
Give the Cards a closer and we will be looking at the Cubs in the rear view mirror next year.
Comment by BIG R.PH. Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 5:15 pm
Sam Zell can entice Soriano, Ramirez, and Lee to take early retirement packages. Save a bundle on those long-term contracts.
Comment by Boone Logan Square Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 5:21 pm
Get rid of the overpaid Fukudome and Soriano. Not worth it.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 5:23 pm
The northside needs better fans, you know the kind that cheer for them in the playoffs instead of weeping at the first sign of trouble. The White Sox fans cheered their team even after the final loss to Tampa.
Comment by leigh Tuesday, Oct 7, 08 @ 6:15 pm
I know we’ve got some Cardinal fans on this board. I would like to hear their thoughts on the 2004 Cardinals versus the 2006 Cardinals. Which team did you think was going to win the World Series? The 2006 team was led by outstanding pitching from Jeff Weaver and Jeff Suppan for crying outloud.
The team that finished with the best record in baseball, the Angels, lost in the first round too.
When the Cubs went to the NLCS in 2003, they beat the Braves, a 101 win team, to get through. That same year, the Marlins beat the 100-61 Giants.
The playoffs are about who is hot and often who made the best mid-season transactions. Look at the Dodgers. They added Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal came back from injury. They changed LF from Andruw Jones/Juan Pierre to a future Hall of Famer who is on one of the biggest tears of his career. They changed 3B and SS from unproven and unproductive rookies to solid vets who have come up big down the stretch.
There is nothing the Cubs or any team can do to make sure they get to the World Series. Even the Brewers who had the best single mid-season transaction, C.C. Sabathia, saw him go less than 4 IP and give up 5 runs in his one postseason game. You can only build a team that you feel can win 90-100 games and hope for the best.
Comment by Playoffs = Who is Hottest Wednesday, Oct 8, 08 @ 8:56 am