Could The Cubs Actually Be Competitive In 2012?
It’s been a very exciting offseason for Cubs fans everywhere.
They haven’t made the flashiest of moves, but the roster has seen a terrific overhaul that has most fans on the North Side very excited for the future.
When Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer took over as the Cubs’ front office superteam, they made their goal perfectly clear. They wanted to build the organization from the ground up, and build up that “sustained success” for the franchise for years to come.
In the first few months of the new regime, they’ve already taken the steps to do that. The farm system, which was a total joke for much of Jim Hendry‘s tenure, has already seen improvement, though there’s still plenty of work to be done.
In building up the organization, the Cubs made plenty of changes to the big league roster, most of which revolved around low cost, high upside guys both in the field and in their pitching staff.
The offseason began with the signing of David DeJesus, who had a few productive years in Kansas City before a poor season with Oakland allowed the Cubs to get him on a possible bargain. The next move was to trade for Ian Stewart, who still has plenty of potential and hasn’t exactly gotten the best of chances to play in the Major Leagues to this point.
As far as position players go, though, there may not have been a bigger deal for the front office than the deal they swung for Padres first base prospect Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo is a guy who has superstar potential, and with the Cubs viewing Andrew Cashner as nothing more than a reliever, they made the swap to acquire to 22-year-old first baseman.
In Rizzo, the Cubs get a guy that Theo and Jed drafted in Boston, before Jed acquired him in the deal that sent Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox. He’s expected to start the year in Iowa, but once he hits the big leagues, the Cubs think they have their mainstay at first base for the next several years.
With Rizzo starting the year in Triple-A, at least as the Cubs say right now, Bryan LaHair gets his shot at first base. He’s got quite a bit of power and could join Alfonso Soriano and Ian Stewart in the middle of the lineup.
On the pitching front, the Cubs have made it clear they wanted a deep starting staff. They wanted to go seven, or eight, or nine, or ten, etc deep with their starting rotation and it looks like they did just that. Turning their short-term assets into long-term ones, the Cubs shipped Sean Marshall and Carlos Zambrano out of town, bringing back the likes of Travis Wood and Chris Volstad, respectively.
On the free agent market, the team brought in Paul Maholm on a bargain of a signing, as well as Andy Sonnanstine, who can pitch in either the rotation or, more likely, the bullpen. Add those guys to the likes of Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, and Randy Wells, as well as Jeff Samardzija, and the Cubs have already put together that deep staff they wanted, at least on paper.
That’s the key word, though, isn’t it? “On paper.” On paper, the Cubs have a team that can be competitive in the division next year. If these guys that they bought low on can live up to the potential that they’ve shown so far in the bigs, then the Cubs might actually be watchable for most of 2012.
Now keep in mind the difference between being competitive and actually contending for a World Series title. The Cubs didn’t bring this group of new guys in simply because they were cheap. They all have a high upside and, if their potential is realized, many of them could surprise some folks this season.
Theo and the rest of the Cubs front office has refused to use the word “rebuild”. They’ve all said that the Cubs are simply building, and even Epstein thinks that they have a chance to be competitive in 2012.
Of course, it’s going to take a number of factors for that even to be remotely true. Starlin Castro will have to build on a terrific 2011 campaign. Geovany Soto will have to rebound from a poor one. LaHair and Stewart will have to supply some of that power lost with the departures of Ramirez and Pena. Carlos Marmol is going to have to work his way back from a very difficult year at the back end of the bullpen. And, obviously, the new guys will need to play up to the level that they appear to be capable of.
Then again, we still need to see what this lineup is going to look like come Spring Training, and which young guys (Rizzo, Brett Jackson) could be making an impact soon.
I can say with almost complete confidence that the Cubs will not win a World Series title in 2012. But Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder are out of the division. Ryan Braun is, assuming he wins his appeal, going to be out for a good chunk of the year. The Cubs could be in the mix for a pretty good stretch this season.
It’s hard to completely write a team off for a season that is still a couple of months away, especially when there actually is a bit more talent on this team than people realize. But if the Cubs can be competitive next year and at least make things interesting, the new superteam in the front office will have already taken their first step towards ending the longest championship drought in sports.
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The only hope is that the rest of the NL Central will be weaker, but so will the Cubs. The Cubs have too many players with disappointing seasons and that trend is not likely to change. Although the Cubs have more depth in pitching, it is only because they have more bodies. The band aid collection of misfits that Chicago Cubs have acquired will give up more fly balls that will leave any ball park they play in . The weaken bullpen will pitch more innings and will have trouble by mid July. The Cubs have no third baseman . Stewart is a joke!
Rizzo will stay in the minors and when he is finally promoted he will fail- the kid cannot hit a fastball over 92mph. The outlook for Chicago is dismal at best. The only person the Cubs should get rid off they cannot , the owner.