Cubs '07 dismissal

It's fitting that my first post here should be about the Cubs, right? Chicago's lovable losers, who were cursed by a guy 60 years ago because he couldn't bring his goat into the game (I think that's true -- at least I know the goat part is because you can't get away from hearing about it by the national media).

Now that their season is over, let's take a look at the season that was, 2007. The Cubs finished first in the NL Central with a record of 85-77, 2 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers. How did they do it and what does it mean?

I wasn't a big fan of the Lou Piniella hire, but he made a believer out of me. Maybe it's because I'm blinded by the awfulness that was the Dusty Baker regime (a moment of silence for Dusty's regime...thank you), but I think Lou did a great job with this team. They really weren't a very good team and Lou got them into the playoffs...where they promptly laid an egg. While Lou's decision to pull Zambrano after 6 great innings was questionable, he wasn't the one who went 0 for 12 in the series (hello, Aramis Ramirez, are you there?). He did what he could with this team and put his stamp on it. It took him a while but he figured our Cesar Izturis and Michael Barrett both sucked and had Hendry get rid of them. Just a side note...what the hell happened to Izturis? The guy was a Gold Glove shortstop, gets traded for Greg Maddux....and is banished to Pittsburgh? How the hell did that happen???? Piniella also sent Murton down and relegated Scott Eyre (aka Stevie) to mop up duty until he got his arm out of his butt (is that even possible?). The one thing he didn't do this year that I hope he does next year is tell Soriano that he's not the leadoff hitter. I heard someone on the radio say that Soriano's speed is gone because of his two leg injuries but I don't know if that's really true. Even if he still has his legs, he should be hitting in the 5-hole where his bombs can actually drive in runs. Then maybe he'll have some more confidence going in to the post-season and he can raise his .225 career post-season average.

Are there other reasons the Cubs made it to the playoffs besides Lou Piniella? How about Jim Hendry? He's the guy responsible for getting Soriano, Mark DeRosa, Ted Lilly, and Jason Marquis. Before you go off on me for Lilly and Marquis, consider this: those guys won 27 games this year for the Cubs. I thought they way overspent (even in the insane economics of MLB) for Lilly but he was pretty damn good this year. I think he was more consistent than Zambrano. And Marquis was 12-9 which is worth the $7 million he got paid. Hendry's signing of DeRosa raised some eyebrows but he's the kind of guy you want on your team and in the clubhouse. He's a good guy who plays hard and doesn't question the manager, even when he's playing 7 different positions after being told he's be playing one. Another side note....why the hell was it OK to lie to DeRosa about his position but not Soriano? Oh yeah, $136 million....

So that brings us to the future of my Cubbies. Where do they go from here? Well, luckily they're in the worst division in baseball. The division one of my favorite columnists in the Daily Herald calls the "Norris Division", referring of course to the old hockey division where the minor league team known as the Blackhawks resides. And to make matters better for the Cubs, Walt Jocketty quit or resigned or was fired last week. Hopefully LaRussa will go to so that will sink the Cards. Milwaukee has some nice young players but their "ace" Ben Sheets is the modern day Kerry Wood so you can count on him for about 10 starts a year for the next few years until he gets shut down for a year or two and then resurfaces as a setup guy and potential future closer. Wait, that sounds familiar....And the Houston Astros are a shambles, firing their GM and coach during this season. They have Oswalt...and nothing else. So the Cubs need to pay some attention to on base percentage and get either a second baseman who can lead off or at least work a count and get on base or a right fielder who can do the same. How about this...move Soriano back to second and then either get a corner outfielder who can lead off or let Pie lead off and show what he can do. Either way, the Cubs should again win the Central next year. Hopefully it won't be so close but maybe Hendry can swing a great deal like he has in the past. I'm sure he has Pittsburgh on speed dial, maybe he can steal someone else...can you say Nate McLouth???