nastradamus wrote:
The Cubs will be fine this year. The Central is getting weaker.
The central better be getting weaker, because the Cubs are definitely not fine.
Firstly, their entire team concept is bankrupt. So even if they sign the All-Star team, they won't win. Offensively, they have no idea how to work the count. Thus, they give the advantage to the opposing team's pitcher on a daily basis. That is not going to change. They do not value fundamentals. Their baserunning is abhorrent, and Pierre alone cannot remedy that. Their pitchers only know one way to get people out: the strikeout (save for Maddux, who might be their best pitcher after Zambrano). These are not characteristics of winning baseball teams, period.
Secondly, this offseason has seen them sign, perhaps, the 2006 versions of Mike Remlinger and LaTroy Hawkins. Yes they signed Pierre, but he can only play one position at a time, and last I checked, a team needs three outfielders, not one.
Last, I think Jim Hendry has been exposed these past few years. Honestly, tell me what he's done in four years, besides get a hot player in Kenny Lofton for two months? Yes, Lee and Ram are fine players, but those were salary dumps by their respective teams, nothing more. To think Hendry swindled those teams into trading for Bobby Hill and Hee Sop Choy is absurd. I already mentioned Hawkins and Remlinger. How about Lenny Harris. How about the demise of Corey Patterson under his watch. How about Nomar. How about having two starting second basemen in 2004, then perhaps keeping the wrong one while the other goes to the World Series. And the coup de grace... if you don't like Dusty Baker, well, who do you think hired him, and continues to employ him?