Last year didn’t end like the Chicago Cubs or their fans hoped. Getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in three straight games and going home in the first round of the playoffs after finishing the regular season with the best record in the National League was disappointing to say the least.
But it’s a new year and a somewhat new team. The Cubs made many moves that could help or hurt the team in 2009. The biggest moves were the departures of Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa and the arrival of Milton Bradley.
The first thing on GM Jim Hendry’s priority list was resigning Ryan Dempster, which was done on October 18th. Hendry knew that resigning Dempster meant no room for Kerry Wood, so he acquired Kevin Gregg from the Florida Marlins to fill his spot in the bullpen.
The Cubs were also aware that they needed some left handed hitting to balance out their right handed heavy lineup. They did that by signing outfielder Joey Gathright to a one year contract and infielder Aaron Miles to a two year contract.
But that meant they needed to get rid of somebody and hopefully get some young pitchers out of it. That unfortunately made fan favorite Mark DeRosa the odd man out. And on December 31, 2008 he was dealt to the Cleveland Indians for three minor league pitchers.
So with fan favorites Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa out and new comers Gregg, Gathright, and Miles in, the Cubs seemed to have used their offseason wisely.
But they weren’t done yet.
All offseason long there was talks about possibly acquiring Jake Peavy from the Padres to complete what would have been the best rotation in baseball. But they couldn’t agree on anything and the deal fell apart. Disappointing, but a big move was in the Cubs future.
But first they had to clear up some space. And they did that on January 18th by trading Jason Marquis to the Rockies for Luiz Vizcaino. Although that leaves a hole in the fifth pitching rotation spot, it could be filled in with Sean Marshall or maybe even Jeff Samardzija considering how their spring training goes.
But that space they made had to be filled and it was with their biggest move of the offseason signing slugger Milton Bradley to a three year contract to fill the void in right field Kouske Fukudome failed to fill last season.
After the huge move a few small moves have been made like the signing of veteran catcher Paul Bako to backup Geovany Soto and the trading of Felix Pie, Rich Hill and Michael Wuertz to the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics respectively.
And with the Cubs now reporting to Spring Training it will be interesting to see how things turn out. Will Bradley fit in well? What will happen with the 5th spot in the rotation?
Those questions and many more should be answered during Spring Training. All that sets up, what should be a very interesting 2009 season.
--Submitted by Anthony Scianna, Staff Reporter |
