When baseball fans think of futility, one of the first things that come to their mind is the Chicago Cubs franchise. The team has not won a World Series since 1908, which is the worst stretch of any current Major League team. Who knows what would have happened if Cubs fan Steve Bartman didn’t interfere with Moises Alou’s attempt to catch a foul ball in the 2003 National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins? Things like this lead Cubs fans to believe that their team is cursed. However, the Wrigley Field inhabitants should brighten up some, as their team has a bright future ahead.
It all started in early November when the Cubs announced that they were bringing in former Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon as their new skipper. Maddon is credited with turning around the Rays franchise, which was a laughing stock before he took over. He led the Rays to the 2008 World Series and numerous playoff appearances. Even though the team did not win a World Series, they were dominant for a good amount of time. If Maddon did all this with the Rays, he surely can do the same with the Cubs.
The Rays success is contributed to the young prospects that they built-in their farm system and the Cubs have a similar situation themselves. Kris Bryant is all the buzz right now, who is said to be the number one prospect in all of baseball. He dominated in the minors last season, where he hit 43 home runs and drove in 110 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A. Bryant has also been dominating in spring training, as he already has eight home runs and 14 RBIs so far. It is said that the Cubs want to start Bryant off in Triple-A in the beginning of the season, but if he keeps hitting like this the team will have no choice but to call him up to the majors.
Then there’s Jorge Soler, who did very well in the minors last year. The Cubs brought him up in late-August and he hit five home runs and drove in 20 runs in just 24 games. Unlike Bryant, he is slated to be the team’s starting right fielder on Opening Day, so Soler will get a good amount of big-league playing time this season.
Javier Baez is also a young talent in the Cubs system, who got many at-bats during his rookie season last year. He did not impress many people because of his lackluster batting average, which was only .169. Baez did not blow anyone away last season, but he did have some signs of stardom. Look for him to improve in his sophomore stint.
During the offseason, the Cubs made some great improvements to their team via free agency. One of the biggest free-agent acquisitions of the offseason was the team’s signing of starting pitcher Jon Lester, who had a great 2014 campaign with the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics. Lester will add to the team’s impressive starting rotation, which also includes Jake Arrieta and Jason Hammel. The Cubs also signed outfielder Dexter Fowler and catcher Miguel Montero to help out their offense. The team’s two best offensive players, Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo had a solid 2014 season and are sure to duplicate that this year.
The Cubs have much to improve on, but out of all the teams in the majors, they may have the best young talent out of them all. Maddon proved before that he can help a team achieve greatness, so he will give it his all to see that his new team does exactly that. The team finally has an ace pitcher in Lester, something that they have not had in years. If Rizzo and Castro hit the ball well and the pitching staff thrives behind Lester, there is no reason that this team cannot make a playoff run. And if not this year, they certainly have the young talent to make numerous postseason runs in the not-so-distant future.
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