What they did in 2009: The most disappointing 83-win season in Cubs history. Also, 10-4 against the Pirates.
How they spent the off-season: Putting as much space between themselves and Milton Bradley as humanly possible.
Lineup: Not much variation here; their lineup is mostly full of old guys who used to be good and might still be if they stay healthy and young guys who can’t hit. If Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee are healthy, they’ll be OK. If that happens and the Ghost of Alfonso Soriano rematerializes into a Major League hitter, they’ll be good. If all that happens and Geovany Soto finds his rookie form again, they might be really good. If only a few of these things happen, they’ll probably be disappointing again. A good measure of how they’re doing might be how regularly Xavier Nady is playing. If he’s out there against righties every day, that’s not a good sign.
Pitching: Out of the rotation: Rich Harden (via free agency). Into the rotation: Tom Gorzelanny (via frustrating the hell out of the Pirates). This is not a great exchange for the Cubs. Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster are very underrated, though, and Randy Wells isn’t bad either. Carlos Zambrano’s annually diminishing inning count is worrisome, though. Most of his peripheral stats improved last year, but they need him for more than 169 innings.
What they can expect in 2010: The Cubs problem is that they’re old. There’s not one person on the offensive side of things that can absolutely be counted on at this point in time for a full season of production at the plate, and that’s not good. Could they pull everything together and play more like the team that had the best record in the National League in 2008 than the club that missed the playoffs in 2009? Sure. But it gets a little less likely every year for this core of players. To be certain, the Cubs weren’t nearly as awful as some of the hysteria surrounding them might suggest and I do think they’ll probably finish second in the Central this year and push for the wild card, but the window for this group is closing pretty rapidly.
Blogs: Wrigleyville 23, Another Cubs Blog, Talking Chicago Baseball, Bleed Cubbie Blue, Goat Riders of the Apocalypse
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