Cubs offseason in 2009

So far the Cubs off season has been quite uneventful. Jim Hendry did manage to move Milton Bradley for Seattle Mariners pitcher Carlos Silva. Carlos Silva has a good arm, but he has had two consecutive sub par years in Seattle. It appears that the Cubs are now interested in a Center fielder, and Marlon Byrd has been the name that keeps surfacing throughout the rumor mill.

Potential Free Agents For The Cubs 2009

The Chicago Cubs once again imploded in the first round of the playoffs getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a very disappointing fashion. The Cubs appear bitten by the pressure that the media puts on them by constantly asking them about the "curse".

Obviously there is no such thing as a curse that wants to doom the Cubs, but there is such a thing of mental curse. Just as Steve Sax of the Dodgers all of the sudden one day couldn't throw a 10 foot toss to first base to save his life, or Rick Ankiel couldn't throw the ball within 10 feet of home plate, the Cubs appear to have have this mental block.

The Cubs need to find some players who are mentally strong and can focus through mental adversity. Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Dempster, Alphonso Soriano and many others could thrive during the regular season, but simply collapsed in the playoffs. Once again the long suffering Cub fans were left disappointed and it seems as if our hearts have gone cold to their losing ways.

So, what do the Cubs need? Its my belief that the Cubs need the type of players that seem to rise to the occasion. Remember Mark Grace in the 1989 playoffs? He tried to carry the entire team on his back (hitting nearly .600), but to no avail. Give me players with heart, rather than sheer talent.

Here is a list of some interesting and notable POTENTIAL free agents the Cubs could possibly persue. Please leave a comment on some of the potential free agents that you would like the Chicago Cubs to acquire and why you think the player/players could finally be the missing link the Cubs need to get past this 100 year nightmare! (Players in Italics Have A Team Option!)

Potential Free Agents The Cubs Could Have Interest In :

• First Baseman - Mark Teixera, Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, Jim Thome, Richie Sexson, Sean Casey
• Second Baseman - Ray Durham, Orlando Hudson, Mark Grudzielanek, Jeff Kent, Felipe Lopez, Mark Loretta, Jose Vidro
• Shortstops - Alex Cintron, Orlando Cabrera, David Eckstein, Rafael Furcal, Cristian Guzman, Omar Vizquel
  
• Third Base - Russ Branyan, Joe Credo, Pedro Feliz, Morgan Ensberg, Shea Hillenbrand, Corey Koskie, Chipper Jones, Hank Blalock
  
• Catchers - Johnny Estrada, Javey Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Varitek, Vance Willson, Henry Blanco, Jason Kendall
  
• Outfield - Bobby Abreu, Moises Alou, Barry Bonds, Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Endy Chavez, Adam Dunn, Jim Edmonds, Luis Gonzalez, Shawn Green, Mark Kotsay, Kenny Lofton, Kevin Mench, Craig Monroe, Corey Patterson, Jay Payton, Juan Rivera, Brad Wilkerson, Ken Griffey Jr., Vladimir Guerrero, Cliff Floyd, Garrett Anderson, Carl Crawford, Brian Giles, Willy Mo Pena, Jason Michaels, Manny Ramirez, So Taguchi
• Starting Pitchers - Tony Armas Junior, Kris Benson, A.J. Burnett (may opt out of 2009 contract), Paul Byrd, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez, Jason Jennings, Brian Lawrence, Jon Lieber, Kyle Lohse, Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Eric Milton, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettite, Mark Prior, Mark Redman, C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Brett Tomko, Jeff Weaver, Dave Williams, Randy Wolf, Jaret Wright, Victor Zambrano, Brad Penny, John Lackey, John Smoltz, Mike Hampton, Matt Morris, Mark Mulder
  
• Relief Pitchers - Jeremy Affeldt, Joe Beimel, Armando Benitez, Shawn Chacon, Juan Cruz, Brendan Donnelly, Scott Eyre, Brian Fuentes, Eric Gagne, Eddie Guardado, Trevor Hoffman, Bobby Howry, Jason Isringhausen, Brad Lidge, Guillermo Mota, Joe Nathan, Chris Reitsma, Juan Rincon, Francisco Rodriguez, Rafael Soriano, Jorge Sosa, Russ Springer, Derrick Turnbow, David Weathers, David Wheeler, Matt Wise, Kerry Wood, Hideki Okajima, Damaso Marte

Potential Free Agent Players in italics have a team option

There aren't many holes for the Cubs to have any interests in most of these free agents, but this if you could just pick and choose, who would you plug in and why?

Chicago Cubs Week In Review

After sweeping the Brewers in Milwaukee and giving the Cubs some much needed breathing room in the National League Central, the Chicago Cubs returned to Wrigley Field with the hopes of avoiding a let down. During the past week the Cubs have won 4 of 6 games at home and managed to avoid losing their 5 game lead over Brewers and Cardinals.

Alfonso Soriano has been a huge reason for the Cubs post All Star game success. Soriano has given the Cubs the boost that they needed when they started to faulter in mid July. 21 home runs for a man who has missed six weeks of the season is quite impressive, and his personality on the field seems to rub off on the rest of the Cubs lineup.


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The Cubs bullpen went through a tough overworked spell after Kerry Wood couldn't recover from his aggravating blister on his pitching hand. Carlos Marmol was having trouble finding the strike zone, while the rest of the Cubs bullpen have been shaky at best. Since the all star break, Carlos Marmol seems to have regained his location and is once again being the reliable set up man that the Cubs need. Kerry Wood has been activated from the DL and recently pitched one scoreless inning in relief, and more importantly his finger appears to be fine. The Cubs may have to use Kerry Wood sparingly until they are confident that his finger has completely healed. The Cubs will need Wood during their stretch run in their quest to make the playoffs.

Bobby Howry has been a headache for Lou Piniella all season. Howry has the "stuff" to be a solid set up combination with Marmol, but he hasn't shown any consistency on the mound. His most recent bullpen implosion cost Rich Harden another win, and may have lost any remaining confidence that Lou has in him. Chad Gaudin may be the man who replaces Bobby Howry in the role of holding the lead to pass on to Marmol and Wood in late inning relief.

The Cubs get the rare opportunity to enjoy a day off (their first day off in three weeks) today, and hope the the day off will have the Cubs ready and rested as the St. Louis Cardinals roll in to town in a very important divisional match up.

Ryan Theriot hit a ball off of his foot yesterday and appeared to be in a lot of pain. Ronny Cedeno replaced Ryan Theriot in the seventh inning. Today's day off will hopefully give Theriot some time to rest his foot and be ready for the St. Louis series. Theriot has been an integral part of the Cubs success this year, getting on base consistently for the Cubs RBI men in the middle of the order.

Lilly, Zambrano Lead Cubs Past Brewers To Set The Pace

Coming into this important divisional series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the media didn't seem to give the Cubs much of a chance. The Cubs had been reeling during the second half of the season, while the Brewers have gotten red hot and erased a 6 game deficit in the standings.

Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano matched CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets pitch for pitch, leading the Cubs to victories in the first two games of a four game series. Now, after the first two games of the series (against Sabathia and Sheets) the Cubs have built a three game lead in the standings, with Dempster and Hardin still to pitch in this "playoff like atmosphere" divisional series matchup. Order Cubs Merchandise, Apparel, and Jerseys before they make their push for the playoffs!


Kosuke Fukudome seems to be coming out of a month long slump, getting key hits, and overall looking much more comfortable at the plate. The Cubs lineup tends to follow Fukudome's plate discipline. Early in the season, when Fukudome was getting on base at a .450 OBA clip, the entire lineup seemed to take more pitches and ultimately get better pitches to hit. When Fukudome began to lunge at pitches out of his zone, the other players in the Cubs lineup seemed to follow suit. The last few games, Fukudome seems to have his batting eye back, and coincidentally the rest of the lineup is beginning to hit again. Coincidence?

Alphonso Soriano Returns From Injury In Knick of Time

Can Alphonso Soriano give the Cubs some much needed pop to their lineup during their offensive struggles? Lou Piniella, and the Cubs surely hope so. The Brewers have crept within 1 game of the Cubs, while the Cardinals are lurking right behind (only trailing by two games).

Returning from a broken bone in Soriano's hand, it is hard to believe that he will come out of the gates hitting home runs and being a huge force offensively. I look for Soriano to struggle for a week or two, often looking very bad at the plate at times.

The glaring weakness on the Cubs is that they seem to have forgotten to have patience and plate discipline on offense. Early in the season, nearly all of the players were working long counts, drawing a lot of walks, and getting good pitches to hit when they were ahead in the count. Nobody seemed to have pressure on them since everybody was getting on base with regularity. Since about a week before the all star break, their offense started to struggle and everybody in the middle of the order has started to swing at bad pitches. Trying to be the hero and jerk the ball out of the park isn't what guided the Cubs to the top of many of the statistical offensive categories in the National League.

Not only has their offensive struggle, the Cubs bullpen has imploded on several occasions recently, ruining fine performances form the Cubs starting rotation (most notably Rich Harden). With Kerry Wood out with a blister on his finger, Carlos Marmol has to return to form along with the rest of the Cub s middle relief.

The Cubs second half of the season doesn't get any better, since many of their remaining games will be against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Milwaukee Brewers. Their fate is in the own hands. That is what worries Cub fans the most.