Monday, January 23, 2012

Cubs 2012 Chances

2012 is a rebuilding year for the Cubs. Contrary to that the Cubs have an okay team. So what are the Cubs chances? Very slim. Can they take the Wildcard? Not likely. Can anything happen in baseball? Absolutly. The NL Central has lost it's two biggest power hitters in Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder. The Brewers are also about to lose Ryan Braun. That leaves Joey Votto as the premier offence in the Central. That's why the Cubs can't be counted out. If you look at their rotation the have Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, Chris Volstad and Travis Wood, Likely in that order. That put Randy Wells and Andy Sonnanstine in the Bullpen and Casey Coleman in AAA. That's the pitching depth they need. If Dempster and Wood have bounce back years and Garza and Maholm have the years they had last year you have a very good rotation. All they would need is solid defence behind them and run support and if they get that they have a potential of at least three starters with 15 win. Run support is something they will get. Starlin Castro, David DeJesus and Marlon Byrd will start off the lineup. They are all get on base guys with a little power, but like Moneyball says get on base. Then you have the anchor of the lineup in Bryan LaHair. It does not matter if Alfonso Soriano is on the team or not, they have to play Bryan LaHair in left field. He had over 100 extra base hits in AAA, MLB and winter league ball. It does not matter if you're paying the other guy out the ass, when someone get over 200 hits and over 100 extra base hits they get to play. After LaHair you have newly aquired Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo has amazing potiental, the potiental to hit 30-35 homeruns. Hit him behind LaHair and you have a devastating 4-5 combo. Follow them up with Geovany Soto, who can hit 20-30 homeruns. He's a power hitting catcher, who needs to wait for the ball to come to him. He has shown he can do it, when he hit 3 homeruns in one game. Newly aquired Ian Stewart will hit next. He's a strickly power guy. He'll give 20-25 homeruns but he will hit for a low average and give you about 100 hits. But that power is good to have when you're batter seventh. Finally Darwin Barney will bat eighth. Originally used for defence, he showed he can hit. He has no power but he can get at least 150 hits. He probably could've got more but he had a stint on the DL. You add that offence with that pitching and you have a winning team, in my opinion. Now they still have to get through the Reds, Brewers and Cardinals and you never know about the Pirates, but anything could happen.