Tough offseason ahead for Cubs

Fans of the Chicago Cubs are hoping that some of that confetti from the White Sox’s World Series parade has fallen in general manager Jim Hendry’s eyes.
With the streets of south side Chicago now swept up from the mammoth celebration, the North Siders have their work cut out for them if they want to maintain their longstanding reputation as the city’s number one baseball franchise.
Until now, it’s been easy for the Cubs to dominate the attendance competition. They play in the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field where people make pilgrimages for hot dogs and sun as much as they do for a competition. Winning hasn’t been a priority, but, now with the White Sox ascendancy, maybe the requirements have changed.This year, en route to 99 regular season victories, the “Pale Hose” drew a half million more fans to U.S. Cellular Field than the year before. This October, their management offered a promotion that enabled new season ticket holders for next year to buy World Series tickets they couldn’t buy otherwise. Three million fans for the White Sox next season isn’t a goal that’s unreachable.
Where the three million fans will come from begs a good question. Is Chicago big enough for both ball clubs to draw that lofty sum? Or will the underachieving Cubs, who now play to near 99 percent capacity, be hosting some smaller crowds? Here’s what the Cubs have to do over the winter in order to field a winning team in the spring.
Leading offThe Cubs have their sights on Atlanta free-agent switch-hitter Rafael Furcal, but the Braves won’t make it easy on them to steal him away. Furcal batted .284 with a .348 on-base percentage, hardly the numbers one would expect from a guy demanding $50 million over five years, but he would solve the departure of the once-coveted Nomar Garciaparra at shortstop. Moreover, with 46 stolen bases, Furcal would provide the speed at the top of the order that Chicago has been without.
Another source of speed could come from the addition of Juan Pierre, a left-handed hitting centerfielder from the Florida Marlins. Last summer, Pierre slumped fifty points in his batting average to .276, yet he stole 57 bases and had an on-base percentage of .326. If signed, Pierre would take the place of Corey Patterson in centerfield. Patterson, once considered a franchise player, batted .215 and was demoted to Triple-A Iowa in the midst of his biggest funk, only to hit.175 upon his return the big leagues.
With Furcal and Pierre in front of first baseman Derek Lee, third in the MVP voting, and hard-hitting third baseman Aramis Ramirez, in the order, the Cubs would score runs aplenty.
Shortstop and Second BaseIf Furcal isn’t signed — a distinct possibility now that Chipper Jones has restructured his contract to free up $15 million for the Braves to work with in resigning the shortstop — second year player Ronnie Cedeno becomes the shortstop, sharing duties there with Neifi Perez.This probably means that Todd Walker (.305, 40 RBI), who Hendry recently re-signed, would be, once again, the second baseman.
Walker is short of range in the field and didn’t drive in runs the way the Cubs wanted. Perez is fine as a utility man, but he can’t be expected to play everyday and perform at a high level. Cedeno still needs to prove that he can hit over the long pull of a full season; he batted .300 with 80 at bats in 40 major league games.
By signing Furcal, Hendry could solve two problems at once — the Cubs’ need for a leadoff hitter as well as a shortstop.
On a local radio show, Hendry promised, “We’re going to be aggressive in the trade market.” Walker appears to be one of the players he can deal, because Cedeno can play second base.The OutfieldThe Cubs had an unproductive outfield last year, so when rookie Matt Murton came on in the second half to hit .321 with seven home runs in 140 at bats, fans automatically penciled him in as next year’s left fielder on their lineup cards. Murton is the kind of hard-nosed player that would fit snugly into an outfield if the Cubs had a speedy centerfielder and a slugger in right.
Late in the year, the fans were crying out for free agent Johnny Damon from the Red Sox. Then the rumors that Juan Pierre was preferred began to surface. Felix Pie, a centerfielder already on the Cubs payroll, represents a possibility for center field, but he is also the player that every other team to which the Cubs are talking trade would want.
Pie is only 22 years old. He batted .304 with 11 home runs in 59 games at Double-A West Tennessee last year before suffering a stress fracture in his ankle. Ominously, he is touted with the same reputation as a five-tool man that propelled Patterson into “the Show” prematurely.At least in one regard, journeyman Jeromy Burnitz proved to be a capable substitute for Sammy Sosa in right. Nevertheless, Burnitz is now gone and he wasn’t productive enough anyway.
Now, Kevin Mensch of the Texas Rangers seems to be the “hot property” on the wish list. Although Mensch batted .264 with 73 RBI and 25 home runs last year, the Cubs believe that he is headed for a break out season and could hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs, a bit more Sosa-like than Burnitz.
PitchingIn Carlos Zambrano (14-6, 3.26 ERA), the Cubs have a stud. In Mark Prior (11-7, 3.67 ERA), they may have an adequate ace. Prior didn’t always perform like the sure-fire stopper that the Cubs thought he was last season, but he should be granted a reprieve from the all-star expectations placed on him, especially since he struggled with injury, not once, but twice, in last year’s ill-fated campaign.
After Zambrano and Prior, however, what can the Cubs expect from Kerry Wood (3-4, 4.23 ERA and only 66 innings), and how long can Greg Maddux (13-15, 4.24 ERA) get batters out?
Wood has a contract as heavy as his fastball, but an unorthodox delivery enables him to pitch only so many games before shoulder problems begin. Maddux is a Hall of Fame pitcher, all right, but an aging pitcher, too. Last year, for the first time in 17 seasons, he recorded fewer than 15 wins, yet logged 225 innings on the mound.
As for the fifth starter, blame manager Dusty Baker for screwing up Glendon Rusch, who used to be routinely good for six innings or more in that spot. Insistent that the team needed Rusch in the bullpen, Baker elevated Jerome Williams to the rotation and had Rusch going back and forth between assignments. Williams went 6-10 with a 4.26 ERA, which is par for a fifth man on a fourth place club, and Rusch slumped to 9-8, 4.52 ERA juggling roles, after being 11-9, 3.94 ERA as a starter the last two years.
When discussing the relief corps, Hendry has reason to say that Ryan Dempster’s “got the right stomach for it,” but Baker had Dempster in the starting rotation instead of Rusch last spring until the light bulb went on. Once the stubborn manager relented to the idea of why Dempster was acquired in the first place, Dempster saved 33 of 35 opportunities and the two that he didn’t save, the Cubs won anyhow.
Newly acquired left-hander Scott Eyre (2-2, 2.63 ERA) comes from San Francisco to Chicago to add strength to the bullpen as a middle reliever and gives Baker that left-handed arm that he wanted. In making a league-leading 86 appearances last year, Eyre held opposing hitters to a batting average of .200.
ChemistryThe Chicago Cubs can fix what ails them, but it won’t be a snap. “We had a bad year,” Hendry admitted about 2005. The Cubs won only 79 games and failed in many ways, including their attempt to field a team that was likable.
For the past two seasons, the Cubs have played selfish baseball, swinging for the fences when a simple hit would suffice, running the bases absent-mindedly, and pointing the finger of blame in other directions.
In the meantime, manager Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox proved what can happen to talented ballplayers when enthusiasm invades the dugout. Getting new players to play in a way that will lead to a title may be out of the grasp of current Cubs management, regardless of how visible the confetti.