2012 is over, so what about 2013? First, Theo has pretty much written 2013 off, though Tom Ricketts/Crane Kenney are still going to charge full price – plus whatever extra they can squeeze out of the fans. Re that “extra”: Look for increases to come in concessions, etc., as opposed to ticket prices – or at least I hope that’s where the increases will come because I can avoid them there.
On the field, I would refer you to my post of June 10, 2012. Since then, Anthony Rizzo has come up and lots of starting pitchers were traded. So what – so what about 2013, that is.
In the infield, the Cubs are set at first base, second base and shortstop. Third base is a big hole, probably the second biggest hole on the team (after starting pitching). Josh Vitters isn’t ready and will be starting the season at Iowa. He could easily use a whole year at AAA. Something more than Luis Valbuena is needed. As to what we can find, I will leave that to people being paid $18,000,000 for five years.
Speaking of $18,000,000 (in this case for one year), what about the outfield? David DeJesus is a solid choice for one spot. With Soriano’s improvement on defense (thank you, Dave McKay), Alfonso would be fine in left – unless we can get something worthwhile in return. Trading him is certainly not just a salary dump. But Brett Jackson will be starting the season in Iowa, too. He’s not ready yet (and wasn’t ready when we brought him up). He might still get there, but we need somebody else to start the year for us. As for Bryan LaHair, I hope he winds up someplace he can play. He deserves it.
Which brings up the bench. Help is needed, but the bench is often the easiest place to improve at a fair cost.
Welington Castillo is good enough behind the plate. With the starting pitching so bad, you can’t worry about other areas unnecessarily.
As for starting pitching, we have Jeff Samardzija plus Travis Wood – and Matt Garza (until we trade him). That’s terrible. I know; I watched it this year. We need at least two decent mid-rotation starters, plus some backups. And that’s just to avoid total embarrassment. I don’t know if we have somebody at Iowa, like Casey Coleman*, but it can’t be like September. And if any of the new starters do turn out good, I hope we don’t have another pitching sale on July 31, like we did this year, though Theo Epstein has said it is possible. If there is another one of those, Tom Rickets/Crane Kenney need to do something for the ticketholders other than the mealy-mouthed gobbledygook they normally give out.
A couple of relievers might need to replaced (they usually do), but the starting pitching is so bad and is in so much need of improvement, that it’s hardly worth talking about relief. I will give the Epstein crew one compliment. At the Cubs Convention last January, Theo talked about trying to identify good players who are having a terrible spring and who might be available cheap at the end of spring training. That’s how we got Shawn Camp, and he was great.
So what about next year? Unlike 1963 and 1967 (when we were over .500 after seasons of 100+ losses), we don’t have a Williams-Santo-Banks core. And unlike 1967, we don’t have those to supplement the core waiting in the wings. Still, with lots of luck and a couple of decent starters, we might finish close to .500. That wouldn’t be great but it would be better than this year. It’s more than Theo is planning on, but I can’t help hoping.
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* Sometimes it seems that, when a new regime takes over, they like the new players they bring in more than the talent that was already there. It’s the new guys who get the chances, not the holdovers. I don’t know if that is what happened to Casey Coleman. He certainly was good at the end of the 2010 season. I hope he gets a chance next spring. He wouldn’t be any worse than what we had in September.
Update (10/8/12 11:05 pm): Fixed a couple of typos inthe seventh paragraph.
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