Anthony rizzo represents the big prize of the Cubs winter. Photo: Tony Medina/Icon SMI
The Chicago Cubs finished in fifth place in the NL Central in 2011 with a record of 71-91. The team finished the year decently well, going 29-26 from July 31 on. Baseball Reference posts a nice sparkline graph on each team page, and you can see the team improve not only in wins, but by reducing the number of blowout losses. Good team win big, but tend not to lose big.
The Cubs were stronger on the offensive side without being strong offensive team (hence, the blowout losses). Their squad consisted of a number of players in the one to two bWAR range. They lacked a superstar or two, however, making them an offense of supporting players. On the pitching side, Matt Garza and Sean Marshall posted seasons over two bWAR, but there just wasn’t a lot of support behind them.
The team made the following acquisitions over the winter:
- David DeJesus, of
- Theo Epstein, President
- Jed Hoyer, gm
- Paul Maholm, p
- Anthony Rizzo, 1b
- Dave Sappelt, of
- Andy Sonnanstine, p
- Ian Stewart, inf
- Chris Volstad, p
- Travis Wood, p
- Dale Sveum, mgr
The biggest move the team made was putting a whole new management team in place, from business to transactions to strategy. Notice that one of their goals was to improve the starting staff. They rid themselves of Carlos Zambrano, and brought in two veterans, Maholm and Volstad. Neither of them is a great pitcher, but they keep the ball in the park and don’t walk too many batters. They should give the Cubs enough innings to keep the bullpen from blowing up. They also brought in Sonnanstine and Travis Wood. Sonnanstine can start or relieve, while Wood was a nice prospect for the Reds at one time, and is still rather young. None of them are stars that will turn around the rotation, but they give the Cubs plenty of depth and options.
I also like the acquisitions of David DeJesus and Ian Stewart. DeJesus owns a great career OBP, and Stewart came off a season in which a wrist injury limited his playing time. Stewart is 27 years old, right at his peak, so if he’s going to have a break-out season, this is the one.
The big prize is Anthony Rizzo, who rose quickly through the minor leagues and will play 2012 as a 22 year old. He could give the Cubs a long-term solution at first base, although don’t be surprised if he takes a couple of seasons to mature into a power hitter.
Of course, Rizzo can take his time, since most of these moves were of the stop-gap variety. The new regime will get the minor league house in order first, building up talent so that when those players are ready to emerge in the big leagues, the team will have the money to fill in the missing pieces. I have no doubt this group will get the Cubs back into contention. I just wonder how long it will take. A couple of poor performances might not be so bad, as the Cubs will be able to acquire better talent in the draft. We may have a better feel for the future of the team after the June draft.