Here and now, within a week of pitchers and catchers reporting, in addition to the all the prognostications, questions take center stage. And I have some (along with some prognostications).

Let’s start with the center of my baseball universe—da Cubs.

1. Will Patterson learn to lead-off? Those in the know are saying he’s a quick learner. And last August he certainly sure showed his potential. Of course, last September he also showed the dark side of his potential. Those in the know are also saying he will lead off. But the acquisition of Hairston, at the least, allows for a Plan b.

My prediction: He’ll bounce around the lineup again and end up lower in the order.

2. Will the pitching staff stay healthy? Yes, and no. Wood and Prior have both experienced problems and Wood has had a longer history of injuries. So we can’t presume this year will be different. The good news is that if that’s true, it’s also true that Zambrano and Maddux will stay healthy and give us 200+ innings. That will put pitching staff success on Rusch, the bullpen, and any mid-season pickups. Regarding the bullpen, I think we’ll be stronger than last year. Hawkins will be in his role as set-up, and the option of having two closers, Dempster and Borowski is enticing, with Dempster showing glimmers of approaching Gagne-like status.

If there are deficiencies in the team, and I think there are, it will be in these two areas, leadoff and bullpen.

3. Will the corner outfielders be able to replace the production of Alou and Sosa? This, in my view, is misleading. The real question is ‘Will the Cubs have the offensive production of last year.’ Measured in home runs the answer has to be no. But measured in productivity, I believe we will. With a full(er) season out of Nomar and Walker; the full maturation of Ramirez and Lee and Barrett; more productivity out of Patterson anything Dubois, Hollandsworth, and Burnitz contribute will be positive. Anything sub-question is how many rallies will Patterson and/or Burnitz kill via strikeout?

But, man, do we have to run the bases better.

One of the many great things about Spring Training is having the opportunity to talk with 'those in the know'. I’ve been fortunate to have had a couple with Jim Hendry and I’m tremendously impressed with his knowledge and skills. So I have a lot of confidence that we will not stand pat with the team we have now. Through injury, availability, and/or opportunity, he seems to strive for constant improvement.

Which brings us to question #4: Where will the Cubs finish? MLB.com has the Cards picked for winning the division and it’s easy to see why. But the planets were aligned for them last season and it’s beyond belief to think things will fall as they did. If true, the Cubs are the only team with enough ‘juice’ (pardon the expression) to win, absent the emergence of one of the other division teams. I think one of them will be a surprise, most likely the Reds, but not enough to overtake the Cubs or Cards.

Speaking of juice, I have this final question: What impact will steroids have on the season and the game? I don’t know, but it will be fascinating to watch.