Wait till next year?

August 4, 2005 by CubbyNation

Well after another let down, the Cubs now find themselves 5.5 games behind Houston for the Wild Card. Not to mention the other 4 teams ahead of the Cubs in the WC standings. Hey atleast the offense scored 4 runs, rite? That has got to be a bonus, that's almost 2 games worth. Anyway, considering how the Cubs are such an enigma and Houston is on such a roll, i really don't see the Cubs leap frogging 5 teams to win the WC. They just simply don't show any kind of urgency or consistency to make me believe they have a run left in them. Therefore, i really am just to dissapointed at this point to think of anything but next year. That is why i have decided to put together my opinion of what the '06 Cubs should look like...

Catcher - '05 Barret ------> '06 Barret (Under contract and not sure how many takers. May get position by default)

1st - '05 Lee ------> '06 Lee (This is a no brainer)

2nd - '05 Walker ------> '06 Walker (I like walker, he's not perfect defensivley but i like the way he goes about playing the game. Also is a proven .300 hitter that needs to be left in one spot of the batting order.

SS - '05 Perez/Garciaparra ------> 06' Garciaparra (I would still like to see the Cubs re-sign Nomar to another one year deal. If he can stay healthy we all know what he can do. I know some of you will strongly disagree here and say R Cedeno. Cedeno will be a good ML player one day, but with the other Rookies that should be in next years lineup, i say give Nomar one more shot to show he can be his oldself once again. I also have no problem with Nefi returning as a utility player, although i think with the way he has played, its good enough that another team may offer him more than what the Cubs are willing to for a back up.

3rd - '05 Ramirez -------> '06 Ramirez (See D Lee)

LF - '05 Hollandsworth/Murton/Dubois/Gerut/Lawton --------> '06 Murton (Give the kid a shot, he has earned it. Hitting .342 in AA before being called up and has done a nice job when given the opportunity this year.)

CF - '05 Patterson/Hairston ------> '06 Felix Pie (Another can't miss CF prospect in the organization. We all know what happended with the last one, but this one is said to have more heart, show emotion and actually care about winning. We'll get a glimpse of him yet this year, i hope.)

RF - '05 Burnitz ------> '06 Burnitz (Burny isn't having a great statistical year at the plate, however he has been way better than advertised defensively. Much better than i ever gave him credit for. Not to mention, he is a real class act and a great clubhouse guy. And im sure we all remember how much of a great clubhouse influence our last RF was. Therefore, I would like to see Burny one more year in a cubby uniform.

SP - '05 Prior/Wood/Zambrano/Maddux/Williams/Hill/Rusch/Etc...
---------> '06 Prior/Zambrano/Maddux/Hill/Williams or Free Agent

BP - '05 To many to mention here -----> '06 Wood/Dempster/Weurtz/Navoa/S Williams/Rusch/FA Lefty

Now some of this will never happen if Baker is still here in '06. He won't play the rookies, Murton or Pie. I also know some of you may ? the BP choices, however i think Weurtz has a promising future as a set up man. I also think Wood can be one hell of a closer. Well some of you may not like my version of the '06 Cubs, so tell us what your version would look like.

View more of my blog writings along with the latest cubs news at http://www.cubbynation.com/pmblog/weblog...

Permalink