Tuesday, August 19, 2014

CUBS REPORT

the ONE advantage of having a knee replacement is that you get to watch a LOT of baseball and now it's time to give some honest evaluation of our chicago teams.

THE CUBS are much better than i thought they'd be and actually have a couple of players on the team that will help them in the future. ANTHONY RIZZO & STARLIN CASTRO anchor the core although i still believe that castro is trade bait because of ADDISON RUSSELL, who was obtained in the trade with oakland. castro could also be made into an outfielder but i think the cubs will use him to get pitching.

CHRIS COUGHLAN has been a pleasant surprise in left field and he appears to be over the injury jinx that bothered him since winning rookie of the year a few seasons ago with the marlins.

and believe it or not, a couple of pitchers have appeared on the north side! KYLE HENDRICKS & JAKE ARRIETA have had strong seasons although arrieta, at 28, might be too old to fit into their master plan.  hendricks is just 24 and has a sparkling e.r.a. under 1.75. 

in the bullpen, HECTOR RONDON has been nothing less than spectacular with 49 relief appearances and a 4 to 1 strikeout/walk ratio while saving 18 of 22 opportunities for a team that didn't need a closer very often. very nice season.

so now where do you go?  JUSTIN RUGGIANO & EMILIO BONAFACIO are nice role players but ruggiano is already 32 and emilio turns 30 this year so they're goners.  i'm not sold on JAVIER BAEZ just yet because 200 strikeouts doesn't excite me at all (see ADAM DUNN). when they don't put the ball in play, they become dead weight.

wanted: 2 outfielders, a third basemen & a catcher plus 4 non-starters on the bench.  found: KRIS BRYANT at third, ALBERTO ALMORA & JORGE SOLER in the outfield and suddenly you might have a team.  they're young and they're going to make a lot of mistakes and they still need a lot of pitching but maybe, just maybe......

think about it

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