Cubs '06 positive vs negative

[jd6762]

Here is how I look at the Cubs depending on my mood.

 

Positive

 

Younger, quicker, better defensively, better "baseball-smart" team, and pitching staff dominanting (consistent late inning bullpen, healthy Prior, Wood, Z and Maddux having a last hurrah. Hill / Guzman contributing) help team win alot of 5-3, 3-1 games.

 

Negatives

 

Big question mark at SS (rookie), LF (rookie), 2B (no D), RF ( 3 straight declining years). C defensively is suspect. Fragile pitching staff. is ARam motivated?, Will Dempster turn into a Borowski / Kolb?

[rawaction]

Devil's advocate.

 

How much better is this team actually defensively? Burnitz was pretty good defensively last season. Jones is better, but not that much so. Pierre is not as good defensively as Patterson. Murton is not as good defensively as Hollandsworth (but probably better than Dubois, Lawton). Perez got most of the time at SS last year, Cedeno won't be as good as he was defensively. The only way to significantly be better defensively is to have Cedeno and Perez up the middle, which severely weakens the offense.

 

I don't know that this team is "smarter" either. Again the only changes are Cedeno, Murton, Jones, and Pierre. Can't yet say that Murton and Cedeno are "smart" players (although Murton certainly looks to be that way). Jones is still a freeswinger, and Pierre still isn't a good basestealer.

 

BTW, welcome to the board. I actually am gonna try to be optimistic to start this season. Jones has at least shown to be decent (.300 hitter) in the past, and was pretty good until the end of June in 05. Pierre has shown to be a lot better than he was in 04. Murton and Cedeno have hit everything in sight the last 10 months. Pitching has to be healthy again eventually, right?

[Omar]

Here is how I look at the Cubs depending on my mood.

 

Positive

 

Younger, quicker, better defensively, better "baseball-smart" team, and pitching staff dominanting (consistent late inning bullpen, healthy Prior, Wood, Z and Maddux having a last hurrah. Hill / Guzman contributing) help team win alot of 5-3, 3-1 games.

 

Negatives

 

Big question mark at SS (rookie), LF (rookie), 2B (no D), RF ( 3 straight declining years). C defensively is suspect. Fragile pitching staff. is ARam motivated?, Will Dempster turn into a Borowski / Kolb?

 

Wood won't be active on the 25-man until late April-May, will he?

 

How can you be so sure Guzman will make it to the majors? Unless he gets Murton-lucky in ST...

 

SS - Ronny Cedeno. He deserves it.

 

Yeah, Murton is a rookie, but he has proved himself more and more by taking extra time to play winter ball when he doesnt need to.

 

Barrett is getting better at C... See the new article about him at Cubs.com? Blanco is already really good defensively.

 

SP could be fragile.. Although its better than most.

 

Aram will hopefully have an injury-free year. Why wouldnt he motivated?

 

Dempster probably wont turn into Borowski/Kolb. Nothing to back that up :roll:

 

Our real problem: Offensive production from RF...

[EricG]

...

Our real problem: person filling out the lineup card...

fixed

[Kyle]

We were a better team last year when Cedeno and Murton were in the lineup. Cedeno and Murton's athleticism helped more than I thought it would. Neither are speed demons, but both run real well. Both ran the bases extremely well, something a lot of the veterans didn't do.