Settling on SP

[soapy]

I'm bored and wanted to throw this out there.

 

Let's assume Hendry misses out on Schmidt and Zito. Instead, he signs Lilly and Wolf. He signs Lugo (to play SS). He signs Floyd as a 4th OF and signs Nevin (backup OF, 3B, 1B).

 

C Barrett

1B Lee

2B DeRosa

3B Ramirez

SS Lugo

LF Murton

CF Jones

RF Soriano

 

Bench

Floyd

Nevin

Pagan

Theriot

Blanco

Izturis/Bynum?

 

SP

Zambrano

Wolf

Hill

Lilly

Miller/Prior/Cotts?/etc.

 

BP

Wood

Dempster

Howry

Eyre

Ohman

Wuertz

Cotts?

 

This roster includes 26 or 27 men, but I'm not sure who is going to be the odd man out in the bullpen or rotation.

 

How would you feel about going into 2007 with that team? It's clearly not ideal. The rotation and the starting lineup have some question marks. The bench is better, and the bullpen is basically the same, + Wood. An even bigger problem is I don't have a platoon partner for Jones.

 

Is it good enough? I don't mean good enough to get lucky (i.e. 2006 Cardinals). I mean would you expect this team to win the division (or at least think they have a good chance) and do you think they could make a run in the playoffs?

 

I ask because I could see the off-season playing out like this. It's going to be tough to get Schmidt and/or a significant bat. I do expect another trade involving some of the bullpen arms, but I'm not sure what it's going to be.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't feel terrible about this team, but I wouldn't be planning an October trip to Chicago either. It's a team that could go either way, IMO.

 

Share your thoughts.

[mul21]

I think the best part of that lineup is that there aren't any gaping black hole like there were last year. The only real bad spot would be Jones against lefties.

 

The pitching is ok, but you only have that one good power arm for the playoffs in Zambrano unless Prior gets healthy.

 

I think that team would make a very strong push for the playoffs because the pitching is decent and the lineup will score some runs, assuming everyone is healthy. And unless somebody else in the Central starts spending, there may not be a lot of competition.

[soapy]

There is also the possibility that Izturis + Eyre (or something) is traded for someone like Westbrook. That would also change things slightly.

[MPrior]

I'm not sure there's enough money left to sign Wolf, Lilly, Lugo, Floyd and Nevin. Almost definitely not if they want to extend Zambrano. Which they should.

[ManEatingTarp]

I think the Cubs chances with that team would depend on what the Cardinals do this off season.

Both teams have huge questions about thier starting pitching.

[Iceblink]

The ESPN rumor page has the Cubs interested in Vicente Padilla. For his character more than his stuff, I hope we don't land him.

 

As for Zito, this was interesting:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/pitch-location-and-groundballs/

 

Scroll down a bit to Zito's graphic.

[goonys evil twin]

The ESPN rumor page has the Cubs interested in Vicente Padilla. For his character more than his stuff, I hope we don't land him.

 

What are these character knocks on Padilla? I've seen people in here mention it, but I've never read anything else about it.