If, if, if, if, if

[cubbieinexile]

Found something I wrote before the season:

 

A + Starting pitching staff.

A + at Catcher

A + at Third base

A + at SS

A + at 2B

A + at 1B

A + at CF, even if it is still only Corey Patterson

A + at RF, even if it is still Sammy

 

Right now the only hole in the lineup is in LF, but that can be solved many number of ways. The other hole is in the bullpen and personally I think with a little intelligence the Cubs can solve that rather quickly.

 

I think this team with a little help from the health fairy ( a teams needs this guy) is at 90+ wins right now. If they land Beltran and/or Drew I think you will see this team win 95+ games.

 

The Cards were fortunate enough to have 3 players have their career years last years. Out of those 3 guys I only really see Albert being able to do that again. The pitching had some flukish seasons and your bullpen was great. Some of those pitchers are gone and bullpens are notoriously inconsistent.

 

I definitely see a regression to the mean in store for the Cards. Somewhere in the 90 to 95 win range for them this year.

 

The Astros may have finished ahead of the Cubs but that was only because of the health problems. If the Cubs even stay somewhat healthy they will win more games then the Astro's. Throw in the fact that Bagwell and Biggio will be another year older, Kent is gone, and Clemens will probably not be there and I think it is almost certain that the Cubs will have more wins if they stay healthy.

 

 

Well I still would agree with most of that, though those darn Cardinals refused to cooperate.

 

 

Oh hey did anybody else notice the BRef has been updated and now has the 2005 season? Probably the fastest they have ever updated that site. Well done.

[Bote McBoteface]

Wow... I remember that post.