The 2008 Cubs had elite catcher, 2B and CF production, plus very good 1B, 3B and LF production. They also had Dempster at his best, very good Zambrano and Lilly and half a season of a sick Rich Harden. Pitching aside, that offense had, at its weakest spot, a guy who posted a .360 OBP. They were solid top to bottom, with no black holes, and several very good bats. It's extremely difficult to pull that off just making the sort of tweaks the Cubs have made so far or the type of non-tender value acquisitions so many people here apparently prefer. They had Lee, Ramirez, DeRosa/Fontenot, Soto and Soriano already in the system and really only added Fukudome and Edmonds. The Cubs don't have anything close to that core already in place, and I highly doubt they find an Edmonds stand-in, although yes, they did acquire a Fukudome clone. You need a lot more than just a good approach. You need productive hitters. The 2008 Cubs had many of them, the 2011/12 offseason Cubs have very little of them.