2011 Offseason Outlook

I want to just use this post to put down some notes flying around in my head and Cubdom about this offseason.  I'll begin with Adam Dunn, who is tied with Albert Pujols for the most homers (25) of an active visiting player in baseball at Wrigley Field.  Dunn has hit well there his entire career and has always had a like for the Cubs, and is a free agent this winter.  When the Cubs visited the Nationals in late August the Chicago media picked up on the topic and asked him about it.


''[Wrigley Field's] obviously one of my favorite parks to hit in,'' Dunn told Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Sun-
Times. ''I've always really enjoyed playing there. The atmosphere is great there for any player. The fans are always hard on the other team, which makes it fun." Dunn later continued, "I know Jim (Hendry) from my Cincinnati days. We hit it off. He's one of my favorites. And I hear nothing but great things about him.''

Yeah, I'd say he's pretty interested.  With attendance down and the Cubs down in general, many believe the Ricketts will lower the payroll this offseason, but we are already getting a lot of money off the books with the people we have traded away and revenue is increasing with the Ricketts' marketing creativity and promotional skill at Wrigley.  Dunn would be an absolutely perfect fit being a power hitting lefty who plays first base.  I still endorse the resigning of Xavier Nady for the bench due to his flexibility, but Dunn would seriously help the Cubs chances next season as well as being a good veteran leader.  Video from Ricketts about the season in general can be found here (http://www.csnchicago.com/common/dynrss/dynrss__landing_.rss?display_style=manual)

Next a few notes from a live chat on espnchicago.com with Cubs and Sox insider Bruce Levine.  A fan asks Levine if we can count on getting the Big Z or the Crazy Z next year, and Levine responds, "You never know what you are going to get with Zambrano.  Right now he is one of the best pitchers in baseball.  The good news for the Cubs or another team, he's proved he can win without a 95 mph fastball.  That's called pitching and Zambrano has learned how to do it.  Remember Z controls his own fate."  Levine makes a great point about Zambrano's velocity.  He doesn't have the stuff he used to have for sure but has learned how to be this control first, crafty kind of pitcher.  Len Kasper has pointed this out frequently on the Cubs TV broadcasts.  It puts the Cubs in a tough position because they once again have to determine whether he is worth the risk.  

A fan from Missouri also asked besides pitching what is the Cubs biggest need this offseason, and then explained he believes it to be a top of the order guy with speed.  Levine responds, "The Cubs desperately need a lead-off man and a left-handed hitting RBI guy. Their run production is still a huge question mark. It's a team that has poor on-base percentage and doesn't walk. According to Ricketts, there is going to be a slight decrease in the payroll which means Hendry will have to be creative in the trade market. Adam Dunn is a top priority for the Cubs if they can afford him."  Adam Dunn is a huge target for the Cubs this winter but an under the radar target is Carl Crawford.  He is the definite best top of the order guy out there this winter and would probably want a longer, bigger deal than Dunn.  If the Cubs were somehow able to get both and some bullpen help, we would have to be contenders.  That won't happen though.  Levine brings up the Cubs poor OBP and that they don't walk, which was a problem that plagued them during the Dusty Baker days.  In 2008 they led the league in walks which was how the offense was so good that year, and here they are in the same spot two years later not walking.  Levine had this to say on Crawford: "I'm not so sure the Cubs can afford Crawford.  He's probably going to have about 8-10 teams bidding on him."

A fan asks Levine about possibly trading pitching prospects for an ace such as Zack Greinke: "I don't see all those prospects that you might see.  Other than Chris Archer and Jay Jackson, the other pitchers in the organization still are developing.  And I'm not so sure that I agree with Zambrano that the team has five aces.  If they do he must be playing with a marked deck."  Oh, baseball humor.  Great stuff.  I don't see the Cubs making such an aggressive move for an ace considering the new ownership which must play conservative for at least a few years.  Kerry Wood is brought up in this chat thread and I highly endorse the resigning of Woody.  He's a fan favorite and has been great with the Yankees, the Cubs could bring him back allowing him to finish his career here setting up Carlos Marmol.  The full chat on the Cubs and Sox can be found here (http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/2446/chat-wrap-bruce-levine).  Well, that's all for now.  The Cubs have a lot of interesting options to contemplate this winter.