This is the third of five previews of my favorite MLB teams for the 2013 season. I've previously previewed the Braves and the Red Sox. Upcoming will be the Dodgers and the Pirates.
The great Frank Sinatra:
Whenever one thinks about the Cubs, one has to acknowledge their long history of futility. Because of their horrendous history I often wonder if this team will ever win another World Series? Heck will they ever be relevant? It seems that everything they've tried has failed. Even win they spent a lot of money, they still couldn't even get to the World Series. That spending spree has left them with the burdensome contract of Alfonso Soriano.
Other questions: What will be the improvements in the second year of Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Dale Sveum? Where will the offense come from?
There's already a couple of injury concerns for the Cubs this season. It looks like Matt Garza is going to miss about the first month of the season, hopefully he'll be back in late April. Also the erratic Starlin Castro will miss about the next 4 days to rest a minor injury. Is this a sign for how this season is going to be for the Cubs?
Although Garza's injury is a bit of good news for Jeff Smardzija, Smardzija will be the Cubs opening day pitcher.
Sticking with the pitching theme, let's hope the Cubs can
Hopefully the Cubs can trade Marmol for another starter or some offense. Hopefully the Cubs already have Marmol's replacement set. They signed Japan's Kyuji Fujikawa to a two year contract this past offseason. He earned 220 saves in Japan, hopefully he'll be a s big step up from Marmol. Although players from Japan have been more miss than hit. I still remember how hot Kosuke Fukudome started out. I even bought a Fukudome jersey. Sadly he turned into a bad signing. Let's hope Fujikawa is more Yu Darvish than Daisuke Matsuzaka!
Although I realize Soriano probably isn't going anywhere, who'd want his relatively little production for such a big cost? I'd still love to see him find a new home. I was excited when Soriano originally signed his contract all those years ago. However he has turned out to be a free agency disappointment. His $19 million contract looks so out of place within the rest of the Cubs salary structure. Marmol is making $10 million this season. I also hope the 7 year, $60 million contract Castro signed in the offseason pays off.
ESPN MLB expert Keith Law says that the Cubs future looks better than expected as the moves of Epstein and Hoyer are slowly working. Law also says Jorge Soler could be one of this season's break out stars. Although I wasn't able to find much information about the 6-4, 215, 21 year old Cuban export. Hopefully he and Soriono can help power what was an anemic offense last season. It would also be nice if Castro can start living up to his highly paid potential.
The Cubs start off the regular season by playing 6 games on the road. Three weeks from this Monday they'll be in Pittsburgh to play the also hopefully improving Pirates. Then their next series is against another one of my favorite teams, the Braves. They play 3 games against the Braves. Following that they return home for a 10 game home stand. They first play 3 games against Milwaukee and then 4 games against the did they really win the World Series again San Francisco Giants? Chicago closes out their 10 game home stand by having their first inter league match up of the season, they'll play the Rangers.
I predict another mediocre season for the Cubs, but I'm hoping they they'll continue to make progress. I hope that Garza and Castro will come back fully healthy and that Fujikawa will become one of the games best closers. I also hope Castro can start to live up to his potential and that Soler will actually have a break out season. But most of all I just want to see the Cubs actually start moving forward even if it's two steps forward, one step back.
themusicaddict
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