The Theo Epstein era is underway and while I'm sure he knows what he is doing, here are 5 suggestions to help him this offseason. But first lets talk about the team that he has in place. Castro, Barney, Soto, Soriano are the four regulars who are under contract for next year. We have approximately 40 million coming off the books from the other 4 starters last season: Ramirez, Pena, Fukudome, and Byrd.
Our rotation is currently set to stay the same 1-Garza 2-Dempster 3-Zambrano 4-Wells 5-Cashner. This is not good obviously. We need a real #1. But I'm not sure that arm will be available this offseason. CJ Wilson is the best free agent starter on the market and he will be overpaid by someone, making him a poor option for the Cubs. Theo will have to make a deal or two this offseason to shore up the rotation. Which brings me to my first suggestion....
1- Trade Carlos Marmol- Some fans won't be happy with this move, but fuck that noise. Marmol will never have as much trade value as he does right now. He is one of the top closers in the league and along with his age and club control, he becomes the best trade asset the Cubs currently have.
Either trade him for prospects or a solid young arm. Maybe to a team like the Rays who have bullpen issues and plenty of young talent to trade. Other possible trade partners include the Phillies (Vance Worley), the Angels (Ervin Santana) or Rockies (3b Ian Stewart). Either way, its time to deal Marmol.
2-Trade Carlos Zambrano (plus 9 million) for Logan Morrison.- The Marlins' outfielder is a young talented player who may be available this off-season due to his strenuous relationship with team management. The Marlins sent him down in the middle of the year after he tweeted negative comments about the club. It also makes sense for them to get Big Z, considering his relationship with new manager Ozzie Guillen. The Cubs would have to pick up half of Z's contract, but that's a small price to pay to get Morrison.
3- Sign Prince Fielder- This is a no-brainer to me. Just because we gave big contracts out to players that became bums doesn't mean we have to stop spending money on great players. Fielder is a great young player and gives the Cubs the left handed power bat that we have needed in our lineup and in that stadium. With 40 million coming off the books, half should be set aside for the big fella.
4- Let Brett Jackson be your starting center fielder/ lead-off hitter for 2012- The Cubs top prospect needs to be handed the keys to the centerfield job and let him develop at the major league level a la Jacoby Ellsbury and BJ Upton. He is a plus defender with premium speed. His bat will take sometime but he has the ability to be a superstar in this league.
5- Move Castro to Third Base and sign a great defensive shortstop- Moving Castro and his errors to third will not only help the defense but will also help Castro's offense by saving his legs some. Obviously it would be nice to sign Jose Reyes with the remaining 20 million after signing Fielder, but this isn't realistic. So the options won't be flashy but its time this team focused on defense and speed. Maybe the answer is the Angels Erik Aybar or Rafeal Furcal on a one year deal.
2012 Projected Lineup
1-Brett Jackson CF
2- Furcal/ Aybar SS
3- Starlin Castro 3B
4- Prince Fielder 1B
5- Logan Morrison RF
6- Alfonso Soriano LF
7- Geovany Soto C
8- Darwin Barney 2B
Rotation
1- Garza
2- Ervin Santana
3- Dempster
4- Wells
5- Cashner
It may not be a Championship team but it would be a playoff contending team. We would get considerably younger and considerably faster. Listen, obviously the club needs to do more than 5 things to improve this team, but I don't think this team is that far from being better than the Cardinals or Brewers. Fielder is a must. So is trading Marmol for a solid starter or top prospect. We would need a closer, but the Cardinals used 5 different guys for that job this season and they are in the World Series. And by my estimation, Theo would still have about 15 million to find two bullpen arms and a 4th or 5th starter.
Boom. Done. Next.
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