The Void at Second Base

Jeff Baker's success on the Cubs was utterly unexpected.

In 220 plate appearances, he batted .305 with a .362 OBP and put up an .810 OPS.

In 764 career at-bats, the man has put up an above average .781 OPS, meaning his 2009 isn't a complete fluke.

Baker looks to be a quality bench bat or a platoon-mate who specializes against crushing lefties. With Reed Johnson most likely gone next season, his style of offense off the bench would be greatly appreciated.

Regardless of how well he did in his limited 2009 at-bats, I doubt anyone would feel comfortable just handing him the 2010 job. If you want to see how well that practice does, look to Mike Fontenot's 2008 part-time success translate to complete failure in 2009 as a full-time starter.

This team should aim higher, but the Cubs could do worse than Baker.

Little Mike Fontenot didn't look so mighty in 2009.

After gaining the starter's role with a very strong 2008, he struggled to find any semblance of success at the plate in the past season.

Fontenot was just fantastic in 2008, which makes his fall so astounding. In 243 at-bats that year, he hit .305 with a robust .395 OBP and a .909 OPS. Expecting a drop-off was reasonable, but all the way down to a .243 batting average and a .678 OPS?

Mike is a quality defender at second base, but he seems to have solidified himself as a Major League bench player with his performance this past season.

Andres Blanco simply doesn't have a Major League level offensive game. On the Cubs, he has his role as a bench player and defensive-wiz, and he can play that part quite well.

Outside of that, Blanco really doesn't carry much value as a potential starter.

No...just...no.

Chone is coming off a quality season, a year that is going to get him a large multi-year contract with some team will to shell out the cash.

If Figgins could promise to repeat his 2009 season for the next 4 years, then the deal would be worth it.

Since he tends to be quite inconsistent offensively year-to-year, he complicates things.

For example, Figgins was just plain bad at the plate in 2006 and 2008. To confuse things even more though, in between those years (2007 and 2009) he had 2 quality seasons.

He is a talented player no doubt, but he carries a large amount of risk.

He's just not the right move for the Cubs, with their almost assuredly limited 2010 budget. A few more things to sway the fans of signing Chone:

-He will be 32 years old in January.

-In 2007 and 2008, he missed 30-40 games with injuries.

-His stolen base efficiency has dropped this season, stealing only 71% effectively.

Does anyone really think it'd be a good idea to pay an inconsistent 32-year-old with previous leg injuries and waning stolen base abilities close to 40 million for 4 years?

I'd hope Cubs management doesn't.

It was late in the 2009 off-season when Orlando Hudson was finally signed to an incentive-laden, one year deal with the Dodgers.

This off-season, he's very likely to get a 2-4 year deal with some team paying him upwards of 5-7 million per season.

Hudson gives you consistent yet non-flashy offensive production. Leaving Chase Field hurt his numbers slightly in 2009, but not immensely. The guy is going to OPS somewhere around .800, which is much more than acceptable for a second basemen.

Defensively, Hudson is arguably one of the most overrated players in all of baseball. Everyone remembers his fantastic days in Toronto when he was an elite defender. Those days are a distant memory for the soon-to-be 32 year old. At this point in his career, he is at best a mediocre-fielder with an inclination towards being a sub-par one.

His contract is less frightening than Chone Figgins' will be, and he is the more consistent player. He's not a "world-beater", but he's an obvious upgrade for Chicago if they want to pony-up the dough.

Bouncing around from team to team the past 3 seasons like a wayward "Superball", Lopez will in all likelihood be with another one in 2010.

Felipe was having a serviceable season for the Diamondbacks in 2009 before getting moved to Milwaukee where he was an absolute beast at the plate. He hit .320 in his half-season with the Brew-crew while playing acceptable defensively.

He's a similar option to Iwamura and Hudson, and he remains the youngest of the 3.

I don't think I would complain if he was brought in, as long as he didn't recreate his horrible days with the Nationals.

There's really not much to say about Akinori.

He doesn't inspire much excitement. The best way to wholly describe him is: Adequate.

He's an "adequate" fielder, and an "adequate" offensive second basemen.

Iwamura is pretty much Orlando Hudson-lite. Aki will also get a similar contract, most likely with a few million less per year though.

Going into last year's off-season, I wouldn't have been very happy about dropping from DeRosa's production to Iwamura's, but after seeing how bad things can get from 2009, having some semblance of consistency may be relieving.

Everybody loves Mark DeRosa. That is a pretty basic fact in the land of Cubs fans.

He's a plain likable guy, through and through.

On top of his amiable personality, Mark produced 2 quality seasons starting at second base for the Cubbies in 2007 and 2008.

He had a career year in 2008 that played a large role in the Cubs winning 97 games. Fans will carry their fond memories of DeRo for awhile.

Some fans need to let them go though, and sooner rather than later. I don't mean to bash him, but some people need to wake up to reality.

DeRosa, at 35 years old, is going to be a sub-par fielder wherever you play him. How versatile are you when you can't play one position decently? Mark was also just horrible after the All-star break this last season, putting up a sub .700 OPS.

His agent is going to attempt to get him a 2-4 year deal upwards of 6 million per year. That is well beyond what the Cubs should spend to bring him in.

You had a fun ride here DeRosa, but this team needs to spend a little more efficiently.

This is the man on this list who is only available through a trade.

Dan Uggla, 29, is rumored to be on the move this off-season.

Something can be said for his kind of consistency.

He has hit 27 or more homeruns and has owned an .805 OPS or higher for 4 straight seasons.

For what it's worth he's also averaged 90 RBI over those same 4 years. This is a second basemen, mind you.

Dan has struggled off and on defensively in his career. He had quite a poor defensive year in 2009, but his 2008 was lightyears better. One would hope Cubs management would work him hard in that area.

His other problem area is his contact-game, but the last 2 seasons he has massively upped his patience at the plate, and it shows.

Basically, the guy gets on base and hits for prodigious power. His offense would be greatly appreciated in the middle of the Cubs order,

His asking price from the Marlins wouldn't be vastly steep, and the upgrade would be very worth it.