Milton Bradley, New Lineup Look to Change Cubs' Losing Ways

Hold on, Cubs fans!  

Yeah, we lost the Cubs' 2008 MVP in Mark DeRosa, our closer will be beating up the White Sox in the AL Central, and Jake Peavy is still not wearing Cubby blue, but look at the (projected) lineup and things are not as bad as you may think.  

The biggest fault with the 2008 Cubs was that all of their hitters were exactly the same. Right-handed, power minded, slow and bad on the base paths. This put absolutely no pressure on opposing coaches when it came to their bullpen.  

One right-handed pitcher that could spot the ball down and away, and POOF! the Cubs had no answer.  Don't believe me?  Just ask the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Arizona Diamondbacks.

This year the lineup will look extremely different. You have left-handed power in Milton Bradley to split up Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. You have the versatile, switch hitting Aaron Miles, who can bat at the top or the bottom of the order and offer Lou Piniella a bench option that opposing coaches must take into account when choosing their relief pitchers.  

In addition, Alfonso Soriano has said that he would be willing to move around in the order which opens up the leadoff spot for the Cubs' most consistent hitter, Ryan Theriot.

I know that DeRosa left a big hole to fill, but when you look at the move it opens up second base for Mike Fontenot.  Fontenot has played his way onto this roster and deserves more at-bats.  He will battle Miles for the everyday spot but the most likely scenario is that they will split time, giving Lou even more options with the lineup.

The Cubs' rotation is the best in the National League, and with the addition of Aaron Heilman competition for the fifth spot in the rotation will be fierce.  Heilman will be battling two young arms that the Cubs are really high on in Sean Marshall and Jeff Samardzija.  This will motivate Heilman to return to top form and aid in the development of both Marshall and Samardzija.

In the bullpen, the Cubs have never been stronger. Two of the aforementioned pitchers will end up there and you still have the nearly untouchable Carlos Marmol. They signed Kevin Gregg as an insurance policy, in case the transition to closer is difficult for Marmol, a la LaTroy Hawkins.  

Listen up, Cubs fans!  Some of your fan favorites are gone, but the Cubs are doing what every good sporting franchise does.  Keep the core intact, and move the role players until you find that winning combination.  Go Cubs!