Playing Pepper 2009: Chicago Cubs

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same. I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posed to them five questions. This is the result. You can find the tentative schedule of teams here, and today's main post is right here.

The Cubs.

That's pretty much all you have to say to a Cardinal fan to rile them up and start the trash talk flowing. No matter what the acronyms we use (such as Completely Useless By September), the truth is the last couple of years have seen the Cubs playing after the season while the Cardinals have stayed at home.

Will that continue this year? I got in touch with Jack Cobra, formerly of Cobra Brigade, to pose him five questions about the upcoming Chicago season.

C70: Will the Jake Peavy trade ever happen?

JC: It will only happen if the Padres ask for a lot less in return as the season goes on.  Right now the Cubs don't have much that the Padres would want since they aren't giving up Josh Vitters.  I thought there was a time where the Cubs could send Felix Pie, Ronny Cedano, Sean Marshall and a minor league pitcher to get the job done but Marshall is the only one left on the Cubs roster. 

Since the Cubs aren't giving up Marshall they don't have any assets to trade at this point as all of their "high-upside" prospects are in AA and below.  The Padres also have ownership issues so that's going to play a major role in trades they make with any team this season.

C70: What does the change in ownership mean for the team on the field?

JC: No one knows for sure right now but there are generally three avenues of thinking/hoping.

1. Ownership is going to pour more money into the Cubs and allow them to buy players like the Yankees do;

2. The new ownership will increase the spending on the front office staff (scouting, etc.) which will help the Cubs develop/find the homegrown players they'll need to compete in the future without increasing payroll too much, and

3. Ownership will just want to let the stadium fill and collect the revenues from that without improving the team.

I'm hoping for No. 2 but keeping my eye out for No. 3.  Personally, I don't believe there will be much change in the day-to-day operations of the team as long as Jim Hendry is in charge but ownership is going to look to cash in on some of the ancillary revenue avenues the Cubs have, such as naming of the stadium and improving/building concessions/attractions within and around the stadium.

C70: Will Rich Harden be ready for Opening Day or soon thereafter?

JC: It's my understanding that he'll be ready to go on Opening Day or whatever day his first start is.  He'll probably only go five innings and the opposition will not have scored any runs while he's thrown 80-plus pitches, striking out eight and walking four. 

They are going to baby him as much as possible but if they keep within their set parameters they should be OK.  I'm more worried about Carlos Zambrano.  I think this could be the year he goes down in spring training.

C70: Was it hard to see Kerry Wood go?

JC: Initially it was but after seeing how the free agency period has worked out regarding salaries it was a smart fiscal decision by the Cubs.  Woody gave us some great times over the years but the Cubs couldn't commit that kind of money or the position of closer to him for multiple seasons. 

Cub fans will never be able to say Kerry didn't give us his best effort and that's all you can really ask from a player.  I think he'll end his career with the Cubs as a middle reliever in a few seasons.

C70: What do you think is the strongest and weakest part of the team as it stands right now?

JC: The starting rotation is really strong right now since none of them are hurt.  Then again, once they start playing catch in spring training things could be completely different.  That being said, it's going to be tough for a team in the National League to put out a rotation better than Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, Harden and Marshall/Samardzija/Hart/Heilman.

There are two weakest parts right now and that's just because there are so many unknowns.

1. The bench: Right now there isn't a good backup third baseman on the Cubs roster and that scares the bejeezus out of me.  Aaron Miles has played there a little bit before but I'm not really high on him or the possibility of seeing him play shortstop this season.  I'm not a fan of Joey Gathright coming off the bench for any reason other than to steal a base and Micah Hoffpauir is really a DH who won't see many at-bats this season.  There is no Mark DeRosa and the Cubs will miss that.

2. The bullpen: You never know how a bullpen is going to do until the season starts but I hate Luis Vizcaino, I'm not high on Kevin Gregg, and Neil Cotts isn't exactly helping my blood pressure.  I think Samardzija will start the season in AAA to stretch out his arm and who knows what kind of weird injury Chad Gaudin will come up with next.  Carlos Marmol is great and all but if they can't give him the lead to close out the game then his dominance is pointless.

Thanks to Jack for giving us a little bit of insight on the baby bears. The Cardinals are going to really have to work to overtake them in the Central this year.