2003 Cubs: What Could Have Been

The obvious way to start this has to be with a couple of calls Cub fans around the world would've loved to have heard Pat Hughes make on WGN Radio:

"Ground ball to Gonzalez, he flips it to Grudzielanek, on to Karros, and the Cubs are just three outs away from the National League Pennant and a trip to the World Series!"

And then, of course, roughly 10 minutes later, "The crowd is going wild! Here's Borowski's 1-1 pitch. A pop fly, shallow center, Lofton charging at full speed, he dives... AND MAKES THE CATCH! THE CUBS WIN THE PENNANT! THE CUBS WIN THE PENNANT! THE CHICAGO CUBS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES! RON, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!"

But what if the Cubs never had to acquire Kenny Lofton along with Aramis Ramirez? Let's say Patterson plays 155 games and keeps going at the pace he was going in 2003 before he injured his knee—let's say he never hurt his knee. He'd have hit .298, getting 183 hits, 32 doubles, 24 home runs, 103 RBI, and gone 30-39 in stolen base attempts. Essentially living up to be the five-tool player the Cubs had hoped for when they selected him over J.D. Drew, amongst other outfield options, in the 1998 draft.

Also, what if the Cubs had managed to sign their 14th round draft pick, a catcher from Port Charlotte High School named Matt LaPorta? His contract would have cost, at the most, one million dollars. Which, yes, is a lot of money, however, this is the man considered of such a caliber that he was the centerpiece of the trade that brought CC Sabathia to Milwaukee. Since then, LaPorta switched to first base and outfield duties, and was taken in the first round by Milwaukee, he's now considered a huge part of Cleveland's plans for the future.

Or 48th round draft pick, a skinny, yet highly-successful pitching phenom just out of high school, Timothy Leroy Lincecum out of Liberty Senior High School in Renton, Washington. A 48th round draft pick doesn't sign for much money, and if the Cubs had the foresight then to throw enough money at him to come out of college (as they did with 2003 ace Mark Prior), they would've had baseball's best young phenom, taken as what could've gone down as the biggest draft steal in Major League history.

But, alas, Lincecum went on to college, Patterson hurt his knee, and the grounder got through Gonzalez's legs, and the Loveable Losers remained just that.