What Can the Cubs Do to Reverse the Curse in '09?

So it happened again. High expectations, great defeat. For the second year in a row the Cubs were swept out of the first round by a team from the NL West.

What happened? Why did it have to happen again? Why can't the Cubs just win once in any of our lifetimes?

I would like to take a look at what the Cubs' front office needs to look at and possibly do to help prevent another collapse next year. They have a very good nucleus of young talent and veteran leadership, and should be right there again next year. But something has to change.

Starting Pitching

They did the right thing picking up the option on Rich Harden, even if he can only give six innings a start. It's probably still a better six innings than any of the other starters.

They need to resign Ryan Dempster. He exploded this year becoming a starter again. Keep his veteran presence around for the young talent in the bullpen. But I'm not opposed to letting him go in favor of picking up a big name like a C.C. Sabathia.

Big Z is around and he'll be fine. Keep him on a short leash and make sure he realizes that he doesn't have to pitch a no-hitter every night. He can let them hit the ball sometimes; it's not going to hurt too badly most of the time.

Ted Lily will add a good left-handed arm. He would be the fourth starter in an already good rotation.

Next year is the year to let the best football player in Chicago play baseball. It needs to happen early in Spring Training.

Putting Jeff Samardzija in the rotation is the best thing for him and the club. He will work as a fifth starter, who can get skipped when there are a couple of off days in a week.

As for additions, obviously adding C.C. would be huge. The Cubs have the money to spend on his probably gigantic contract. But with new ownership sometime coming into play, it may be tough.

I would try and resign Dempster and try and get C.C.; I would rather have too much starting pitching. Samardzija could stay in the bullpen if that scenario happens.

If they would like to sign a free agent pitcher, my suggestion would be to start with Derek Lowe, who has good postseason success, or John Garland, who would add another young arm back to the city where he has had his greatest success.

This would all mean bye bye to the man that is the large nosed Jason Marquis. He's the odd man out of this situation.

Bullpen

The Cubs should re-sign Kerry Wood and keep him as their closer. As great as Carlos Marmol would look in the ninth inning, losing Kerry Wood just because they feel as if Marmol is ready, and moving him into the closer roll would open up a huge hole in the bullpen. Having both of them is the best of the options.

They should throw Bob Howry onto Sheffield along with the balls he served up that went out there. They should work with Gaudin and try and make him better.

Neal Cotts solidifies a left-handed arm (as much as it's not too sure). Sean Marshall is a fine long reliever who can work as a guy in the bullpen along with the option of throwing him with a Harden or Big Z goes down for a while (both are inevitable).

Infield

This would be the area that would be pretty safe to stay about the same. I would keep Theroit at short, and Ramirez at third. Second is a tough call. I think DeRosa is a great leader, and had a pretty good year this season, but I would like to see Fontenot in the lineup more often. If that means moving DeRosa to left, then so be it (see below for what to do with Fukudome).

The only reason Fontenot should not be the starting second baseman would be if they can get Brian Roberts from Baltimore, maybe in a trade involving Derek Lee or Jason Marquis (preferably Marquis)

First base is another tough one. I would get rid of Derek Lee. It's time for him to move on. If they can get rid of Lee via trade for some minor leaguers, they should sign someone like Teixeira, who is a free agent.

If they can't sign Teixeira, then signing Adam Dunn and moving him into first would be a way to go. He's a terrible outfielder, and we can't have any more bad outfielders.

The other option would be to get rid of Lee and start fresh with Hoffpauir at first. He's a young up and comer with power, and he's left handed which is what the Cubs lacked this year. He should have made the playoff roster this year.

The catcher position is pretty much over and done with. Soto had a great season and will continue to be the starting catcher. Blanco is a free agent this offseason and re-signing him would be fine, but Koyie Hill would be a fine backup.

Outfield

Left field is secured by the hopping Alfonso Soriano.

Center field is a tough one. They had good numbers this season with the platoon of Jim Edmonds and Nick Johnson. But Edmonds is 39, and at this point is not a starting center fielder.

They should however re-sign Edmonds for another one to two years.

The Felix Pie story is about done with, so where do they go? Rocco Baldelli is a free agent, but he may not be that great of a center fielder. My suggestion is they go into it with Pie as the starter for the beginning of the season, but have Johnson and Edmonds on the bench. If they see Pie struggling, they can go back to the platoon.

The only other option would be to decide that Pie is done with, and try to trade him for some pitching and use the platoon again.

On to right field—Fukudome was a bust this year. But who's to say that he won't break out this next season after the year of getting used to being in the states for this long? They paid him his money so they need to keep him out there.

With that said, where does DeRosa go with Fontenot at second and Fukudome in right?

Platoon, baby.

It works in football with the two running back systems—why not in baseball? DeRosa against the lefties and Fukudome against the righties. This would limit the number of at bats for DeRosa, but he can be used in any number of positions: at third to give Aramis a night off, at 2B or SS, or even at 1B.

It would work.

Lineup

1. Pie—CF (L)

2. Theriot—SS (R)

3. Ramirez—3B (R)

4. Hoffpauir—1B (L)

5. Soriano—LF (R)

6. Soto—C (R)

7. Fukudome—LF (L)

8. Fontenot—2B (L)

9. Pitcher Spot

Look at how the righties and lefties are spread out, and there are a lot more lefties this year. It allows for teams to not just throw righties and over power the right-handed dominant lineup.

This is just my opinion, and I would like to hear your comments.