Off-Season Report #2 - Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs 2012 Records: 98-64

Key In-Coming Players: 3B Michael Almanzar, OF Thomas De'Leon, SP Tim Melville, OF James Aitkenhead, OF Nick Trudeau, OF Mike Trout, 2B Pascal Nichols, OF Gustavo Mercabo

Key Departing Players: SP Clay Buchholz, OF Jacoby Ellsbury, 3B Amaris Ramirez, SP Francisco Liriano, SP Aio Kami, C/1B Victor Martinez, LF Matt Holliday

2012 Pitching Leaders:
Innings Pitched: 202.2 - Clay Buchholz
Wins: 18 - Clay Buchholz
Earned Run Average: 3.03 - Clay Buchholz
Strike Outs: 204 - Clay Buchholz
Saves: 27 - Carlos Marmol
WHIP: 1.18 - Clay Buchholz

2012 Hitting Leaders:
Batting Average: .318 - Amaris Ramirez
Home Runs: 33 - Amaris Ramirez/Matt Holliday
Runs Batted In: 111 - Matt Holliday
On Base Percentage: .400 - Amaris Ramirez
On Base Percentage + Slugging: .965
Stolen Bases: 84 - Jacoby Ellsbury

October 21st, 11:13 PM. It's an ice-still 27 degrees out, I'm surrounded by a large sum of angry-drunk people, and the only living things with smiles on their faces have a semi-broken star on their foreheads. Where am I? Yup, Wrigley Field. Once again, it's the same old story for the cubbies, who are not only at the brink of yet another postseason elimination, but are at the brink of yet another postseason elimination at the hands of the Houston Astros. It was after practically handing Houston the division title, the fans of the Chicago Cubs had to watch the Astros take the NL Pennant while sitting in an old, worn outfield ballpark seat, staring at the Jumbo-tron scoreboard for over 3 hours. The only thing that could be heard was the heart-wrenching sound of a strong whisper that could be heard 1,083 miles away, humming through the cracks of the retractable roof that shields Minute Maid Park.

THE OVERHAUL
Amaris Ramirez was set to turn 35. Matt Holliday set to turn 33. Victor Martinez set to turn 34 Jacoby Ellsbury set to turn 30. Andy LaRoche set to turn 30. The Cubs were leading the National League Central division by 4 games going into the second half of the season, and 3 games ahead of the Astros going into their September 18Th game against the Giants. At seasons end, they were 4 games back, lucky to have clinched the wild card spot. Now, staring into the inbox of his Blackberry, GM Sean Polenhole cannot find any separate reason for their collapse other than stating the obvious, their line up is old. Faced with a decision that could make him the most famous public enemy in Chicago since Steve Bartmen and John Dellinger, do you march forward and make minimal additions to the team because of the low cash amount, or do I gut the team and look towards becoming of a power house of the future.

News came 2 days later that Jacoby Ellsbury and Andy LaRoche were being dealt to the Mets for prospects, one of which is third basemen Michael Almanzar. The rebuilding process began for Polenhole and he's done a fine job picking up some great peaces such as Thomas De'Leon, Nick Trudeau, Tim Melville, James Aitkenhead and Gustavo Mercabo. The Cubs really didn't really acquire any talented young pitching other than Melville, but with the up-coming draft and still some chips to deal, they have time to let things fall into balance. In my opinion this change is the greatest decision to come out of this organization's front office since Lou Pinella was hired. The team would have been no better than last year's disaster, and the only place to go from the point they're at is south. Any time North Chicago and South Chicago collide......shit ends ugly.

It's been difficult to pin point one exact off-season that caused variable change in the league, and while this off-season for the Cubs hasn't caused any immediate change for the MLB, it has become the beginning of a new era. The winter for north Chicago has always seemed like a brutal one, and I'm not talking about the weather. However, this time around the Dark Cloud hovering over the Chicago skyline isn't as hard to bear as it has on past annual occasions. The spring approaching doesn't have hope in the air for the next season, but confidence for the next generation. For some really weird reason, the people who have blue caps with red C's on the top of their heads have uplifting smirks on their faces, as if everything that happened this past year happened last year. Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe that's why they're smiling.

Off-Season Grade: B+