Notable Additions: Miguel Montero C, Tommy La Stella IF, David Ross C, Dexter Fowler CF, Chris Denorfia OF, Jason Motte RP, Phil Coke RP, Jason Hammel SP, Jon Lester SP

Notable Losses:  Luis Valbuena IF, Dan Straily P, Justin Ruggiano OF, Wesley Wright RP

First thing is first. Cubs fans… RELAX. This is not a team made of declining superstars and the plan was never to win it all in 2015. The Cubs are a young and inexperienced team. Maybe just maybe 2016 will be the year, but 2015 should be focused on improving to a .500 record. The pitching staff received a major upgrade this offseason when the Cubs signed Jon Lester. The left-handed pitcher has dominated the AL East for years and will now have a shot at the NL Central. Lester finished 2014 with a 2.46 ERA through 219.2 innings. He has excellent control and will utilize his cutter against all batters. Jake Arrieta holds the second spot in the rotation and will be looking to repeat his 2014 season. He held a 2.53 ERA through 156.2 innings last season. The Cubs signed Jason Hammel this offseason when he became a free agent. Hammel will provide the Cubs with a consistent outing every 5th day. The back end of the rotation should go to Kyle Hendrick and Travis Wood. These pitchers can do something that most cannot… they can hit! I’d be willing to bet Travis Wood finishes with 5 home runs in 2015.

The Cubs have a lot of depth to work with in 2015. Tommy La Stella and Mike Olt will fill in at third until Kris Bryant reaches the Majors. Asmani Alcantara and La Stella will swap turns at second base until Javier Baez gets called back up. Baez was sent down yesterday due to his inability to improve his plate discipline. Chris Denorfia is a nice virtue to have in the outfield. He will most likely be used against left-handed pitching, considering he hit .284 again lefties over the past three seasons. Dexter Fowler will play centerfield and bat leadoff. He finished with a .393 batting average when leading off an inning in 2014. He will set the platter for the power guys.

Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro both had great years in 2014. Both finished with a batting average of .286 or higher and double digit home runs. Rizzo hit 32 long balls and drove in 78 runs last season. Castro showed consistently with his bat and finished with a .292 batting average. Both hitters will be looking to repeat what they did in 2014. The Cubs added two new catchers this offseason. Miguel Montero comes from Arizona and brings a left-handed bat to the lineup. He has some pop left in his swing and should be able to drive in a solid amount of runs. Montero finished with a .243 batting average and hit 13 home runs in 2014. David Ross was signed for his leadership skills and his relationship with Jon Lester. Ross has caught for Lester for the better part of his career and knows how to bring out the best in Lester. Ross will give Montero a nice break and provides Joe Maddon with more options.

Speaking of Joe Maddon…. the Cubs signed Joe Maddon! I know, I know, it’s exciting. Maddon took the Tampa Bay Rays to the playoffs 3 consecutive years and will be looking to bring his success to Chicago. He has a special skill of working well with young players. This team is full of youth, so it’s only a matter of time before Maddon works his magic.

Breakout Player: Jorge Soler RF

Everyone is talking about Kris Bryant right now and I’m not saying that he won’t break out, but I’d rather talk about the other guy. Soler has a talent that very few players posses. Through the first 3 weeks of spring training games, Soler had not swung at a single pitch outside the strikezone. He has incredible discipline and that will set him aside from everyone else. He finished 2014 with a .292 batting average and 5 home runs.  He has all the tools he needs to be successful. If healthy I expect:

.284 BA, 24 HR, 82 RBI

Game Changer: Jake Arrieta SP

To me, Jake Arrieta has the most important role in 2015. We know Lester will be solid, we know what to expect from the bottom half of the rotation and we know the lineup will produce runs. We aren’t sure what we will get from Arrieta. He had an outstanding 2014 season finishing with a 2.52 ERA through 156.2 innings. If he repeats his 2014 season, the Cubs could make the playoffs.

The Chicago Cubs will be good in 2015. They will hit a lot of home runs but will also make a lot of mistakes due to their youth. They will be an exciting team to watch with all the young talent. Expect them to improve each year.

The post Chicago Cubs 2015 Preview Edition #30 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

But the Northsiders weren’t done after finding a new manager, they also acquired two-time all-star catcher Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks, re-signed pitcher Jason Hammel, who was on pace to have the best season of his career with the Cubs before being traded to Oakland last July.  Also, in a move late in the offseason, the Cubs acquired speedy center fielder Dexter Fowler from the Astros in exchange for Luis Valbuena.  Most of all, the Cubs made the biggest splash of free-agency when they signed Jon Lester to a 6-year/$155 million contract.  Lester finally gives the Cubs a true ace, and along with Hammel, gives them a veteran presence in the rotation.

This season’s outlook for the Cubs appears much more hopeful than in previous years.  The Cubs pitching was its strength last season, and the addition of Lester can only help that.  Jake Arrieta, who was acquired along with reliever Pedro Strop in a trade from Baltimore, finally showed the potential that many believed he had.  Arrieta finished 2014 with a 10-5 record to go along with a 2.53 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 156 2/3 innings.  It seemed like every single start he was flirting with a no-hitter and if he can replicate his success from last year, he should be a very solid second starter behind Lester.  Kyle Hendricks was another young player that burst onto the scene last year.  He essentially took over for Jason Hammel last season and performed exceptionally well, going 7-2 with a 2.46 ERA in 13 starts.  If Chicago can get repeat performances from Hammel, Arrieta, and Hendricks

in 2015, it should have a very formidable rotation.  The Cubs also had a terrific bullpen last season.  Neil Ramirez was called up to the majors in May and was flirting with an ERA around 1.00 for most of the season until a rough outing late in the season caused his ERA to finish at 1.44.  Pedro Strop was again productive as the 8th inning set up man, and Hector Rondon was the surprise of the Cubs season.  Thought by many as a fringe roster player at the beginning of the season, Rondon ended up taking over for Jose Veras as Cubs closer in late April and pitched well for the entire season.  In 64 games, Rondon had a 2.42 ERA and converted 29 of 33 saves and should be the Cubs closer going into the season.

The Cubs lineup is one that continues to look better and better with the addition of many of the Cubs’ top prospects and offseason moves.  One of the more underrated moves Chicago made in the offseason was acquiring Fowler from Houston.  Fowler gives the Cubs a true leadoff hitter it hasn’t had in a very long time.  Fowler hit .275 last year, but more importantly he had a .376 on-base percentage, a statistic that the Cubs have struggled with over the last five years.  In addition to Fowler, the acquisition of Miguel Montero gives them another solid bat in the middle of the order.  Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro should

be their normal, productive selves in the middle, but the two hitters that have Cub fans giddy are right fielder Jorge Soler, and third baseman Kris Bryant.  Soler and Baez both got a taste of major league action last season, with Soler hitting 5 homeruns and 20 RBI in just 24 games.  Baez struggled, hitting just .169 while also accumulating 95 strikeouts in just 213 at-bats, but even he flashed the potential of the player he could be.  As for Bryant, he was voted as the number 1 prospect in all of baseball and he has backed that up with his performance in the minors last season and the spring this season.  Bryant hit 43 home runs last season in the minors and leads all of the Cactus League with nine homers in the spring, the most impressive being an opposite field blast off Mariners ace Felix Hernandez.  However, much like Baez, Bryant also strikes out an awful lot, but the Cubs would gladly trade 40 home runs for 200 strikeouts.  This will be a lineup that will hit a lot of homeruns and strike out a lot as well, something that is becoming more typical of lineups throughout the MLB.

Cubs fans have had to wait a very long time for them to put together a competitive team that is exciting to watch, but in 2015, that is likely to change.  This team probably isn’t good enough to make the playoffs yet, but if all of the prospects perform close to what they are projected to be, this will still be a very fun team to watch.  Reasonable expectations for the Cubs this season would be a winning record, with the team being in the mix for the final wild card spot.  For the first time in a long time, Cubs fans have a team to truly get excited about.

The post After offseason flurry, Cubs finally ready to make noise appeared first on KRUI Radio.

What does the hiring of former Tampa Bay Rays skipper mean to Cubs fans?

Well, to keep it simple, it means hope. Cubs fans have constantly been blinded by the deceptive message of “Wait ‘til next year!” Again and again, the organization has been telling fans to “just wait,” but again and again, teams have underperformed, come up short, or in most cases, have just been downright awful.

After yet another season finishing in the cellar of a strong N.L. Central Division, the infamous message that has been ringing in Cubs fans ears for years may actually be coming to light.

Theo and company has built the top rated best farm systems in all of baseball. Young players such as Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Arismendy Alcantara have already gotten the call to the show and have shown signs of what is to come. Other young sluggers such as Kris Bryant and Addison Russell are still lurking in the minors, waiting for their turn to contribute.

The young guys are there. The bullpen is loaded with young talent. What the Cubs needed next was a type of leadership in the form of a proven winner. They hit a home run with Joe Maddon.

Maddon is the guy that is ready to take this team to another level. His positive attitude, great sense of humor, relaxed and humbled personality, coupled with his statistical genius way of approaching a baseball game, goes with the fact that Joe Maddon knows how to win.

He turned around a franchise in Tampa with an abysmal payroll, low attendance, and a shaky roster. He brought it to the World Series in a matter of years. Maddon has a career record of 781-729; two Manager of the Year awards and has managed an All-Star Game. Give him a young team with an outstanding farm system, a stadium that sells out consistently, and a ton of money to spend in the free-agent market, and you have a match made in heaven.

The Cubs will be looking to add top arms such as Jon Lester and/or James Shields to anchor the rotation this offseason. If that gets accomplished, Joe Maddon will turn the page on this franchise, as he has proven to do in the past.

For the Cubs faithful, this hiring brings light to the dark tunnel of being a Cubs fan.  The fan base, which can sell out Wrigley Field even in the lowest of seasons, deserves to see a winning team. Not a team that throws money at free agents hoping to build a one and done team, but a team that has been built from scratch and will win for years to come i.e. the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Renovations are underway at Wrigley Field and the surrounding Wrigleyville, but what fans are really anticipating are the renovations being done to the roster. So, as fans pile into Wrigley Field on opening day 2015 feeling the breeze coming off of Lake Michigan, many will be intrigued by the brand new scoreboard towering over the left field bleachers. But every single one of those fans will have their attention focused primarily on the Cubs dugout, watching as Joe Maddon sends out his team to begin the new era of Cubs baseball.

Sure, the pressure is there. Every single fan wearing Cubbie-blue colors is already anticipating nothing short of a World Series in the Joe Maddon era. But if there is any manager in the game that can handle the pressure of fans and media and go out there day in and day out and just win, it’s Joe Maddon. Pressure creates losers; pressure creates diamonds. The Chicago Cubs have themselves a diamond.

The front office is ready. The young roster is ready. Joe Maddon is ready. The fans have been ready for 107 years.

“Wait ‘til next year,” Cubs fans.

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That’s how long it took for the Chicago Cubs to change their competitive timeline and signal the rebuilding project is entering the next phase. It was only a matter of moments from when Joe Maddon’s opt-out was announced to the Cubs being considered the overwhelming favorites to name him the 54th manager in franchise history.

Maddon is due to make $25 million over the span of five seasons. His deal does not include an opt-out clause. The Cubs have found their man and are now fully committed to him. There are also playoff incentives in deal; something tells me both Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon expect those to be paid out over the next few seasons.

At his introductory press conference, Maddon stated that he knew the situation he was coming into but believes this is a team that should be talking playoffs for 2015 and beyond. The organization has young talent and is ready to open the checkbook on some of the missing pieces. Maddon could not walk into a better situation.

Sure the Cubs already had a manager in Rick Renteria, who during his one season as the Cubs manager improved the team record by seven games and helped Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo bounce back into All-Star form, but it was a no-brainer to move on once Maddon became available. He also did an admirable job balancing the trades that saw the departure of ace Jeff Samardzija and the mass call up of the long-awaited talent such as Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kyle Hendricks.

No one would have complained if Renteria had been the guy who solved the most complicated puzzle in all of sports, but he was widely considered a stopgap piece who could develop talent but would not be the manager of the future when the winning started.

It seemed unlikely Maddon would ever leave his comfortable position in Tampa. In nine seasons with the Rays he lead the team to six winning seasons (five 90+ win seasons), four playoff berths, and the 2008 AL Pennant. Those stats alone would be impressive for any manager.

Oh by the way, his average payroll over those nine seasons was $51,957,460 which is why they use the best payroll practices. In 2008, the team spent $165,260, 980 less than the New York Yankees. There is no such thing as tenure in the MLB, but Maddon was close as a manager can get to having it.

So the question now becomes: is Maddon the manager that will be able to lead the Cubs to its first title since 1908? Will he join the ranks of those other famous curse busters in Terry Francona and Ozzie Guilen or those who failed before him like Lou Piniella and Don Zimmer?

Well, Joe Maddon finds himself as the skipper of a much different team and organization than those who came before him. Long gone are the owners and general managers who believe that a winning team is built by throwing money at top free agents and hoping lightening catches in a bottle. It led to albatross contracts and a team with a barren farm system.

Of course, at the end of the day the manager can only do so much. The young talent the Cubs have been developing will have to continue to develop, Rizzo and Castro need to play at All-Star level once again, and there will have to be mades moved in free agency to shore up the rotation. When it comes to in-game decisions and intangibles however, Maddon is the guy any fan would want making decisions.

The hope is this marriage ends with a World Series title for the team from the North Side. There is work to be done and plenty of games still to win but the Cubs, an Epstein-Maddon marriage is the perfect fit.

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