1. SP—Jake Arrieta

The Cubs acquired Jake Arrieta via a trade with the Baltimore Orioles in 2013. The Cubs sent starter Scott Feldman to Baltimore for Arrieta and reliever Pedro Strop. I’m not quite sure how Theo Epstein hasn’t been charged with robbery yet.

Arrieta is a former top prospect who has always had electric stuff but struggled with his command throughout his career. Last year, Arrieta solved those control issues, walking just 2.36 batters per nine innings.

Arrieta missed a lot of bats too, striking out an impressive 9.59 batters per nine innings. This resulted in a 2.53 ERA, 2.26 FIP, and 4.9 WAR. Basically, Arrieta was better than everyone in baseball not named Clayton Kershaw, who is probably not human.

The Cubs know what they have in new signee Jon Lester. He has a proven track record. Arrieta has only had one dominant season and needs to prove that it wasn’t a fluke to give the Cubs a solid one-two punch at the top of the rotation.

 2. 3B—Kris Bryant

This one is different considering Bryant likely won’t start the season in the majors. Based on his numbers so far, he’s likely ready for the next step, but the Cubs can gain an extra year of control of his contract by keeping him in Iowa for just nine games. (And who wouldn’t want to hang out in Iowa anyways?)

The Cubs have a hole at third base after trading bat flip extraordinaire Luis Valbuena to the Astros for Dexter Fowler. Bryant isn’t a sure thing at the next level though. He stuck out in 28.6 percent of his plate appearances in Triple-A last year, which could be a problem when he makes the jump to the majors like it was for fellow-phenom Javier Baez.

Bryant is a much more patient hitter than Baez though. For what it’s worth, Fangraphs’ Steamer projection has him slated for 21 homers, an .837 OPS, and 3.0 WAR in his rookie year. For comparison’s sake, All-Star shortstop Starlin Castro had 2.9 WAR last year in about as many games as Bryant is projected to play. The Cubs’ everyday lineup looks infinitely more imposing with Kris Bryant in the middle of the order, so he needs to perform close to realistic expectations.

 3. RF—Jorge Soler

The Cubs signed Soler in 2012, the same summer Yoenis Cespedes and Yasiel Puig signed their major league contracts. Soler took a little longer to reach the majors than those two, as he made his debut at the end of August last year, but he has the potential to be the best of the bunch.

As we saw last year, Soler has massive power and a cannon for an arm. I don’t think his second homer from his multi-homer game against the Cardinals has landed yet. But Soler is no one-trick pony though. He actually showed good plate discipline and contact ability in the minors, walking in 13.4-percent of his plate appearances at Triple-A Iowa last year and striking out in 20-percent. His walk rate dropped off a bit to six-percent upon reaching the majors, but that could have been due to a small sample size in just 24 games.

As with Bryant, the Cubs lineup looks much more imposing with Jorge Soler performing up to everyone’s expectations in the heart of the order. Fangraphs projects a 23 home run, 2.2 WAR season from Soler in 2015. A lineup of Rizzo, Castro, Bryant and Soler batting in succession looks awfully dangerous.

 4. SP—Jason Hammel

The Cubs signed Hammel prior to last season, and he exceeded everyone’s expectations the first half of the year, as he was a borderline all-star. The Cubs traded Hammel and Jeff Samardzija to Oakland for shortstop Addison Russell though, and Hammel’s production dropped off drastically with Oakland.

Now, he’s back with the Cubs on a two-year contract and reunited with pitching coach Chris Bosio with the hopes of reclaiming that magic he found last year.

There’s not any stats that need to tell this story. Hammel was great with the Cubs. He stunk with Oakland. He needs to be good with the Cubs again. The Cubs front office showed confidence in him by bringing him back, and the Cubs rotation can go from good to elite if Hammel justifies that confidence.

5. 2B—Javier Baez

I struggled with this one because the Cubs probably don’t need Javier Baez to live up to his potential to make the playoffs. This is more of a wild card, as he might not even open the season in the majors.

Baez broke out in 2013 with 37 home runs between High-A and Double-A. Last year was a different story, as he struggled at Iowa, striking out in 30.7 percent of his plate appearances. That problem got worse when he made the jump to the majors, as he struck out in an eye-popping 41.5 percent of his plate appearances.

Baez will provide solid defense up the middle, and he still has great power because of his ridiculous bat speed. If he can cut down on his strikeouts to what he was doing in Iowa (which is still not great), this Cubs offense could be a monster.

Fangraphs projects him to hit 27 home runs but with a .276 on base percentage. That is despite a projected .277 BABIP (batting average on balls in play), which would be well below his career minor league average. His projected strikeout rate is about 30 percent, which would be a huge improvement. If Baez does improve his K-rate by that much while getting a little luckier in the BABIP department than Fangraphs projects, this Cubs offense is going to be scary good for years to come.

The post 5 Key Cubs for a Playoff Run 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.

The post Maddon Brings Renewed Hopes appeared first on KRUI Radio.

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.

The post Maddon Hiring Signals New Era appeared first on KRUI Radio.