Everyone is entitled to a bad century and a year, aren’t they?

As has been the common theme, we Cub fans are left to say, “Well there is always next year”.

After an agonizing playoff sweep by the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, the Cubs have again re-tooled with a good amount of changes this off season. With pitchers and catchers reporting soon, the first spring training game less than a month away, it’s time to once again take a look at what the Cubs look like in 2009.

First and foremost the Cubs finally got some much needed left handed hitting to the lineup. The acquisitions of CF Joey Gathright, 2B Aaron Miles and OF Milton Bradley will help balance what was a very right handed hitting lineup. Miles will start with the departure of Mark DeRosa, Bradley will start and Gathright will more then likely platoon with Reed Johnson in center. The Cubs have added depth in both the infield and the outfield which means that you won’t see the same starting 8 every single day. There will be a lot of mixing and matching based on the match ups which means more playing time for Micah Hoffpauir, and Mike Fontenot with the departure of Ronny Cedeno.

Gone from the Cubs the aforementioned Mark DeRosa, a move that surprised and disappointed a lot of Cubs fans who tagged him as a fan favorite. He was Mr. Everything from playing second base, to third, left and right field and even played first. He genuinely wanted to be a Cub and was honored to wear the uniform. DeRosa was traded to the Cleveland Indians for minor league pitchers Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer, and John Gaub. Also gone CF Felix Pie, a top Cubs prospect for many years who never lived up to his hype. He was traded to the Orioles for pitchers Garrett Olson and Henry Williamson. SP Jason Marquis was traded on Jan 6, 2009 to the Colorado Rockies for RP Luis Vizacino. And finally, long time Cub Kerry Wood was not re-signed as a free agent and signed with the Cleveland Indians.

The Cubs starting rotation is just about set. The only battle is for the 5th starter. That battle seems to be between recently acquired Aaron Heilman, and spot starter Sean Marshall. The first four starters seemed to be locked in with Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Ted Lilly.

The bullpen will be revamped this year. Gone as mentioned closer Kerry Wood which leaves the door wide open for Carlos Marmol to step in and take the role he has been groomed for the last two years. As an insurance policy the Cubs signed the former Florida Marlins closer Kevin Gregg. Gregg last year for the Marlins was 7-8 with a 3.41 ERA. He saved 29 games for Florida in 28 chances. More impressive might have been his splits vs. lefties who only hit .181 against him. He will go in as the set up man for Marmol to start the season with Luis Vizcaino, Chad Gaudin, and Jeff Samardzija fighting for the 7th inning spot.

There isn’t quite the buzz as there was last off season as many thought last year was a shoe in for a sure World Series birth. Looking at all the changes, do you dare say the Cubs are a better team than they were last year? Time will tell, but one thing is for sure, the Cubs brass didn’t stop tweaking an already winning team and made them at least on paper, that much better to make a deeper playoff run.

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