MLB: The 5 Most Interesting National League Storylines for 2012

With the 136th season of National League baseball fast approaching, there are many intriguing storylines worth following that have developed following a wild offseason. The winter stove was overheating this year with several high-profile free agents searching for new homes and paydays that would make some developing nations’ GDPs blush.

There was also a makeover in South Florida with the Marlins getting a new stadium, new uniforms, and some new players in an effort to draw in some new fans.

It wouldn’t be a baseball offseason if MLB Commissioner Bud Selig didn’t tinker with the game. Selig decided to add two more wild card teams to the playoff mix, creating a new one-game play-in game which will put more emphasis and reward on a division title. Not exactly a bad idea, but one has to always pause and hope for the best when Selig starts changing things up. As an aside, I would like to make an appeal to Selig to cool it with the early-morning season openers in Japan. I think the game would be better served if this were strictly an exhibition affair. It seems that most of America was unaware that the season had started March 28th when the Seattle Mariners outlasted the Oakland A’s in Tokyo.

Even with two somewhat secretive MLB games already in the books, the rest of the league has left their respective training camps and will begin the long journey that is a baseball season. With all of the changes to the National League landscape this offseason, here are some of the stories baseball fans should be intrigued by this offseason:

Upheaval in the NL Central

While the NL Central couldn’t exactly be mistaken for the strong AL East in recent seasons, there has been some competitive baseball coming out of the division, as well as the defending World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Those same Cardinals will have to try to repeat their postseason glory without the services of several key people who no longer call Busch Stadium home. The micro-managing Tony LaRussa decided to call it quits after a successful, 16-year run in St. Louis. LaRussa won two World Series with the Cardinals as he managed to get the most out of his teams when it counted, near the end of the season and in the postseason. Along with LaRussa, pitching coach Dave Duncan has left the team as well. Duncan, considered one of the best pitching coaches in the game, will be missed by a team that has fielded some of the most consistent pitching in baseball for more than a decade.

The big gaping hole on the right side of the infield happens to be from the best hitter in the game leaving town. The big offseason free agent prize this offseason was first baseman Albert Pujols, he of the career 1.037 OPS. Pujols will be slugging in Los Angeles for the Angels, earning a cool $240 million over 10 years with the Angels. His absence also makes life easier for the Cardinals’ division rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, they were unable to offer an attractive deal to their own slugging first baseman, Prince Fielder. Fielder, who is five years younger than Pujols and owns a healthy lifetime OPS as well (.929), has taken his considerable bat and girth to the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers will pay Fielder $214 million over nine years to play poor defense and to hit home runs.

With two of the game’s premier sluggers leaving the division, it should open up some opportunities for the perpetually rebuilding teams, the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Houston Astros will be playing their final year in the division before they swap leagues and take their minor league roadshow to the AL West in 2013.

The Cubs and Pirates, however, will remain and as always, will be clinging to the hope that the future holds some success. The Cubs made news this offseason by firing GM Jim Hendry, and raiding the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres’ front offices, bringing in the youthful, yet successful trio of Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod. Epstein, who is now serving as the Cubs’ president of baseball operations has already started clearing out the Cubs’ cupboard of under-performing assets while trying to snag some prospects that the team can build around.

The Pirates will look to build on a 2011 where they were actually in first place in June before an expected collapse. They return with some solid pitching and the soon-to-be star outfielder Andrew McCutchen.

Were the Diamondbacks a One-Hit Wonder?

One of the surprises of the 2011 season was the Arizona Diamondbacks winning the NL West. The D-Backs won 94 games on the strength of some solid pitching, and timely hitting under the leadership of Mr. Clutch himself, manager Kirk Gibson.

Statistically, the D-Backs were hovering around the league average for hitting and pitching all season. They received some breakout seasons from the likes of Miguel Montero, Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy, and Daniel Hudson.

In his second year as manager in Arizona, Gibson saw his team post a stellar 28-16 record in one-run games, helping them outlast the defending champion San Francisco Giants. The Giants, who boast one of the best pitching staffs in the game with Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain leading the rotation, couldn’t hit enough to catch the D-Backs.

Arizona ran out of mojo in the playoffs, losing to MVP Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder’s Brewers in the NLDS. What Arizona did in 2011 was remarkable, improving by 29 games over their 2010 output.

They have their work cut out for them this season as the Giants return with most of their pitching staff intact, as well as new outfielders Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan. Slugging prospect Brandon Belt will be battling for playing time with Aubrey Huff, and Belt may be the big bat the Giants have been lacking in recent years.

Arizona will counter with their own slugging first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt, who posted an ISO of .224 in 177 plate appearances last season with the Diamondbacks. The 24-year-old will be the everyday first baseman for the D-Backs, as they look to hold onto their NL West crown in 2012.

Can The Phillies Pitch Their Way To Another Division Title?

The Philadelphia Phillies are a team built for a monster playoff run. They easily boast the best trio of arms in the majors. Coming off of a 102-win season in 2011, the Phillies rotation is fronted by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels. Of the three, the highest ERA last season was posted by Hamels. His 2.79 would qualify him as an ace on about 20 teams, but he’s returning as the Phils’ number three.

The problem the Phillies will encounter this year is finding a way to score enough runs to repeat as division champs for the sixth year in a row. The team will be without first baseman Ryan Howard, who has seen his slugging percentage steadily decline the last few seasons. He is battling injury and will likely miss the first two months of the season.

Second baseman Chase Utley, who may have long said goodbye to his peak playing years, is suffering from chronic knee issues, and will miss significant time this season as well. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins has yet to find his 2007 form which led to his MVP award, and isn’t getting any younger at 33. That leaves outfielders Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino as the only reliable producers who will be tasked with sparking an offense that finished seventh in runs scored last season.

While the Phils will likely repeat as division champs, barring any injury to one of their big three stud pitchers, they will struggle mightily to score runs this season unless they get contributions from some unexpected sources.

Miami Marlins: Is that contraption beyond the left-center fences real, or has my coffee been spiked with LSD?

As previously mentioned, the Miami Marlins have re-imaged themselves and will unveil a brand new, mostly publicly funded stadium. Whether that same public comes out to the ballpark all season remains to be seen, as baseball in South Florida has been notoriously slow to catch on since the team’s inception in 1993.

Along with their new digs, and new threads (and new name), the Marlins boast a bevy of new high-priced talent after an offseason splurge which brought in big names such as Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Heath Bell. They also will have a new skipper after Ozzie Guillen left the South Side of Chicago for Miami.

Added to the mix which includes the fiery Guillen and his mostly nonsensical ravings, and the already temperamental and sensitive slugging star Hanley Ramirez, is the repeat offending ragemaster, Carlos Zambrano, acquired by the Marlins in a trade that sent pitcher Chris Volstad to the Chicago Cubs.

Guillen, like Zambrano, was born in Venezuela, and thinks he holds the secret to containing Zambrano who has repeatedly gotten himself in hot water with his hot temper. Regardless of his anger, Zambrano is well past his prime, yet has experience and makes for a decent third or fourth starter. The problem in Miami is if the Marlins don’t live up to the lofty expectations fans have. With Guillen, Zambrano, and Ramirez all in the same clubhouse, it should make for an interesting season, at least in terms of quotes, or tweets. Expect Ozzie Guillen’s social-media-savvy sons to tweet their viewpoints throughout the season, setting up a potential Twitter showdown with last year’s tweeting sensation, Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison.

Will the Washington Nationals do Walter Johnson proud?

The legendary pitcher known as “The Big Train”, Walter Johnson toiled for years with the Washington Senators in the early 20th century, yet became one of the greatest players of all time. Johnson won 417 games with a career ERA of 2.17 while his team, the Senators, routinely finished in the second division, losing more than 85 games seven times during Johnson’s 21-year career in Washington.

While pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg will likely never live up to the greatness of Johnson, he definitely has the talent and stuff to win some Cy Young awards, if he stays healthy. Strasburg took the league by storm in 2010 when he debuted with a 12.2 K/9. Strasburg has since had Tommy John surgery and looks to bounce back in a big way, yet with a strict innings limit in place so the Nationals can preserve their pitching treasure for years to come.

Being bad has its advantages as the Nationals parlayed their futile record since leaving Montreal into draft picks, with another young sensation eventually on his way in the form of 19-year-old hitter, Bryce Harper. Harper will start 2012 in the minor leagues so the Nationals don’t start the clock yet on his major league service time, but he may be called up as early as June. Harper has Strasburg-level hype to go along with his enormous talent. He also apparently has an ego to match, and will likely make headlines when he gets called up to the Show.

With newly acquired pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Jackson complimenting Strasburg, the team and its fanbase think the Nationals can make a run at the NL East, or at least a wild card berth. With sluggers Jayson Werth and Mike Morse also in the everyday lineup, the Nationals won’t be the 100-loss pushovers of 2008 and 2009. They look to be real players in the big East Coast market, and with their young talent ready to hit the scene, they will be an entertaining team to watch for years to come.

-James Kries

Chicago White Sox: Projected Lineup for 2012

With a decidedly new look to their team for 2012, the Chicago White Sox will infuse some young talent into their lineup in an effort to help out some veteran hitters who struggled during 2011. The White Sox finished 16 games behind the Detroit Tigers last season, and had trouble scoring runs while two of their top veteran hitters turned in terrible performances.

Between new White Sox designated hitter, Adam Dunn, and center fielder Alex Rios, the team paid out $24.5 million to the two players in 2011, and received -3.4 wins above replacement in return. Between Dunn’s historically poor performance and Rios’ shoddy defense and poor hitting, as well as early-season troubles in the back end of the bullpen, the White Sox’s 2011 season spiraled out of control rather rapidly.

With right fielder Carlos Quentin traded to the San Diego Padres this offseason, as well as the departures of Sergio Santos, Mark Buehrle, and Juan Pierre, the White Sox will try to rebound from a disappointing 2011. As a team, the White Sox scored only 654 runs while surrendering 706 last year. Their .388 slugging percentage was the fourth worst in the American League.

Along with Dunn and Rios’ struggles, second baseman Gordon Beckham continued his regression in 2011. Beckham posted a weak .633 OPS and continued to fall well below expectations after his solid 2009 rookie campaign hitting line of .270/.347/.460. Third baseman Brent Morel manged a meager .287 OBP in 444 plate appearances.

With all of the offseason turmoil for the White Sox, the question of how the everyday lineup will shake out remains. One of the most important changes this offseason concerning the lineup was the hiring of former White Sox All-Star, Robin Ventura, as the team’s manager. Will Ventura stick with a regular lineup every game, regardless of trends, or will he follow former Sox manager Ozzie Guillen’s habit of constantly tweaking the lineup, while emptying the bench on Sundays and “getaway days”. Ventura, who has no managerial or coaching experience, will be learning on the job, and will likely tweak the lineup almost daily to try and find something that works. Hopefully, for Ventura’s sake, he won’t have to constantly tinker with the lineup the entire season.

Here’s how the White Sox lineup may look come opening day, when they take on the defending AL champion Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.

1. Alejandro De Aza CF

2. Alexei Ramirez SS

3. Paul Konerko 1B

4. Adam Dunn DH

5. Dayan Viciedo LF

6. Alex Rios RF

7. A.J. Pierzynski C

8. Brent Morel 3B

9. Gordon Beckham 2B

What’s evident from glancing at the White Sox lineup is the lack of a true leadoff hitter. While Juan Pierre looked the part of a leadoff hitter during his last two seasons in Chicago, he was rather ineffective as the team’s table-setter with his .335 OBP, while being caught stealing 35 times. His .327 slugging percentage didn’t help extend many rallies either. Rios, who is moving over to right field in an effort to improve his mental state at the plate, has experience leading off games. While an optimal lineup should have one of the team’s top hitters leading off (relative to their on-base percentage), the White Sox aren’t exactly stocked with an army of Youkili (Kevin Youkilis- career .391 OBP).

Alejandro De Aza is the likely option at leadoff, and should be the team’s opening day leadoff hitter, based on the strength of his .400 OBP in 171 plate appearances and 12 steals in 2011. De Aza’s sample size for his MLB career is fairly small, so it’s unlikely that he will be able to keep up with that pace over the course of a full season. Including his fine, yet brief performance in 2011, De Aza has a career .337 OBP in just 388 plate appearances. De Aza did have a solid track record for getting on base in the minor leagues. A long-time minor leaguer, De Aza posted a career minor league OBP of .365 (2,794 PA).

Another option at leadoff is Rios, who messed the bed in ’11 with a .265 OBP. Rios, who has 603 career plate appearances batting first, has a career .821 OPS at leadoff. For his career, he has averaged 23 stolen bases per year. If Rios can return to his 2010 OBP of .334, the White Sox might have another leadoff option if De Aza stumbles as the team’s everyday center fielder. No matter where Rios hits, the pressure will be on him once again to try to play up to his sizeable contract.

The big “ifs” start to surface when looking at the team’s middle of the order. There is definite hitting talent, along with great potential in the heart of the lineup. There also looms the spectre of another failed season by Adam Dunn and Rios. Dunn’s 2011 disaster may be an outlier, a possible anomaly in an otherwise stellar career. If Dunn can return closer to his pre-2011 average of 35 homers per season, Paul Konerko may get the protection he lacked last season. For anyone who refutes the notion of lineup protection, Konerko would be a great argument against it. Konerko frequently bounced between fourth and third in Guillen’s lineup, and despite being occasionally followed by Carlos Quentin and his .499 slugging percentage last season, Konerko often was the lone power source in the team’s lineup, yet he managed to have another solid year. Assuming Konerko bats third this season, a return to form for Dunn might help keep Konerko’s post age-30 OPS at or above .885.

After Dunn in cleanup, the question marks remain. Viciedo has the potential for 25 home runs, and if he clicks at the major league level as he’s being projected to in his rookie season, the Sox could enjoy some extra power in the back half of their order. Baseball Prospectus has projected Viciedo to hit 18 home runs in 2012. Couple that with a potential bounce-back season from Alex Rios, and the Sox could have a solid 1 through 6.

Pulling up the rear of the order, are Brent Morel and Gordon Beckham, two more question marks for the White Sox. Morel, who had a career minor league OPS of .818, struggled to have an impact in his first full season in the majors. His lack of power at the hot corner may need to be addressed at some point by the team if he puts in another 10-homer season for the White Sox. Beckham, as previously mentioned, has suffered a steady decline during his three-year career, and will hopefully find his hitting stroke to go along with his solid glove.

If any of the outfielders struggle, the relatively cheap offseason acquistion of Kosuke Fukudome may come in handy. Fukudome has flexibility in the outfield and is a solid fielder. He also has a career .361 OBP after his four seasons in the majors. The former Chicago Cub could be another option at the leadoff spot, and he is a solid bat that can spell the outfield starters throughout the season. Former Tampa Bay Rays postseason hero, Dan Johnson will add some thump to the bench, assuming he lands on the team’s 25-man roster.

The pitching may again keep the White Sox team afloat during what could be yet another bumpy ride in 2012. With Chris Sale moving into the rotation, the Sox may roll with a six-man rotation for part of the season, as they did last year. John Danks, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, and Phil Humber round out the rotation for the White Sox. If the Sox decide to move Floyd to another team at any point during the season, Nestor Molina may see some starts. Molina comes to the team following the trade that sent Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The White Sox will once again enter a season while lacking a true closer. Pitching coach Don Cooper has already indicated that the finalists for the closer role will be Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain, who both failed to nail down that role in 2011. Rookie Addison Reed will also be contending for the closer role, and may win the job in spring training, or in April if the others should falter again. Reed has a career 12.9 SO/9 in 108 minor league innings of work.

With expectations low following their failed 2011 season, the Chicago White Sox will be banking on comeback seasons from Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and pitcher Jake Peavy. The team will sport a somewhat different look with longtime pitching anchor, Mark Buehrle having left for Miami. With slugger Carlos Quentin also playing in the National League following the team’s offseason trade with the Padres, White Sox manager Robin Ventura will pencil in some different names on the lineup card in 2012 as he leads the team in their uphill battle with Prince Fielder and the defending AL Central champs, the Detroit Tigers.

-James Kries

Chicago White Sox: Fans and Pundits’ Opinion of Sox Continues to Go South

While Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams hasn’t won much praise for his offseason tinkering, the opinion of the White Sox organization seems to be rather low going into 2012, based on various articles, rankings, and fan opinions this offseason.

Most good will and buzz created by the White Sox’s World Series win in 2005 seems to have evaporated, and the upcoming season is coming on the heels of an extremely disappointing campaign in which the team was heavily favored by fans and baseball analysts.

The Sox are in a holding pattern of sorts and are currently hamstrung by some bad contracts, lacking a good farm system, and staring down the prospect of facing Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder 18 times a year. Constantly feeling slighted by the attention paid to crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cubs, Sox fans had to hear about the Cubs organization’s new front office wunderkind trio this offseason, after the team hired Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod to head up the Cubs’ baseball operations. Meanwhile on the South Side, Kenny Williams has been tasked with cleaning up the mess after a brutal 2011 season, a mess which can be mostly attributed to Williams.

Here’s a look at some of the bad buzz and bad news surrounding the White Sox going into 2012.

“All In” Leaves a Nasty Aftertaste

The White Sox can be counted on for having slick and creative marketing campaigns year in and year out. 2011 was no exception, and was one of their boldest slogans yet: “All In”. With the addition of one of the National League’s most consistent sluggers of the last decade, Adam Dunn, the team was set to build on 2010′s near-miss at a division title.

Dunn’s struggles in 2011 are well-known as he posted one of the worst individual seasons by any player in baseball history. Only a lack of total at-bats saved him from posting the worst batting average in the game’s history at .159. For a player with 354 career bombs in 10 seasons, his .277 slugging percentage in 2011 was even more disturbing. Dunn’s performance, along with the team’s overall struggles on offense put the team in a huge early season hole. The Sox trailed the AL Central division champion Detroit Tigers by 16 games at season’s end, and manager Ozzie Guillen’s constant public feuds with Williams led to Guillen’s abrupt departure during the last week of the season.

Following the White Sox’s losing season in 2011, the team will go with a completely unproven manager in Robin Ventura. While Guillen was monumentally overrated, a rookie manager will experience some growing pains that may cost the team a game or two in 2012, possibly making fans long for the days of Guillen trying to force the bunt on a home run hitting team. While fans may not be too thrilled with the team’s choice in manager, despite Ventura’s popularity during his playing days with the White Sox, his hiring gave the appearance of team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf bargain-hunting while the team tries to slash payroll.

The bright side is that the White Sox have zero expectations throughout baseball to make some noise in the AL Central this year. The contrast is striking when looking at the 2011 offseason, when no fewer than 7 out of 12 Sports Illustrated writers picked the White Sox to win the AL Central. The team’s veterans and rookies won’t have to deal with the weight of any outside expectations or management turmoil that have plagued the White Sox following their championship run in 2005.

Kenny Williams Uses the “R” Word

While the team was reeling this offseason from their disappointing 2011 performance, the possibility of some bounce back seasons from struggling players had to cross the minds of players and fans alike. Things were off the mark in 2011, but the team still had some talent and could likely compete again. Then Kenny Williams decided to try to rebuild the team, despite the fact that the White Sox had little wiggle room on some big contracts, including the $40 million three-headed monster that is Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and Jake Peavy.

Williams dealt one of the team’s few success stories of 2011, closer Sergio Santos. Santos went to Toronto, creating yet another hole in the back-end of the team’s bullpen. The Sox received some prospects, including young starter Nestor Molina, who may squeeze into the rotation at some point this season. The deal was a bit puzzling, however, as Santos was locked up for a few years at a relatively low price. While Santos wasn’t exactly Mariano Rivera in his first full season of closing games, he did display some brilliant stuff, and he should shore up a Toronto bullpen that always seems to struggle in the closer department.

Following the trade, Williams claimed the team was in rebuilding mode, and that nobody was trade-proof on the White Sox. While some felt that this was a welcome declaration from Williams, others in baseball felt that Williams jumped the gun a bit, as the White Sox have few assets to offer in their farm system, and also can’t move some of their under-performing veterans. Following Mark Buehrle’s exit this winter, Williams also traded Carlos Quentin, but he signed pitcher John Danks to a $65 million contract. The White Sox didn’t necessarily get the best prospects this winter, and they committed big dollars to a pitcher coming off of a season where his ERA ballooned to 4.33.

Williams later backtracked on his rebuilding comment, and the rest of baseball agreed that his rebuilding comment was a bit premature. However you describe it, the White Sox had a rough offseason, and the team didn’t do much to improve their situation.

The White Sox Need Some Farm Aid

Over this winter, the White Sox have been almost unanimously found to have one of the worst farm systems in baseball. Their lack of top prospects and young MLB-ready talent will guarantee that the team won’t be trading for any top players over the next few seasons. While the team has a lot of youth ready to make their mark at the major league level this season, such as Dayan Viciedo, Alejandro De Aza, Brent Morel, and Addison Reed, the organization is sorely lacking in minor league talent.

It’s usually a bad sign when you only have one player among MLB.com’s annual top 100 prospects, and that prospect happens to be a closer (Reed).

While Williams and assistant GM Rick Hahn try to field a competitive team in the suddenly even more challenging AL Central division, following the Tigers’ Prince Fielder signing, the Sox front office has to figure out a way to re-stock their depleted farm system through more trades, and through the draft.

Kick Us While We’re Down, Why Don’t You

Despite the problems on and off the field for the White Sox over the last year, fans can still “strap it down” for an entertaining broadcast when the team takes the field this season. Or can they? Apparently, Sox fans and MLB fans around the country feel the White Sox are also lacking in the broadcast booth.

While it wasn’t revealed how many respondents weighed in on Fangraph’s recent broadcaster rankings articles, the White Sox TV broadcast team of Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone finished 31st, dead last among the league’s broadcast teams (the Dodgers have two broadcast teams, including one with just the legendary voice of Vin Scully).

The survey asked fans to rate broadcasters on their charisma and the quality of their analysis. A telling quote from Fangraphs revealed that most of the bad feelings for the White Sox booth stems from the team’s play-by-play man, Harrelson.

It’d be easier to describe Hawk Harrelson as a “polarizing” figure among FanGraphs readers if there were more respondents who defended him.

Personally, I’ve always enjoyed Hawk’s style. He does have obvious weaknesses and idiosyncrasies. His mic generally goes silent when the team is getting pounded or a bad inning is unraveling the team’s chance for victory. He’s an unabashed homer with a somewhat out-of-place, country-fied, honky-tonk delivery for a team that plays in the big city. He constantly calls out umpires during broadcasts and spouts off about conspiracy theories keeping the White Sox down.

What Hawk brings to the broadcast booth is personality, a trait so many modern-day baseball broadcasters lack. While most of America tuned out during the 2005 World Series while the White Sox were dominating the Houston Astros, the broadcasts of some exciting games weren’t helped by the monotone, deadpan, and excruciatingly boring delivery of Fox broadcaster, Joe Buck. After the final out of Game 4, Buck’s call of “…and the White Sox win the World Series,” had all the excitement and tone of a banking seminar. Naturally, Hawk’s team won the Series, but if he had the final call, we’d probably still be recovering from his explosion of joy. His call of DeWayne Wise’s catch during Mark Buehrle’s 2009 no-hitter is still one of my favorite calls (and baseball plays) in recent memory. Hawk brings excitement to the booth, and has a love him/hate him quality and persona that resonates with many White Sox fans.

The White Sox analyst in the booth, Steve Stone, has generally been regarded as one of the best analysts in the game, and he routinely predicts outcomes during games, and imparts intelligent analysis during most broadcasts. He hasn’t exactly meshed yet with Harrelson since joining the White Sox TV booth, and he’s probably slipped a bit over the years, but I would put him over most analysts in the game, especially the awful dreck that the national networks have trotted out over the years.

________________________________________________________________________

With so much negative buzz about the White Sox circulating recently, it would be a small miracle if the team enjoyed good attendance figures this season. The only cure for lack of interest and poor figures at the gate would be a winning season. While all hope is not lost yet, the team still has solid pitching talent and will be adding young lefty Chris Sale to the rotation. Detroit has been all but crowned division champs before an official pitch has been thrown, and with some White Sox players owed some kind of bounce back success in 2012, the team might possibly make one last charge before the team is completely gutted over the next few years.

-James Kries

The 25 Best Chicago Cubs of All Time: #18. Greg Maddux

One of the most dominant pitchers of the late 20th century, Greg Maddux honed his craft as a Chicago Cub, winning a Cy Young award in Chicago before leaving for Atlanta and becoming one of the game’s greatest pitchers of all time.

At 27, Maddux left the Cubs in 1993 for slightly more money, but joined a team, the Braves, that had played in the last two World Series. With established pitching aces, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, Maddux joined a staff that would go on to help Atlanta win 14 straight division titles, 11 with Maddux.

Maddux, who was nicknamed the Professor, had precise control and command of his pitches, frequently painting the corners of the strike zone, and frustrating hitters with his intelligent use of his pitches. Maddux studied hitters, and rarely made mistakes. He wasn’t overpowering but changed speeds and kept hitters off-balance with his A+ change-up. He led the major leagues with the most wins during the 90′s, averaging 18 wins per season, with a 2.59 ERA during the decade.

What some recent fans of baseball may not know is that Maddux wasn’t just an aging hurler pitching at Wrigley Field in the twilight of his career. Before he enjoyed some of the best individual pitching seasons in baseball history with the Braves, Maddux was a Cy-Young award-winning pitcher for the Cubs, leading the team to a playoff berth with a 19-win season in 1989.

Maddux came up with the Cubs at age 20, and experienced some growing pains after joining the last-place Cubs. Over the first two years of his career, Maddux had an 8-18 record, with a 5.59 ERA. His 1.42 SO/BB ratio would be contrary to his 3.37 SO/BB clip for his career. The Cubs stuck with the young right-hander and saw immediate results in 1988. At 22, Maddux led the Cubs with an 18-8 record, 3.18 ERA, and gave up only 13 home runs over 249 innings pitched.

ERA during Greg Maddux's career (graph courtesy of FanGraphs).

The ’89 Cubs won 93 games, good for an NL East title. Maddux won 19 that year, lowering his ERA to 2.95. The 23-year-old pitched to contact, and kept hitters off-balance, while maintaining a miniscule 0.5 HR/9 during 1989. The Cubs fell short in the playoffs, dropping the NLCS to the San Francisco Giants, four games to one. Maddux got shelled in his two postseason starts, giving up 11 earned runs in 7 innings. Maddux went on to pitch in 22 more postseason series during his career, posting a 3.27 ERA.

During the first seven years of Maddux’s career with the Cubs, he posted a 3.35 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and a 0.5 HR/9. He pitched 13 shutouts over that time along with 42 complete games.

Maddux’s first stint as a Cub culminated in his Cy-Young award-winning 1992 campaign, when he enjoyed a 20-11 record, with an astounding ERA of 2.18, and WHIP of 1.01. Maddux pitched in a career-high 268 innings in 1992, with nine complete games, and four shutouts. It was the first of four consecutive Cy Young awards for Maddux, but unfortunately for Cubs fans, three were with the Braves. After Maddux gained his free agency rights after the 1992 season, the Cubs tried but failed to lock up the game’s most sought-after pitcher. He signed a five-year deal with Atlanta, worth $28 million, making him the second highest-paid pitcher at that time.

While Cubs fans watched Maddux record a 2.63 ERA over 11 seasons in Atlanta, along with a World Series title in 1995, he was steadily paving the way for his almost certain first-ballot Hall of Fame induction when he becomes eligible in 2014. Maddux pitched perhaps two of the most dominating individual seasons ever in 1994-1995. Due to the infamous strike of 1994 which wiped out that season’s playoffs, Maddux only pitched 202 innings that year, followed by a 209-inning season in 1995. Over those two seasons, however, Maddux was 35-8, with an ERA of 1.60 and a WHIP of 0.85. He threw 20 complete games and enjoyed an amazing 6.24 SO/BB ratio. Not bad for someone not considered a power pitcher.

Maddux did excite Chicago once more, however, when he returned to the team before the 2004 season on the heels of the Cubs’ painful seven-game NLCS loss to the Florida Marlins in 2003. The Cubs were odds-on favorites going into 2004, led by young starters Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Carlos Zambrano. With the return of the 38-year-old Maddux, who was still pitching effectively following a 2002 season when he posted a 2.62 ERA, the Cubs were primed for another run at possible postseason glory. Maddux did his part in 2004, winning 16 games with a 4.02 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 4.58 SO/BB.

Maddux’s game gradually declined with the Cubs during his second stint. At age 40, the Cubs let him go to the Dodgers, who were in playoff contention. He finished off the 2006 season for the Dodgers with a 6-3 record, with a 3.30 ERA, and 1.08 WHIP. The Dodgers came up short that season, finishing second, but not without some key contributions from Maddux.

Maddux was tapped by the Cubs once again after his career as an advisor and coach. He has now joined the Texas Rangers for the 2012 season as a special assistant to the general manager.

While Greg Maddux posted a career 3.16 ERA over 23 seasons, he undoubtedly will land in the Hall of Fame. His stellar run with Atlanta, as one of the game’s best pitchers of all time, was bookended by some great seasons in Chicago. Maddux will always be known as one of the great Cubs of all time, but fans have to wonder what would have been if the Tribune Co. had forked over a few million dollars more in 1993 to keep Maddux in town. Regardless of where he pitched, Maddux was that rare pitcher who didn’t use a power game to stifle hitters. He got by on his smarts and precision control to become one of the game’s legendary players.

-James Kries

MLB: Ryan Braun’s Appeal Victory Another Black Eye on Baseball

With news yesterday that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun had won his appeal to overturn a pending 50-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball took another hit in its near decade-long struggle against players trying to gain an edge through PED use.

While league officials are obviously upset with the ruling, the appeal win for Braun is yet another example of the Player’s Association’s hold over the league that it continues to enjoy. After lagging behind the other major sports for years in regards to its lax drug testing policies, MLB now has yet another top player who will have a cloud hanging over his accomplishments. With the current system in place for suspending players, which was agreed upon in the most recent collective bargaining agreements between the league and the MLBPA, Major League Baseball has no choice but to not suspend Braun after a neutral arbitrator found that Braun’s appeal was valid.

MLB’s VP for labor relations, Rob Manfred, issued the league’s official statement, strongly disagreeing with the ruling,

“As a part of our drug testing program, the Commissioner’s Office and the Players Association agreed to a neutral third party review for instances that are under dispute. While we have always respected that process, Major League Baseball vehemently disagrees with the decision rendered today by arbitrator Shyam Das.”

While it’s important that players have an appeal process at their disposal when a drug test is failed, having an outside arbitrator make that decision continues handcuff the league as they try to recover from the revelations that several top players have used performance-enhancing drugs over the last two decades, including players such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Andy Petitte, Jason Giambi, Ken Caminiti, and Alex Rodriguez. Several past MVP and Cy Young award winners have either tested positive for PED’s, or there has been strong evidence of steroid or human-growth hormone use. Braun, who has been an All-Star every year since joining the league and had won the NL MVP last season, is yet another top player who will be forever linked to the steroid scandals of this generation.

The main reason for Braun’s suspension being overturned has been reportedly the original test collector’s handling of Braun’s urine sample. The collector had kept the sample at his home in a refrigerator for two days, prior to it being shipped to the Olympics testing facility in Montreal. While it’s important that Braun’s sample be handled properly to ensure an accurate test, it sounds like Braun has gotten off on a technicality.

It had been revealed in December that Braun had tested positively for having elevated levels of testosterone, which would indicate the use of synthetic HGH use by Braun, which is not allowed by MLB. Braun had strongly denied HGH use through statements issued to the media, and vowed that he would be exonerated when his appeal was heard.

While it’s good for baseball to have one of its top players and its reigning NL MVP on the field for opening day this April, it also leads to questions about the league’s testing policies, and if Braun had perhaps somehow accidentally exploited a loophole.

However the appeal appears to the public, Braun’s legitimacy will likely be questioned throughout his career, and MLB’s testing policies will continue to be questioned for its ability to police performance-enhancing drug users. While fans have continued to flock to ballparks in record numbers in recent years, it appears that the seemingly endless parade of PED-using ballplayers has yet to deliver a huge blow to the popularity of the game.

If there are those that think players should play the game with integrity, Braun’s appeal puts a black eye on the game. Either fans and the media will eventually accept the fact that ballplayers continue to try to gain an edge by using PED’s, as is the case in the NFL, or MLB will have to step up its efforts to completely eradicate steroid and other PED use in baseball.

-James Kries

Chicago Cubs: 19-Year-Old Cuban Outfielder Jorge Soler in Cubs’ Sights

With reports circulating that the Miami Marlins have made an offer to Yoenis Cespedes, the Cubs have been rumored to be close to signing Jorge Soler, another recently defected Cuban outfielder. Soler is only 19, and would be a long-term investment for the Cubs. His strengths are his power and strong throwing arm.

The Cubs had reportedly been scouting Cespedes this offseason as well. Signing Soler over Cespedes seems like a more logical move from the Cubs’ standpoint as Soler is seven years younger than Cespedes, and would fit into the Cubs’ rebuilding project. The Marlins, who have stocked their team with high-priced free agents this offseason, such as Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Heath Bell, are looking to win now. Cespedes, who recently broke the Cuban National Series League home run record, would also be a big draw for the Marlins, as Miami has a large Cuban-American population.

Kevin Goldstein, of Baseball Prospectus, reported on Twitter that the Cubs are pursuing Soler, based on rumors coming out of the Dominican Republic where Soler is currently playing and awaiting offers from MLB teams.

Goldstein recently gave his take on Soler’s potential and ability to have an impact at the major league level. He told MLB Network Radio,

“He’s a big, athletic kid. He ran well for scouts. He ran a 6.7 60 for them the other week, which is above average. At his age and his size, that’s not going to last. He just doesn’t look like a guy that’s going to stay fast. What he’s going to be is a right fielder who’s gonna hit for power. He’s gonna throw well, hit home runs. That’s going to be his job. Big, big kid. Broad shoulders, tons of raw power. He’s a very exciting player.”

The Cubs have been involved in several free agent rumors this season. Cubs president Theo Epstein has thrown his hat into the ring in pursuit of big names such as Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Cespedes. It’s likely that the Cubs haven’t been pushing as hard as they could on those free agents, and were possibly either testing the waters to see what their asking price was, or were helping drive up the price so other teams would have to shell out top dollar contracts. Pujols and Fielder were signed by the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers respectively this offseason, with both teams paying in excess of $200 million each.

With spring training just days away, several teams are still interested in Soler and Cespedes with a looming cap on foreign free agents coming this summer, following the new collective bargaining agreement. The talented Cuban pair will likely enjoy multi-million-dollar bidding wars for their services before they ever see major league pitching.

Update 9:30 PM CST, 2/13/12-

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Cubs are ready to acquire Jorge Soler. The signing is on the heels of the Oakland A’s acquisition of fellow Cuban outfielder, Yoenis Cespedes on Monday. The A’s inked a deal with Cespedes worth $36 million over four years. Reports are that Soler will agree to terms with the Cubs for a three or four-year deal worth $27.5 million.

-James Kries

Chicago Cubs: Will The 2012 Cubs Learn To Walk?

After this offseason’s front office overhaul at Wrigley Field, with ownership bringing in Boston’s Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs, the new Cubs brain trust has already embarked on the task of rebuilding and improving the Cubs entire farm system, while reworking the entire organization’s baseball philosophy.

Seeing Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Sean Marshall, and other Cubs leaving town for good this winter, Cubs fans have seemingly bought into Epstein and new general manager Jed Hoyer’s vision of the future for a team that is seeking its first championship in 104 years.

With ever-increasing expectations of a World Series win continually being met with losing seasons, which are interrupted by the occasional winning season, Cubs fans are used to being patient. With new ownership and new front office executives in place, the team has bought a few more seasons’ worth of waiting while Epstein & Co. put their plan in motion.

One group that has lacked patience in recent years are Cubs hitters. The Cubs have fielded teams over the last three seasons that are 27 games under .500, and along with experiencing issues with pitching inconsistency, injuries, immovable contracts, and questionable on-field management, the team has also once again struggled to get on base.

Curtis Granderson

Other large market teams, such as the New York Yankees and Epstein’s former team, the Boston Red Sox, seem to annually field lineups with patient hitters from top to bottom. While both teams have seemingly unlimited resources which allow them to field top-caliber lineups, they regularly employ  hitters who work counts, run pitchers out of ballgames early, and wait for mistakes which lead to hits, walks, and runs. In 2011, the Yankees and Red Sox had five players among the top ten American League leaders in pitches-per-plate-appearances (P/PA). Curtis Granderson led the league last season with 4.44 P/PA, and finished fourth in MVP voting while posting a .916 OPS, with 41 home runs. It’s not a coincidence that Yankee-Red Sox games seem to last about an hour longer than other games, and that both teams regularly make the postseason. When a hitter sees more pitches, chances are greater that he’s either going to draw a walk, or get a favorable pitch to hit.

The Cubs are only four years removed from their 97-win season in 2008. While they have only three hitters returning in 2012 who played on that team, it’s important to look at how they had success in ’08 from a hitting standpoint. The 2008 Cubs led the National League in team on-base percentage (.354), as well as base-on-balls (636). Not surprisingly, they also led the league in runs with 855, 56 more than the second best run-scoring team, the New York Mets.

The Cubs had five of the top 30 National League hitters, based on P/PA in 2008. The Cubs, who also led the league in slugging percentage, showed in 2008 that plate discipline can lead to more base runners, and eventual pitcher mistakes which lead to those runners being driven in.

2008 Chicago Cubs Starters:

			G	PA	BB	OBP
	C	Geovany Soto	141	563	62	.364
	1B	Derrek Lee	155	698	71	.361
	2B	Mark DeRosa	149	593	69	.376
	SS	Ryan Theriot	149	661	73	.387
	3B	Aramis Ramirez	149	645	74	.380
	LF	Alfonso Soriano	109	503	43	.344
	CF	Jim Edmonds	85	298	45	.369
	RF	Kosuke Fukudome	150	590	81	.359

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/12/2012.

 

2009 saw the beginning of the recent erosion of plate discipline for the Cubs, as the team finished ninth in OBP in the National League, and sixth in base-on-balls. In 2010, Cubs hitters managed a team OBP of only .320, good for 11th in the National League, along with the third least team base-on-balls. Last season, the Cubs had the second lowest base-on-balls total in the NL with 425, better only than the dreadful Houston Astros. The team OBP of .314 was even worse than in 2010, and was the seventh lowest in the league.

While the Cubs will likely struggle on the field over the next couple of seasons as Epstein attempts to get the organization in order while waiting for some hefty contracts to expire, the team’s new direction will undoubtedly include an emphasis on the now-prevalent league-wide recognition that on-base percentage is a better method of judging a hitter’s worth than batting average. While this is no longer a secret in MLB front offices, it was a revelation only ten years ago when Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane and Michael Lewis’ 2003 book, Moneyball, revealed that players who got on base via the walk were being undervalued in baseball.

Of the Cubs’ new acquisitions this offseason, David DeJesus appears to be the most ready to increase the team’s OBP in 2012. DeJesus has a career OBP of .356, and has averaged 58 walks-per-season during his nine-year career. Although he appears past his prime at 32, his plate discipline will hopefully return to his career norm after struggling in 2011 with a career-low .323 OBP.

The Cubs’ potential future slugging star, the recently acquired first baseman, Anthony Rizzo, will likely begin 2012 in the minor leagues to continue his development. Rizzo, along with a powerful bat, has shown that he can get on base with regularity, posting a career minor league OBP of .366 across all minor league levels. In 413 plate appearances in 2011, while playing with Triple-A Tucson in the Pacific Coast League, Rizzo enjoyed a .404 OBP, while knocking out 26 home runs.

In 2012, the Cubs will be missing their top three 2011 leaders in OBP. Kosuke Fukudome, Aramis Ramirez, and Carlos Pena will all be playing for different teams this season, which leaves shortstop Starlin Castro as the player with the next highest 2011 OBP. Castro had an OBP of .341 last season, mostly on the strength of his 207 hits. The 21-year-old Castro managed only 35 walks in 715 plate appearances. Castro was 51st in the National League with a 3.67 P/PA. Pitchers may adjust to his aggressiveness this season and limit the amount of hittable pitches that he will see. The new regime and management will look to further the development of their young All-Star shortstop this season.

With old-school manager Dale Sveum taking his seat in the Cubs dugout this season as manager, along with Theo Epstein’s belief in a unified organizational philosophy, which includes the practice of selective hitting, it will be interesting to see how soon the Cubs can improve their ability to get on base.

-James Kries