How would you make changes for 2012?

 But I’m not sure that makes us good enough to basically be maxing payroll right back out and being saddled with long term commitments.
 
 For conversation sake let’s say we Hire Ryno. We go out and get Pujols or Fielder. We get CJ Wilson, Roy Oswalt, or Edwin Jackson. We Resign Aram or get Cuddyer, Encarnacion or Casey Blake. The we get Kelly Johnson or Aaron Hill. All that right there takes up more than what we have to spend. We still need at least 1 more OF, a Reliever or 2, some depth and we have arbitration to deal with.

  I have thought and thought and thought about this subject. I have weighed all sides. The wanna win now side of me wants to spend every dime we have and do whatever it takes right freaking now but that is no guarantee and it leaves us with no room for additions as needed. I will be Happy if we get a Superstar or Two this offseason.

  With that being said we gotta be really careful with the win now pressure and let this thing play out slowly while more bad contracts continue to go away and Minor Leaguers continue to develop into useful major leaguers or flame out.

1) Fire Mike Quade and offer him a job elsewhere in the organization, possibly as a scout. Then I would fire the entire coaching staff including Rudy Jaramillo.
2) I would hire Ryne Sandberg as manager and suggest hiring Jim Riggleman as bench coach. I would like to see Sandberg have a veteran manager with some experience as his bench coach. For coaching staff, I would let Ryno pick the guys. My suggestions would be Doug Dascenzo for 1B coach, Larry Bowa for 3B coach, Ron Jackson for hitting coach, Rick Sutcliffe for pitching coach and Jim Riggleman for bench coach.
3) I would trade Zambrano to the Marlins along with cash and Soriano to an American League team looking for a DH.
4) I would trade Marmol and look at a guy like Cashner, Marshall or Carpenter as a possible closer next year.
5) Sign Pujols or Fielder to play first base and a couple of free agent pitchers to shore up the pitching staff.
6) Sign free agent 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff to replace Aramis Ramirez.

1. Quade should be replaced. Interesting to see who Theo hires. If the rumor or report about Theo trying to hire Sandberg for the Pawtucket job then Ryno has a good shot for the job.
2. Z being traded. The answer is what the Cubs get for him. Whatever they get in return would be a plus.
 Now the tough part. What to do with the rotation. Counting on Cashner and Shark as part of the rotation is not what you would call “the rotation is set”. CJ Wilson will command and get a deal he is not worth. I don’t see the Cubs getting in a war over him. The rest of the free agents are weak. I guess you could look at Kuroda, Jeff Francis, Edwin Jackson, Malhom as options. I can’t see spending a lot of money and years on those types.
 Theo is going to have to get creative. If Ramy walks, do the Cubs get in on Prince? Next 3 months will be interesting.

Take a look at what Dallas Green inherited when he took over the reins in 1981. Very little to trade with and little in the farm system. Within three years he assembled a strong contending team, and a solid upcoming group of prospects in the minors. I believe Epstein can do even better than Dallas, and I admired Mr. Green alot.

1. Not fire Quade. I expect a wholesale change over in personell and he won’t want to bring in a big named manager (unless his sole choice is only available now) and just let Quade take the bullet for the on-field product for next year.

2. Not pick up the Aramis option. He’s 33 now and what’s gained for 2012 and 2013 when he may still be able to produce if the rest of the team is being rebuilt. Money better spent elsewhere.

3. Will spend what money he has on pitchers. Therefore, LaHair, Colvin, Dewitt, and Barney probably stick around.

4. Trade Soto for prospects. He’s 28 and not improving and either arb eligible this year or next.

5. Trade Byrd, if he’s still under contract, for prospects, or not re-sign him. At 33, see my comments on Aramis.

6. Not sign Pujols or Fielder. I may be wrong about this if he can find a taker for Zambrano and Soriano where the Cubs eat less than 50% of the remaining dollars.

My expectation is Theo will spend the first year trying to get the payroll managed to equal the value he sees on the field and not spending unless there is real value in return for 2013 and beyond.

Hope he can bounce back to career norms at the plate and be a stop gap for 2012-2013 at 3B. Sure he won’t have the power everybody seems to enjoy from 3B, but a switch hitter that if he can return to form would be 280BA/350OBP with some speed on the pads. Maybe moving out of Safeco will help. But I don’t think Seattle will want another Cubs disaster. However, Figgins is owed 9MM for ‘12 and 8MM in ’13 with a 600PA vesting option for ’14 worth 9MM again. Just thinking both contracts are about equal, and if the Cubs throw in at least 9MM and get out of Figgins contract completely maybe it’d be worth it to them.

Trade Marmol and Soto
Trade for Shields
Trade for Carl Crawford

All are better than what we have at those positions.

I would take a Beckett, Dempster, Garza, Lester, Lackey rotation…..

I know. I know, it would cost to much, But it beats soem of the alternatives we sent to the mound this year!

Pitchers:

Francisco Liriano (trade) – I’d like to see if he can come cheaply. He’s maddeningly inconsistent, but still has tremendous upside.

Paul Maholm (FA) – Pirates waivering but might decline his $9M option, and are not giving him a long term deal. We might get him for less than that per year on a 3 year deal or so. Particularly if we traded for Liriano, it would be good to have another solid lefty in case of injury. He’s not spectacular, just solid.

Jeremy Guthrie (trade or FA) – The Orioles seem hesitant to lock him up, he’s in his last year of arbitration and he consistently throws 200 innings. Could be non-tendered. Would be a solid 4-5, innings eater type. 32 years old though, so I might be talking myself out of this one.

HItters:

Nick Markakis – would the O’s consider trading him as his salary begins to escalate on his long term deal (signed through 2014)? Don’t know what’s happened to him, he looked like he was going to be a real star, but he’s struggled the last two years. I wonder how he would respond to being in a new organization?

Chase Headley (trade) – Earlier in the season I speculated that he might be a solid buy low option at 3B (good defense, much better hitter away from Petco), but he really came on strong until he got hurt. Don’t know what the Padres plans are, but he’s in his second round of arbitration and they might prefer to sell now rather than later.

Mitch Moreland (trade) – He started out really well for TX, but struggled down the stretch and in the playoffs so far. He has a reputation as a good defender at 1B, and should settle in as a 20-25 HR guy. Can play OF as well. Big drawback is that he can’t hit lefties. TX might move him so they can play Young and Napoli at 1B and leave the DH spot open for Hamilton on occasion, or pursue Fielder.

Logan Morrison (trade) – He’s my first choice to play 1B next year, but who knows whether he can be had in a trade. There’s reason to suspect he might wear out his welcome in Miami sooner than later, but we’ll have to wait and see. Still has loads of promise and the Marlins would be foolish to give him up easily. But judging by some of the Marlins recent decisions…

Daric Barton (trade) – Little power, but great plate discipline and exceptional 1B defense. Was hurt for most of the year and now Oakland has an extremely crowded stable of 1Bs (Carter, Allen, Ka’aihue). I guess he’d be Casey Kotchman with a little room for growth. Of course, there’s always Casey Kotchman too…

Matt Murton (FA) – I know some people roll their eyes when his name comes up, but the fact is when he played full time for us, he was good. Not a superstar, but above average. He won’t command a lot, and could be useful OF depth if we can rid ourselves of Soriano. Let him split time in LF with Colvin or Campana and see what he can do.

-I’d love to get John Danks if it didn’t include Jackson or Cashner, but I’m not sure how likely that is. Maybe you could build a deal around Szczur, Mcnutt, and someone like Ben Wells, but I’m not sure if KW would bite.
- I’d be fine with Edwin Jackson at the right price.
-Move Cashner to the rotation and trade Wells
-Trade Z to Miami
Garza, Danks, Jackson, Dempster, Cashner sounds like a big improvement over this past season.
I’m a believer in the pen, but no matter how good our 6-8 inning guys are, Marmol has to regain is 2010 form. I’m pretty confident Kerry will be back. Samardzija/Wood from the right side and Marshall/Russel from the left gives you plenty of good 7th and 8th inning options, and I’m also excited to see what Beliveau, Dolis, and Carpenter can bring. Not to mention the addition by subtraction that is John Grabow

-As for position players, I’d obviously love to see Fielder/Pujols. Cuddyer or Kubel would be interesting options for the OF, but I’m not sure we could afford either if we were to add Pujols/Fielder, Jackson, and Danks.
-As long as he’s not traded, BJax should be the CF opening day and whether or not he can produce at the top of the lineup right away could be a big key for the offense. If he could hit first or second with an OBP at .350+ with 20+ steals and 10-15 HR, he and Starlin could make for a pretty dynamic 1-2 punch.
-Trade Soriano and move Byrd to RF. I think you could sell Soriano to an AL team willing to pay him 4-5 mil a year. I wouldn’t mind seeing Byrd traded, but at the same time it would leave us with no OF depth and poor OF defense.
-Bring back Reed Johnson and have Tony Campana as your 5th outfielder. Give LaHair a shot in LF, and if he’s exposed let Johnson and Campana split playing time, or maybe even give Flaherty some starts if his bat looks good.
-Let Flaherty and Lemahieu battle for the 3B job with Baker getting looks vs. LHP. Non-tender DeWitt!
-Barney should start the year as the starting 2B. If both Flaherty and Lemahieu are out-hitting him at some point, put Darwin on the bench and move one of Flaherty or Lemahieu over to 2B.
-I’m very torn over Soto. I want to believe in Welington Castillo, but at the same time I still feel like Geo can bounce back to his 08/10 level. I’d shop Geo around and get a feel for a return. Maybe we could get a good enough prospect to flip into a Danks trade. But if Geo does return hopefully that spells the end of Koyie and either Castillo or Clevenger can take the backup duties.

These moves may not make us a 90-win team overnight, but I feel like stabalizing the pitching staff and getting a prize 1B would put us in good position and only be a couple moves away from a successful 2013.

He knows he will get called out if Ryno is directing this team. He doesn’t want that.

It’s the only way to be sure.

is Fielder and A-Ram signed. Explore Soriano/Z options and call it good.

by what happens with Aram. If he walks, that gives us another 15 mil or so to play with. Then you go after Prince or Albert. The money saved on Aram and not resigning Pena (forget about the split salary) is enough to pay one of them and front load the contract a bit. Also does Baker go to boston? If not, he would be ok for a season at 3rd, and cheap. I would rather have Baker at 3rd and the 1st baseman we want, than Aram for 1 more year and who knows what at 1st.

of course hire ryno to run it all . maybe bring in someone like hershiser for the pitching coach.perhaps stealing tim wallach to be the 3b coach . bring in someone with experience to be the bench coach like buddy bell because i wasn’t sold on riggleman when he managed the cubs . find out where tim raines is at and make him the 1b coach . trading for david wright would be my first player transaction and then signing fielder . sign edwin jackson to help the rotation and sign cudyer to play rf .

He’s an excellent candidate who has sat at Maddon’s right hand through multiple playoff runs. And he’s an ex-Cub, so that should satisfy his faction.

Of course, Quade still is the manager, so this is all speculation.