Nostrajamie

From my typing fingertips to Ken Rosenthal's reports, the Chicago Cubs are showing interest in Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder.


I know, I know, the Cubs have far more holes than just first base. What will they do at third base? Will they try to upgrade at second base? Will they upgrade their corner outfielders? What upgrades will be made to the pitching staff? There are all those questions, but if you can fix one with regular glue or super glue, you choose super, every time!

Let's not fool ourselves either, the Cubs have enough money to hand out a big contract to one of these big time stars, and they will be heavily compensated in return for that acquisition. Either of those two would help the rest of the lineup in, seeing better pitches, having better hitting scenarios, and having more opportunities to be successful. The Cubs will also have enough money to make another high profile signing, or multiple mid level type of signings.

In a complete dream scenario, the Cubs will hit the proverbial home run if they can bring in Prince Fielder, Yoenis Cespedes, and Mark Buehrle. This will give the Cubs a much needed power boost which should be around for some years, and another dependable starter to fill out the rotation that has some questions. These additions should cost around $40-50 million, which they currently have around $80 million committed to players. Adding $50 million in salaries puts them around the same neighborhood as the 2011 season. Then after 2012 they have another $40 million coming off the books.

Projected Cubs 2012 Lineup

1. Starlin Castro SS
2. Darwin Barney 2B
3. Prince Fielder 1B
4. Marlon Byrd RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes CF
6. Alfonso Soriano LF
7. Geovony Soto C
8. Eric Chavez/Casey Blake/Mark Derosa 3B

Projected Cubs 2012 Rotation

1. Ryan Dempster
2. Matt Garza
3. Mark Buehrle
4. Carlos Zambrano
5. Randy Wells/Andrew Cashner

Basically the Cubs have the equivalent of the Milwaukee Brewers entire payroll coming off their books in the next 2 years, and if we can get creative with Alfonso Soriano's contract this team will have a lot of splashing to do, and they have the brain trust to now spend that money wisely.

Should we be planning a parade in Chicago soon? Let's not get ahead of yourselves just yet. Should we have a lot of good baseball ahead of us? Hell yes.