Maybe the Cubs have what they need already
By MIKE CUNNIFF
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mcunniff@morrisdailyherald.com
Lou says he wants another bat.
For the 2010 season.
After the 2009 campaign ended up with the Chicago Cubs sitting on the sidelines.
That's what happens when you only win 83 games while losing 79.
Which as every Cubs fan knows ... was not enough to ensure that the North Siders get to make an appearance in the postseason.
Trying to look at it as the glass is half full — the Cubs will not lose a playoff game this year.
But reality is ... the glass was only half empty this season.
And so Lou Piniella, who just finished his third year at the helm, is really emphasizing the 2010 season. Forget the fact that it is the option year of the original three-year contract that Lou originally signed back in 2007.
Maybe that fact will emphasize even more to Piniella that time ... which is now 101 years and counting for anyone who has been living under a rock ... is fast running out on his plans of winning a World Series in Chicago.
As the season was winding down, Piniella emphasized what he wanted General Manager Jim Hendry to acquire in the offseason.
"If you ask me, the biggest thing we need here is an RBI bat, to sit in the middle part of the lineup," Lou told Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune. "That's the biggest need we have here."
Of course, I thought that was what Milton Baby was supposed to be when the enigmatic outfielder signed a three-year contract for $30 million last winter. That and bringing an edge to the Cubs.
Well, we all know how that experiment worked out. We needed Milton Baby so badly because he carried a bat ... a left-handed bat.
And a 'tude.
Unfortunately, to no one's surprise with an idiom of common sense and a faint remembrance of things past, Milton's 'tude was a lot more prevalent that the marshmallowy lumber that Baby carried to the plate.
The final statistics show Milton played in 123 games, making 393 official trips to the plate. He had 101 hits with 12 homers and 40 RBI.
Now, I don't get paid any money to manage the Chicago Cubs. Or even scout for the Cubs.
But I will throw my two cents into the suggestion box.
No need to go out and pay $10 million or more for a bat.
Or make a big trade.
My humble proposal.
Find a place for Jake Fox.
Oh sure, there will be a lot of naysayers out there.
Jake who?
I know the pedigree is working against him.
Name me the last big bat that has surfaced to the Big League club after working his way up through the minors in the Cubs farm system.
I'm waiting.
Maybe Jake Fox is not Ryan Howard ... or Alex Rodriguez ... or Albert Pujols.
But Jake Fox ... he of 82 games in a Cubs uniform this year ... did nothing to change my stance that the guy can hit.
Fox, originally selected by Chicago as a catcher in the third round of the 2003 Major League Draft, put up some pretty decent numbers in what could be called half a season.
A right-handed hitter, Fox belted 11 home runs and drove in 44 runs in just 216 official at bats. His 44 RBI came on just 56 hits.
Yes, I know Fox basically can play three positions.
He will not replace Aramis Ramirez at third base ... or Derrek Lee at first.
But Fox is not the worst leftfielder in the National League.
Hey, maybe he is not the best leftfielder. But he cannot be any worse than Alfonso Soriano. Even if he cannot hop when he tries to somehow catch a ball in that leather contraption lodged on his left hand.
Fox would also be great insurance when ... not if as all us Cub fans are painfully aware ... Ramirez is sidelined by some malady in 2010.
Maybe Fox will not pan out. It would not be the first time a supposed star emerging from the Cubs farm system has flamed out. I won't name names but you know who they were.
But give the guy a chance.
He has got to be better than Aaron Miles.
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