So what? Bring on 2006!

Sometimes I wonder if 2003 was not only the best season in recent years but also the worst. The mixture of raised of expectations coupled with acute heartbreak has left its bile, no doubt about it. Yellow and Blue(s) make Green. (That might have been a bad pun...) On top of that, 2003 was the year the internet -- and in particular this thing they call the blogosphere -- began to grow legs as a significant medium for sports fans, and let’s face it: it’s more conducive to criticism because I can’t say why, I just believe they’re going to win looks rather silly on paper.

This offseason, then, I browse around the internet and read a few independent Cubs sites; I read the newspaper columnists and beat writers; I hear reports from Chicago sportstalk... and they’re all so negative. You’d think that the Cubs were looking square in the eyes of a 62-100 season. There’s so much sarcasm and cynicism and pessimism that I want to make the official Agony & Ivy logo a Penguin in a Cubs jersey saying “Chill Out, man.”

Phil Rogers summarizes for the Chicago Tribune: “Losing out on shortstop Rafael Furcal, the one easy improvement for a lineup with more holes than answers, just might be a death blow for the Cubs' two-headed management team of Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker.” (Link courtesy KJM)

Part of me wants to tune it all out as I hum, “Hey hey, holy mackerel, no doubt about it! The Cubs are on their way!” Part of me wants to ask: what are you people, Red Sox fans? New York fans? Are you really saying that the Cubs are a bunch of bums? In December? Death blow? So they didn’t sign Furcal... therefore, might as well forfeit?

Am I the only person who thinks that even if the season began tomorrow, the Cubs could still win the pennant?

Not that it’s a lock, or even likely, but it’s possible. And as much as I want to not bother, I can’t help myself from providing some positive reasons as to why 2006 will be the year. I’m not saying they’re airtight, or even that they’re not weak. It’s just that baseball seasons don’t always follow form, and sometimes what looks like a dud on paper is anything but, and vice versa. With all the negativity, I think it’s worth at least considering the other way the story might play out, opposite of how everyone seems to have it figured.

I mean, just a few years ago many of us thought that by around 2006 Mark Prior would be rounding into form as a Cy Young contender. Is that impossible now? Is it a sure thing he’s going to be hurt and miss a couple of months?

Or what about Zambrano? You think a guy like that isn’t going to hear all the negative predictions about the team, take them personally and go out every start and say: “I’ll show ‘em.” Is it so hard to think that Prior and Zambrano will be competing with each other for the NL All-Star starting pitcher spot?

Might Greg Maddux realize that this could be his last year, at least with a team in contention, and make sure he shows up in Spring in the best shape he’s been in years? Might Jerome Williams realize that this is his last big shot to prove that he belongs in a big league rotation without a doubt, and show up in great shape as well? Ditto Glendon Rusch? Might Rich Hill learn a split-finger fastball this winter?

What about the triumphant return of Kerry Wood? Did Biff Tannen’s copy of the Sports Almanac already rule that one out for 2006 and I’m the last to find out? Will I be the last person to give up on number 34 (probably when his arm literally falls off)?

Might not a better bullpen -- which it will be, whatever it cost -- be the difference between going 12-12 in April or 14-10, and might not that +4 mindset make all the difference in the world?

And how many teams wouldn’t trade even up for the Cubs corner infielders? Is there a better 3-4 lineup combination in the National League than Lee and Ramirez?

Are we so quick to forget that Todd Walker hit .305 last year, and slugged .474? Why is it so certain he’s going to be traded? What, like it makes so much sense to trade the Cubs best (if not only) left-handed hitter, a guy with a high average and some pop?

Isn’t it possible that Michael Barrett steps it up to another level this year? Now that he had a full season working with the staff -- a year older and wiser, so to speak -- might he be able to relax a tiny bit and use that concentration at the plate? Couldn’t we see an extra 15 RBIs from him next season?

Can’t we figure that at least one of the two rookies, Cedeno or Murton, will be really good? If not both? And are we so quick to forget that Felix Pie might actually be ready to play in the big leagues, since he was supposed to be the one coming up with Murton last year anyway if not for his ankle?

For that matter, when was the last time we had two solid rookies to be genuinely excited about, in the lineup?

And is it logically impossible for Corey Patterson to regain his form from spring 2003?

Am I the only person who thinks that a team like the ’06 Cubs might take all this negativity and the dire predictions and play with the good kind of chip on their shoulder? After all, more than talent it was the verve and fire that was missing last year. You can’t convince me otherwise, I’m afraid. Don’t these guys have enough pride not to approach 2006 lackadaisically?

Supposed holes in the lineup, they say. So what? With all of these storylines going for the Cubs, I say BRING ON 2006!

Heck, I might have even just convinced myself.

(That said, if they can trade for Juan Pierre, I say do it in a heartbeat. Of all the storylines, Patterson’s seems the wobbliest. Although as long as I’m sprinting through what most Cubs fans see as fantasyland, why not CP for the All-Star team in 2006?)

(And I really hope they don’t trade Todd Walker, for a lot of reasons. One, he really is their only left-handed lineup guy if Patterson isn’t going to be the centerfielder. Two, I judge it to be shady to exercise an option on a guy who took less money to come play for a team he wanted to continue with in the first place and then trade him. Three, I think his strengths -- both his hitting and his personality -- could be a difference-maker if things get rolling in the right direction.)