Happy April!

If you haven't seen it yet, check out the April Fool's joke on Gmail. Really funny stuff...

With opening day coming very soon, I decided to rip off...I mean, follow a really good idea I saw on boston.com, where a columnist created video previews of each Red Sox position. Why Cubs writers can't think of this kind of stuff is beyond me. And though I don't have the fancy-pants video stuff to work with like Maz at the Globe, I'm more than willing to give you, my valued readers (reader?) a position-by-position preview of the 2009 Cubs. So here we go!

Catcher: You've got to feel pretty good when your starting catcher, Geovany Soto, is the reigning NL Rookie of the Year. Of course, we had one of those before, and look how that turned out...yeesh. Hopefully Soto can avoid a sophomore slump, which is where Lou comes in. Yeah, Koyie Hill, the apparent backup, isn't anything to write home about, but you've got to give Geo some days off here and there, otherwise he'll start hitting like some old, washed-up backstop again. My guess is Lou does right by Geo, has him in 120 or so games instead of 141 like 2008, and he responds with similar numbers to last year (.283/23/86).

First Base: Ok, I get it - Derrek Lee is a great guy, an outstanding defensive presence, and hits home runs. Fine. If you were talking about the 2005 vintage, I'd agree with you and just sing his praises. However, it's 2009, and that season four years ago (when he hit .335/46/107 and contended for the MVP) is looking more and more like an anomaly. That's not to say his production in the last few years is bad - many teams would be thrilled with .300/20/90/.395 OBP and good defense. But let's not deify the guy, and let's not get up in a huff when his name is mentioned as potential trade bait. (If he's part of a package that gets, oh, I dunno, Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego, sign me up.) And PLEASE, for the love of all that's decent, stop calling him D-Lee?!?

Second Base: I've started to warm up to this whole Aaron Miles thing, even if he cuts off part of the Cajun Connection. I don't know squat about his defensive abilities, but he's a decent guy with a bat who also happens to switch hit. I'm guessing, however, that this spot will be in flux most of the year, depending on who's hurt or who's actually hitting. Both Mike Fontenot and Miles seem to get exposed after extended time in the lineup (check out the number of their at bats for evidence), so they may just shuffle in and out at Lou's whim. It'll be important to get something out of this spot, espeically at the bottom of the lineup. Don't rule out an upgrade during the season (though this guy is probably wishful thinking now).

Short Stop: Ryan Theriot makes me think of a poor man's Dustin Pedrioa, albeit Pedrioa is younger and has more power...ok, a VERY poor man's Dustin Pedroia. But Theroit does lots of things you'd want from a guy in the lead-off spot: he gets on base (.387 OBP), doesn't strike out much (58 last year), and steals a few bases (22, though he was caught 13 times). What he didn't do was score many runs (78). On a team that scored 5.32 runs a game, that surprised me a bit. Maybe he needs to work on his baserunning or something... Regardless, another year like the last one and the Cubs will be just fine.

Third Base: I remember the days when the immortal Vance Law played 3rd for the Cubs, and folks wondered if anyone would ever take up the mantle of Ron Santo. Enter Aramis Rameriez, as consistent an offensive player as you'll want at the position. (Defensively? Let's not go there, shall we?) The biggest concern is making sure he stays healthy and gets some time off. But you can usually mark him down for .300/35/110 if he's well, espeically in this line-up. And I REALLY need him to do that this year, as my fantasy team is counting on him...

I'll get to the rest later, but if you disagree please let me know.