Let’s go through the rest of the position players in today’s continued Cubs Sox preview.
At catcher, the Cubs look to have their first advantage. Currently, they have a 3 headed monster of Montero, Castillo, and Ross. I liked the acquisition of Montero from Arizona; a decent defensive catcher and a good left handed bat to place in that lineup. What I don’t understand is why Castillo is still on this team. If we thought Castillo was going to be the man, than don’t acquire Montero… unless that is, we’re going to platoon lefty righty behind the plate? Then we go ahead and acquire David Ross as our million dollar pitcher’s personal catcher… and some veteran experience. Then we have Schwarber coming up as a future catcher… but maybe he moves to the outfield. Catcher is definitely a position of strength for the Cubbies; let’s see how this plays out. Meanwhile, the Sox roll out Tyler Flowers behind the plate. He had a couple great months at the plate over .300, but then the other 4 months he was in the tank. There’s still hope for Flowers… maybe with the rest of the Sox offense, all he’ll be asked to do is manage the pitching staff. He may be able to do that. Oh, and let’s not forget ex-Cub Geovany Soto backing him up… or maybe we can forget that.
First base is where the stars shine brightest on both sides of town. Jose Abreu was the man last year. Is there a sophomore slump coming? According to the early MVP favorites, the answer to that is NO. I believe he’s in the top 5 odds wise for AL MVP. His bat was impressive… his fielding was surprisingly good too. The Sox hit the jackpot here; let’s see him do it again this year. The Cubs are set at 1B too. Anthony Rizzo is projected to hit a bunch of HRs this year, and is in the top 10 odds for NL MVP. He has a glove on him too, and may be the Cubs leader. I wouldn’t be mad to have either. The Sox went ahead and acquired another 1B/DH in Adam LaRoche. This was another good move. He may not be an all star, but he’ll definitely be better than Adam Dunn. The question is how he will adjust to being the DH in the American League…
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Let’s to go the middle infielders. Starlin Castro or Alexei Ramirez? Another toss up in my mind; a good toss up, meaning, I would be OK with either one. Alexei won the Silver Slugger last year for best hitting AL shortstop… yeah, that’s right. He’s definitely underrated. Meanwhile, Starlin had a rebound year from his worst year in 2013. He actually got better defensively too. Now if he could only keep his head in the game… I’m thinking he’ll have to do better with better guys around him in the lineup. I mean, last year it was ONLY Castro and Rizzo. The current placeholder at 2B for the Sox is Carlos Sanchez, with a familiar face Gordon Beckham back in the dugout. You have to think Micah Johnson will be manning that spot before it’s all said and done. Holding the 2B spot for the Cubs will be a combination of LaStella (sneaky pickup) and AA; you have to think this is Baez’ spot. His strikeout rate so far this spring training has improved…. to 33%!?! He’s still working out problems with his swing, and I’m thinking a trip back to AAA may be what the doctor ordered here. The kid has raw talent… stuff you can teach, like power and bat speed. He revamped his swing this offseason, but he’s still not there. We may have to wait for Baez to arrive… and then there’s that guy Addison Russell in AAA too. How will this middle infield shape up on both sides of town? I don’t think we’ll see the final product at the start of the season on both sides of town.
I guess that’s the morale of the story here; both sides of town are strong in the infield. The Cubs are stronger behind the plate, so that gives them the slight edge here. So, Sox get the edge in starters, bullpen, and outfield, while the Cubs take the infield by a nose. Oh by the way, two weeks from today, the major league season will begin as the Cubs host the Cardinals. We’ll have more season previews as the Cubs and Sox finalize their rosters. Until then, let’s stay healthy… avoid jumping out of trucks, and keep those arms alive. Keep on fine tuning those skills; the season is almost here.
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