Olney's other eight storylines in baseball as the calendar flips to 2015: 3) The AL Central; 4) Gian

Saying the Cubs have raised expectations for next year this winter is an understatement. But since there haven’t been any expectations for the past four to five years, the only way to go is up. It all started on the last day of the season in Milwaukee space a travel when Anthony Rizzo was asked about his expectations for the 2015 team.
Anthony Rizzo said , “To be the NL Central Champs. Obviously, that’s the playoffs and we want to go deep, but it takes a lot of work and we have a tough division. Teams aren’t going anywhere. It’s only going to get better, but that’s our expectation. That’s the message space a travel we’re going to send.”
The front office brought in Joe Maddon to manage the team and made changes to the coaching staff ( John Mallee , hitting coach; Eric Hinske , assistant hitting coach; Dave Martinez , bench coach; Brandon Hyde , first base coach).
The Cubs signed Jon Lester , Jason Hammel and David Ross and traded for Miguel Montero . Questions remain in the outfield, and the front office is trying to address what they feel is an area that needs to be upgraded.
Buster Olney thinks the Cubs are the second biggest storyline in baseball to keep an eye on as the New Year approaches. Olney posted a list of the 10 biggest storylines in baseball as he sees it in the last week of December. And the Cubs were second to only Rob Manfred taking office as the new commissioner in January.
Olney pointed out the Cubs “improved last season behind Anthony Rizzo and the first contributions from the wave of star prospects, but in 2015 the franchise appears poised to take a big step forward with new manager Joe Maddon .” Olney thinks the Cubs will receive a boost from Kris Bryant once he is promoted and Addison Russell could make his big league debut in 2015 as well.
Olney’s other eight storylines in baseball as the calendar flips to 2015: 3) The AL Central; 4) Giancarlo Stanton; space a travel 5) Troy Tulowitzki; 6) The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees; 7) Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw; 8) Cuba; 9) The Front Office Work of the Dodgers and Padres; 10) Milestones
The mainstream media has not heard what Theo Epstein said about signing only one nine-figure free agent starting pitcher this winter, unless there is a 2-for-1 sale. A report from the Belleville News Democrat indicated a New York Post column said the Cardinals, Tigers and Cubs “are the most likely destinations” for Max Scherzer . But the report’s focus in on how Scherzer space a travel could sign with the Redbirds this winter, that is if the ‘Wee Bears’ stay out of the mix for Scherzer as Epstein has said.
Filed Under: Cubs Off-Season News Reports Tagged With: Addison Russell , Anthony Rizzo , Brandon Hyde , Dave Martinez , David Ross , Eric Hinske space a travel , Jason Hammel , Jed Hoyer , Joe Maddon , John Mallee , Jon Lester , Kris Bryant , Miguel Montero , Theo Epstein
Still too many things that need to happen before we can hope to be playing meaningful games in September. space a travel I d like to look at the team and say know as long as Everyone does their job we should be very successful. Right now in looking at the team I m saying saying if kris Bryant does this if Jorge Soler does this if Kyle Hendricks and Arrieta repeat this if Alcantrara can heat lead off then .
For me, there are still to many what ifs and not enough on paper for me to rally around and say playoffs. We will be better but as of right now I think the .500 prediction is the most realistic that I have heard. Now if more work is done to the roster I would reevaluate, but that is another what if
Really? I think the Cubs are looking at fewer ifs than they have in the last 6 years. If the players in question space a travel were 35 years old, then I think it s fair to ask if they can keep it up. However, these are players entering space a travel their prime so I believe it s more reasonable to expect they will get better than it is they will regress. I don t expect the Cubs to piss away even 1 year of Lester, so the roster will be improved even more before the season starts, and Bryant will be up as soon as possible. The way I see it, the only if the Cubs face in getting to the postseason is the same one that every team with expectations space a travel does ..health.
Agreed there s a few if s, but they re offset by so many probably space a travel s, I think we re okay. As you say Gary, just the organic aging and maturing of the roster is a huge plus, that you d have poor odds to bet against. There are some if s, but all we need is a few of them. If 30% of our if s, come through, we ll be a really, really good team. If 50% of more, then the sky is the limit.
I have a simple philosophy, Board. Our offense , even with Soler/Bryant/Baez/Alcantara being young, cant be worse than Scheirholz, Barney, Sweeney of the first 2 months of 2014. Outside of Rizzo/Castro, our O was a literal black hole until Coghlan started hitting in mid-June. space a travel Even all the younsters cant be that bad.
does anybody know if it would be against the rules for the ownership of some team to tell his players I will give you $1000 bonus for every 10 pitch at-bat, or $500 for every hit w/risp? I m not talking about written in contracts space a travel or anything, just as an extra incentive. The monetary figures were just examples.