When Derrek Lee was traded to the Cubs for Hee Seop Choi in December after the 2003 season, I was ecstatic. Well, first, I was a little bitter. Lee was instrumental in the Marlins come-from-behind NLCS win over the Cubs, so I wanted to beat him over the head with a pillow case full of quarters before welcoming him to the north side of Chicago. I digress. We were getting a 28 year-old first baseman that had just come off a .270/30HR/20SB season while having an excellent defensive year to boot. A guy that was durable in the Florida humidity and seemed to be a great guy on and off the field. A Cubs fan would only have to think back less than a decade to find a first baseman that contributed more to the Cubs success.
2004 wasn't a bad first season in Cubbie blue for Mr. Lee. His offensive numbers dropped a bit, but it didn't surprise me. Making the transition from playing in front of a few thousand devoted fans in South Florida to playing in front of 40,000 devoted ones in Chicago would be difficult for most players. I imagined that it was hard for Lee to reach the pinnacle with his Marlins teammates only to be traded away as well. 2005 had many Cubs fans thinking that general manager Jim Hendry was the smartest executive of all time. After the first half of the season, Lee was hitting .372 with 27HR and 72RBI. Not only was DLee seemingly everyone's midseason NL MVP, he was also in contention for a Triple Crown as well. One above-average second half later, and Lee had to settle for just missing out on a batting title but winning the homerun title with 46 taters and his second Gold Glove. A serious wrist injury in 2006 shortened his season, and while his '07 and '08 seasons were pretty good, they were nothing to write about.
The 2008 offseason was a tumultuous one. Owners of the best record in the NL, the Cubs were quickly swept in the NLDS by the LA Dodgers. There was pressure from manager Lou Piniella to balance the hitting lineup with more lefthanded hitters, and ace Jake Peavy expressed interest in being traded to the Cubs by the Padres. The Cubs let longtime fan favorite Kerry Wood depart via free agency, and instant cult hero Mark DeRosa was traded to the Cleveland Indians, joining Wood. Second-class ballplayers such as Aaron Heilman, Kevin Gregg, Aaron Miles, and Milton Bradley were signed with the hopes of getting the Cubs over the hump. Some suggested/predicted that the Cubs should/would trade Lee to free up room to possibly land Peavy or another big hitter/pitcher.
The start of 2009 was not a good one for Lee. He hit .189 through March and April, with an .OPS of .537. I, being one of those people that clamored for Lee's departure in the offseason, didn't even want to see Lee trot out to first everyday. I wanted him GONE. I had grown tired of seeing him ground into double plays (killing rallies), swinging at borderline pitches and harmlessly flying out, and looking bad on strikeouts. With a contract that would expire after the 2010 season, I simply wanted the Cubs to get something for Lee while they still could. Somehow Lee managed to turn his season around by the All-Star break, hitting .280 with an .OPS of .865, and posted even better second half numbers, hitting .336 with an .OPS of 1.092. 2009 was easily Lee's second-best offensive season in a Cubs uniform. Lee went from being the Cub I wanted to see gone the most to easily our most valuable player.
The Cubs won 83 games in 2009, and I don't even want to think about how that number would've been negatively affected had Lee been traded away. "Bad offensively" doesn't properly sum up the 2009 Cubs hitting woes. Offensively, the 2009 Cubs were
ATROCIOUS. By NL ranks, the Cubs were12th in batting average, 13th in hits, 10th in runs scored, last in steals and success rate, and below league average in several other offensive categories (slugging %, OPS, OPS+, total bases). Without Lee, I think the Cubs would've struggled to win 80 games, as guys like Soriano, Soto, Miles, Fontenot, Bradley and ARam either dealt with ineffectiveness, injury, or both.
Fortunately, the Cubs got an overall great performance from their pitching staff. They still found themselves in the hunt for at least a wild card berth with a little more than a month to play in the regular season. This was due to a Cardinals team that refused to put the Cubs away when they had the chance, and a NL West where no one wanted to wrap the wild card berth up.
We know how the story of the Cubs 2009 season ends. No playoffs, Bradley is traded for an even worse player, Miles is finally put out of his misery, new owners take over, and the expectations of Cubs fans reaches a fever pitch.
Or has it? In my honest opinion, I believe that Cubs fans aren't looking forward to much in 2010. We understand that while other teams, not only in the NL but in the NL Central, have made moves to improve, the Cubs front office has pitched the "addition by subtraction" malarkey to us. Oh yeah, don't forget the 3yr/$15mil deal we gave centerfielder Marlon Byrd. Our biggest offensive contributor, Lee, and our biggest contributor from the pitching staff, Ted Lilly, have contracts that will expire after the 2010 season. Will Soto and Soriano bounce back. Is Ramirez fully healed? Are Mike Fontenot and Jeff Baker even able to platoon? We shall see if Starlin Castro can help usher weak-armed Ryan Theriot away from the shortstop position and whether our fourth outfielder will come in the form of someone from within the organization rather than an aging, worsening Jermaine Dye.
Really, there are just as many questions that needed to be answered and holes that needed to be filled after the 2009 season as there were after the 2008 season. I figure Lee and Lilly won't be back next year, and the Cubs will scramble to find replacements, most likely finding players that are nowhere near the caliber of the two. Oy vey. Such is the life of a Cubs fan...
