2011 Chicago Cubs starting lineup

Not a lot of big Cubs news since the signing of Kerry Wood last week.  It looks like the signings of Carlos Pena and Kerry Wood may be the only high profile signings of the off-season.  I do not predict the Ricketts family to spend another dime before the beginning of spring training.  According to the USA Today, the Cubs were 3rd in MLB and #1 in the NL in team payroll at 146.6 Million in 2010:
http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/totalpayroll.aspx?year=2010

With bad contracts already on the books (Soriano, Fukadome, Zambrano, Silva) I think that the Ricketts family is going to try and win with the team they have.  Until the big contracts are off the books, I think Cubs fans can expect basically the same team as 2010.  If they can somehow may a strong showing through June, then Hendry may get the go ahead to make a big trade, but for this to happen, the Cubs will have to have some big time play from young players like Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin, Andrew Cashner and Casey Coleman.

Today, I'm going to project the Cubs 2011 starting lineup, and tomorrow I will look at the starting rotation.  The rest of the week I will also look at the bullpen, the bench and the coaching staff.

Barring any major trades before the start of the 2011 season, the Cubs lineup projects like this:

1. Starlin Castro ss
2. Marlon Byrd cf
3. Aramis Ramirez 3b
4. Carlos Pena 1b
5. Alfonso Soriano lf
6. Tyler Colvin rf
7. Geovany Soto c
8. Blake DeWitt 2b

Look for Kosuke Fukodome to get starts in cf and rf during the season, but I just can't see him getting the starting nod over Colvin, especially with only a year left on his contract.  We now know what we have in Fuk., and it's nothing to write home about, in fact, look for Fuk to finish his career at home, in Japan, after the 2011 season.

One way for the above lineup to click is for Aram to have a monster year.  If  he gets off to another slow start, the Cubs are in trouble.  I do not see any other legitimate #3 hitters in this lineup, unless Hendry makes some sort of a deal, but #3 hitters require lots of young talent, and this ball club is in no position to start dealing youngsters.

The lineup has holes, but before you diehards start to panic, lets take a good hard look at the starting rotation.  There are a few things to look forward to, the staff is deep, and the 2010 season ended on a nice note for the young arms.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to see if we are deep in mediocre pitching?  Or, if there is something to get excited about...