So Now What?

Without Derrek Lee, the Cubs needed a 25th man and a new lineup.

The 25th man is outfielder Michael Restovich from Iowa, whom the Cubs list as a first baseman on their roster page. He carried over a good spring training into the PCL season, batting .333 with 10 RBIs in 13 games.

With Aramis Ramirez off to a slow start, the Cubs don’t have a true power guy who’s there yet. That’s not necessarily as big a problem as it seems, with Michael Barrett taking a new approach this year. There’s no de facto eight-hitter, and the guys filling the back end of the lineup would be farther up on a lot of teams. It evens out the offensive attack.

The Cubs have done well using speed and putting together hits and runs both at the top and bottom of the lineup, and because of that, abandoning the traditional kind of lineup might work. I like the wacky approaches; you never know when one might build a better mousetrap, so to speak.

So as long as you have two sets of guys who can get things started, bat them all together and put up an extended threat. Essentially, push the middle of the lineup back two slots. It will cost them some at-bats over the course of a season, but they could find themselves batting with more runners in scoring position and more RBI opportunities, and that’s what counts.

Start with speed and high averages to get runners into scoring position as soon as possible. Pierre leads off, and Cedeno bats second. Todd Walker, not a traditional home run hitter, bats third. Baker tried this approach Saturday, and while the Cubs lost, the top three got on base six times and Cedeno stole a base.

Instead of placing a longball hitter fourth, extend the early approach and look for guys who can drive the ball to the alleys. Think in terms of big innings: If you’ve got a couple guys on base and you hit a three-run homer, it takes some pressure off the opposing pitcher and he has a clean slate to work with for your five-hitter. And if you come up looking for a three-run homer, you open yourself up to the strikeout and might put a big dent in your rally hopes. Get a guy who can hit doubles to the gap, or hit with the pitch and go the opposite way, and you can score those baserunners while keeping the pressure on. I’m describing Matt Murton.

Once you’ve gotten through the players who get rallies going, then you bring in the guns to cap them off. Michael Barrett fifth, even though he’s performing like a typical three-hitter, and then Aramis Ramirez sixth.

From there, bat Mabry seventh at first base, and Jacque Jones or Jerry Hairston eighth.

This, of course, assumes the current roster. We know Jim Hendry and his cell phone. Only, not a lot of teams start re-tooling in April, and it might cost a lot in young talent to essentially fill a two-month gap. If I were Hendry I’d wait and see. John Mabry is still a major league first-baseman, and depending on the number of returning pitchers and the progress of Felix Pie, Hendry might have a big bucket of bait come trade season.