Cubs Add Walker

In a move that really suprised me the Cubs picked up Todd Walker as a free agent signing him to a one-year $1.75M contract (a cut from $3.45M in 2003). Apparently, Walker wants to play for a winner. This presents two interesting discussion points:

1) The Cubs are now considered a team that players want to play for. This is the first time in my lifetime that players have willingly taken less money to stay with or play for the Cubs. The two biggest factors here are the young pitching staff and Dusty Baker. The staff appears poised to dominate the NL in 2004 barring injuries and its got to be tempting to come to a team where you know that if you can just put up a few runs you'll be in every game. While Baker may not be a good field manager, the other half (or even greater than half) of his job is to keep the clubhouse running smoothly and truly "manage" the players. This he appears to do very well, albeit by sacrificing young players who he seems to refuse to play. Choi is a case in point here and so I assume Hendry was playing into Baker's strength by trading Choi rather than have him ride the pines for another season.

2) Who should start at second base? It appears Grudz will be given the nod out of the gate in 2004 but I wouldn't bet that things will stay that way. Walker is a career .296/.346/.434 hitter and hits from the left side while Grudz is a .285/.329/.387 although of course Grudz had the better season in 2003, is considered the better defensive player, and much of his career numbers were accumulated in the poor hitter's enviornment of Dodger Stadium. Since Walker makes significantly less and is three years younger I wouldn't mind seeing Grudz traded if they could do it and get something for him (like a good left-handed hitting outfielder). If they keep them both, they would make a great platoon (Walker went .301/.352/.448 versus righties and Grudz .360/.444/.470 against lefties) or Walker will be that left-handed bat off the bench. I'd like to see the platoon with each of them getting equal at bats and with Walker then spelling Ramirez at third. BTW, this makes the signing of Macias seem rather strange as well.

So the depth chart is:

1B - Lee, Simon as backup and pinch hitter but may be trying to trade him
2B - Grudz, Walker
SS - Gonzales, Martinez
3B - Ramirez, Walker
RF - Sosa
CF - Patterson, Goodwin
LF - Alou, Hollandsworth
C - Barrett, Bako

UT - Macias

SP - Prior, Wood, Clement, Zambrano, Cruz
RP - Borowski, Hawkins, Remlinger(L), Mercker(L), Farnsworth, Wellmeyer

Of course, on this list are 26 players so I wouldn't see Wellmeyer making the roster and they're still looking to trade Simon most likely.