I admit it - I'm ready for baseball to start. Seems like the season just ended, but of course for us Cubs fans, the season had ended sometime in August. The postmortem was just longer than we've been used to in the Piniella years.

I'm excited about the Cubs this year. I think a lot of their problems from last year came from injuries to Ramirez and Soriano and from the disaster that was Milton Bradley in right field, even though statistically he wasn't too bad. His clubhouse presence and his lack of willingness to really be part of the team were pretty obvious by August.

Even with an injury and a very subpar year from Zambrano, the Cubs' starting pitching was not bad. Ryan Dempster wasn't as good as he was in 2008, but Randy Wells was a surprise as a 4th/5th starter type, and Ted Lilly was his usual solid self. Rich Harden was injured a lot, and he wasn't as good as he usually was when he wasn't injured. This year the candidates for that 4th starter (I'm counting Wells as a number 5 at this point) are Tom Gorzelanny (sp?), Sean Marshall, Carlos Silva and Jeff "Spellcheck" Samaarzdjia (I know I butchered that spelling). The Cubs are apparently in the hunt for Ben Sheets, and if he can be available from the outset of the season, I'd take a shot at him, especially if his contract demands aren't too outrageous (incentive laden contract). The guy's definitely an injury risk, but when he's pitching he's REALLY good. And they probably need someone like him to start the year because Lilly is probably on the shelf until May.

The Cubs were picked to win the division going away last year, by most everyone who wasn't a Cardinal fan (which means most of ESPN...). They haven't improved immensely; the addition by subtraction of Bradley and the addition of Marlon Byrd, the retention of solid reliever John Grabow and no Kevin Gregg closing this year are all steps in the right direction, just not huge steps. The Cards, on the other hand, have a great one two punch at the top of their rotation if Carpenter can stay healthy, and they also have the game's best player in Pujols. They broke the bank to retain Matt Holliday. They should be good.

But improvement from Soriano and a full year from Ramirez (if healthy) should make up some of the difference. So should Marmol at closer, if he can be successful. He can't be much worse than Gregg, so anything's an improvement, but they do need him to be good. Soto is, by all reports, in much better shape. Maybe a little too thin, according to sports talkers this morning. (They were speculating about Soto looking like Ivan Rodriguez after he went through steroid withdrawal. Of course, that really IS all speculation. At least Soto isn't fat and high, like he was last spring...) Improvement from Soto will be a really big plus for this team.

I think the Cards are the favorites going into this year, but I think the Cubs should be able to stay with them, maybe make a good run, and just maybe be the class of the NL Central once again for Piniella.