3.5 The Cubs made a big splash in free agency as other reviewers have noted. I do think that they underachieved last year, and should've been better than they were. The Cubs have some fine hitters like Soriano, Lee, etc.. but after Zambrano their starters all have concerns of some sort or other. The bullpen is mediocre. The team of course could win the division, and I think it'll be a fight between the Cardinals and Cubs, though the Brewers are kind of flying under the radar and could possibly be this year's Tigers or at least make things interesting for a while.

I think I can still hear a goat somewhere...

I'm going to say the Cubs don't make the playoffs, but it will be close. They should have a tremendous power hitting lineup with Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, and Jones. Although they were awful last season, remember that Derek Lee only played 50 games for them. Having him healthy will be a great help. Losing Juan Pierre might be a problem though. He is outstanding defensively and a great OBP guy. Although Soriano has great power, he has never played CF before, and doesn't get on base to set up the rest of the order. Carlos Zambrano is one of the best pitchers in baseball right now, but I wouldn't be confident with the rest of the rotation. Mark Prior hasn't regained his form from his amazing 2003 year, and was dreadful last year. Ted Lilly is pretty steady as a starter, but not spectacular. Meanwhile, Wade Miller and Jason Marquis have struggled lately in their careers. The Cubs may surprise the league and do what the White Sox did two season ago. However, I think they are still an incomplete team and will miss out on the playoffs.

The cubs are one of the toughest teams this year. They A.Soriano(46 HR and 41 SB), D. Lee (46 HR in 05), A. Ramirez (38 HR), J. Jones (27 HR), C. Izturis (one of the best fielding SS)and M. Barrett as catcher hes one of the best offensive catchers in the leage. C. Zambrono as #1 pitcher T. Lilly as 2 M. Prior 3 (if he stays healthy) J. Marcius as 4 and they can alturnate with thier young pitchers at 5. also if K. Wood stays healthy he might be able to start, but probably he'll be a reliver. Also they have R. Demster at closer and he's not to bad. Now if you ask me thats a pretty dang good team that has an exelent chance in the N.L. if all of thier players stay healthy.

Have the potential to do very well, but being the Cubbies, they are even odds to screw it up.

Unlike other reviewers, I'm far from sold on Piniella as a top level manager, and his personality may be exactly what this team does NOT need.

The National League is so bad that the Cubs will likely get to the playoffs. Pinella is not joke. Neither is Soriano.

I think that the Chicago Trib finally coughed up enough to get the job done similar to the Florida Marlins one shot at fame.  Lou Piniella will really be a big help.

They have spent a lot of money in the off season and have a new skipper in Lou Piniella who could be the spark plug for the Cubbies to get to the "big dance".

The Cubs might be a serious contender this year. They may have gone the way of Jim Leyland's Florida Marlins (what year was that, '97?) and bought a championship calibur team in the offseason - with some help from the Chicago Tribune. Soriano was a great pickup, one of the top players in the league. Lou Pinella's a top skipper. Cliff Floyd, coming off an injury, is one gamble that will have to pay off. Pitching is still a question mark - will Kerry Wood stay injury-free, is Mark Prior the real deal or a one-season wonder, is Ted Lilly worth the money they gave him. The Cubs did make some necessary moves and may very well reward the loyal fans with their first playoff birth since 2003, when the imfamous Steve Bartman helped to ensure that the curse of the goat lived on.