Season Preview: SS

At short, the Cubs look to be in good shape with Theriot... at least offensively. He's a lock for somewhere around .290 with 20 steals and an OBP around .370. Lou already has him penciled in at leadoff, although in a perfect world he'd hit second (and be playing second). But to be honest, I'm not really all that interested in Theriot. Sure he's a scrappy white guy who tries really hard and gets dirt on his jersey on a regular basis-- and who doesn't love that?-- but honestly, I'm much more interested in Baseball America top 20 prospects gaining comparisons to Hanley Ramirez.

I'm really trying hard not to get overly hyped about Starlin Castro, but I can't help it. He's already being hailed as some type of messianic figure who will lead the charfe for this new era of the Ricketts Cubs, but yes, this still is the Cubs, and yes, they haven't brought a decent position player up through their system since Ernie Banks, and yes, Corey Patterson, Felix Pie. Hee Sop Choi, Kevin Orie, etc all had similar labels to those being bestowed on Castro now, but as Cubs fans, we have been manipulateing ourselves for centuries telling ourselves something great is about to happen, so why change now?

Anyway, the contingency plan in place at short (Theriot starts all 2010, Castro plays at AAA for the first half of the season, comes up around mid-season as a back up/spot starter, and starts in 2011 with Theriot moving to 2B) seems to make sense, and I'm as interested in seeing how Castro develops as any other story line in the 2010 season. However, if Castro looks good after a month or so in AAA, why wait til 2011 to make him the starter? The tallest midget contest for second base is going to be a disaster, and by May a pitchfork-toting mob will most likely be gathering to run Jeff Baker and/or Mike Fontenot back to AA where they belong, so the combination of a developing Castro at short with Theriot at 2b where he's best suited worse than the Baker/Fontenot ar second with Theriot playing a mediocre short? Add to that the Cubs have this weird idea when it comes to "developing" their prospects (See: every prospect they've brought up the pasr 10 years), so I say let Castro get his at bats in the bigs, with major league coaches to help him if/when he struggles.