Chicago Cubs Baseball

What an incredible time of year this is.

The Holiday season has entered full swing and with it the hopes of a better world and a better tomorrow.  America (at least 52.6% of it) eagerly awaits the swearing in of our 44th president  and the belief that, indeed, “Yes we can.”

And for baseball fans everywhere, the 2008 Winter meetings are but a few days away.  It’s the time of year when the real deals are done, acquisitions are made and with them, the possibility that somewhere in the mix is a gift-wrapped world championship - the kind Chicago Cubs baseball hasn’t seen in a 100 years.

Despite the lack of post-season success, there’s still plenty of reasons to be thankful for Cubs baseball.   Political astuteness isn’t one of them, however. Oddly enough, as White Sox fan and President-elect Barack Obama prepares to name his cabinet, here’s five candidates from the Cubs I’m thankful he’s not considering for his “Team of Rivals.”

In the spirit of post-Thanksgiving and the Holiday season, I’m thankful the following will not be filling any cabinet posts:

1.  Cubs general manager Jim Hendry - Secretary of the Treasury.  After ballooning the payroll to $118 million in 2008, Chicago Cubs baseball finished no closer to a World Series title than they did a year before.  Hendry makes current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson look frugal.  Unfortunately, with the same results.
2. Alfonso Soriano - Secretary of the Defense.  Not only is Soriano perhaps the streakiest hitter in baseball, he’s possibly the worst outfielder.   Thank goodness there’s Chris Duncan of St. Louis around - if nothing else, for comparison’s sake.
3. Kosuke Fukudome - Secretary of State.  As the Chicago Cubs first Japanese free agent, Fukudome also may end up being the team’s last.  By season’s end a cheap bottle of sake had more kick in it than Fukudome’s bat.  Nice guy, just no stick.
4. Carlos Zambrano - Secretary of Health and Human Services.  After being shut down twice during the 2008 regular season, Zambrano can no longer be considered just an excitable boy.  Despite what the Cubs brass might say, Zambrano’s physical health has to be under consideration as he enters the new season.  Oh yeah, and he’s still as emotional as ever.
5. Lou Piniella - Attorney General.  Lou knows baseball, and despite Ryan Dempster’s recent assessment of the team’s nosedive in the recent NLDS, Chicago Cubs baseball would not have reached its level of success without Piniella’s presence.  When it comes to on-field diplomacy, however, Piniella has been ejected 61 times in his managerial career, fourth among current active managers.