New Cubs GM Needs to Know Addition by Subtraction

The Chicago Cubs are in the process of trying to find a new General Manager. Although I would still like for them to go hard after Tampa Bay's General Manager Andrew Friedman, I firmly believe there are at least five candidates that would do well in that position for the Chicago Cubs.

Tom Ricketts will do his due diligence and will hire someone who he feels will change the culture of this team. Once that hire is done, I feel the new GM can do some things that can help the Cubs be respectable next year, if not actually contend for a playoff spot.

The obvious move that needs to be done is to move Carlos Zambrano. The pitcher has been a constant source of embarrassment to the Cubs organization and is the epitome of Cubs culture the last 10 years. Some of this has been the Cubs fault also and they need to show they are willing to make a move to go forward.

Getting rid of Soriano should be the next move. Soriano can still be productive, but only in the American League. He has three years at 18 million per year and the Cubs need to take on about 12-15 million a year to move him. Soriano could be useful to most AL teams at that salary.

The third move that needs to be made is to trade closer Carlos Marmol. I still believe that Marmol could command a young starting pitcher and another top prospect in return. As bad as Marmol was this year it will be forgotten by the Winter meetings because he has such an awesome slider and there is at least three egos in the league, possibly more, that will think they can change him and may indeed drive his price up. At the GM meetings in November he needs to be offered and by the December Winter meetings he will net the Cubs a nice package of prospects.

The last move is to get rid of Aramis Ramirez. Ramirez is a player that wants a multi-year deal and can not be trusted to play hard anymore. He wants top dollar and no longer deserves it. Although the Cubs have no ready replacement, this is a culture changing move and the Cubs cannot be blackmailed into bringing a player back in this situation. He is not the kind of player you want to have around young players.

When I talk about the Cubs needing a few moves to get back in contention, these moves does not always mean players coming in, they also mean players going out. Addition by subtraction, hopefully the new GM realizes this.