Posted by Rob McQuown on Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 8:50 am

Okay, it’s a bad offseason to be Cubs fan… $7.5mil to an essentially replacement-level middle reliever in John Grabow, shipping out one of their best OBP guys because he failed “plays well with others” to get a $16mil hitting tee (cost for Carlos Silva for 2 years plus buyout after M’s contribution)… but then Ken Rosenthan and Jon Paul Morosi report this on foxsports.com:

“Marlon Byrd and Scott Podsednik are the strongest options among free agents, sources say. Rick Ankiel, who had a difficult 2009 season with St. Louis, is a less likely option. “

To which my natural reply is, “Why NOT Rick Ankiel?”  This team has run out overly-right-handed lineups as long as I can remember.  Sure, Mark Grace was a very useful ballplayer, with his Gold Glove level defense and on-base skills, but aside from the occasional fluky Ricky Wilkins season, the only impact lefty bat this team has had since Billy Williams was sent to Texas with Jamie Moyer for Mitch Williams back in 1988 (I don’t think until just now I had considered just how lopsided the subsequent career values of Palmeiro+Moyer for Mitch Williams was… wonder why that deal doesn’t often gets discussed among the worst ever – yikes!)

If you think for a minute that I’m overstating the case, there have been 11 100 Runs Created seasons since 1970 by lefty Cub hitters (courtesy of Play Index at BaseballReference.com).  Williams accounts for 3 of them, Grace 6, and Durham and Monday the other two.  25th and 26th are notables Henry Rodriguez and Mickey Morandini at 91 and 90 RC.   Fukudome’s 2009 season was the 36th-best season (by total RC) by a Cubs lefty hitter since 1970.  40 years, and .259/.375/.421 (OPS+ of 104) is 36th best.   To overstate the case would be to wonder if Billy Williams could make this list again now, at age 62, but the thought has occurred.

Obviously, the current incarnation of the Cubs is somewhat hindered in finding enough lefty bats by having a very fine righty-batting first baseman in Derrek Lee.  First base is obviously a position where many teams are able to find good lefty-hitting offense.  And, oddly, the Cubs actually hit RHP better in 2009 somehow (Fukudome’s lopsided splits helped a lot).  Of course, in their 2008 playoff season, they had Jim Edmonds, who clobbered RHP, and they signed Fukudome, and then Bradley, to address this obvious need… so it’s not like management isn’t aware of the weakness.

Now, maybe Ankiel’s shoulder is wrecked and it just hasn’t been publicized.  But why else would the Cubs be considering righty Marlon Byrd who isn’t a standout either offensively or defensively, or inept Scott Podsednik, who is very stretched to cover center field and provides little of value on offense?  What is wrong with rick Ankiel?

Here’s a guy with a 100 OPS+ for his career, taking into account even the games when he was a pitcher.  His 2009 was injury-riddled, and perhaps that is the answer to the “what’s wrong” question, but the reports make it sound like he’s back to full health.  He has a career slugging vs RHP of .462.  He has a cannon of an arm in CF, and when he’s healthy isn’t much below average range-wise (some scouts think he’s well above-average in fact, but advanced defensive metrics so far in his short OF career have shown less than that).  When Ankiel was healthy in 2008, even playing his home games in Busch Stadium, he hammered RHP to the tune of .279/.362/.529.  The shift to Wrigley should more than make up for the slight degradation due to aging.

And, best of all, Ankiel should be very very cheap… as he’s in a position of having to prove himself after the 2009 debacle.  That would allow the Cubs the freedome to bring in Orlando Hudson to play second base, further alleviating their right-handed lineup problem.   I’m sure I’m missing something here, but this just seems like such a clear fit, especially with the shortage of other LH power bats to choose from.