Even though I'm 6 Hours Away I can Still Ponder Outloud about my Cubs

The months of November and December mean two things: The Holidays are coming and Hot Stove baseball is heating up. Unlike the few months that basketball and football give their fans to hope for better days, the months of November and December are for the fans to hope and pray for the big superstar to land on their field. Fans still have January and February and a little bit of March before baseball starts to shape their ultimate team in their head. Since the end of the baseball year, Cub fans have been lighting up the hot stove like it was nothing. First, the Sammy Sosa fallout. A once proud Chicago icon has now been decimated with corked bat taunting, titanic-sized sneezes and a quitter label. No one wants the third, real hard nosed winners would rather die alone in a cold dark alley than be called a quitter. Who cares that it was the last game that meant nothing. 40,000+ Cub fans showed up to see you play 81 times a year and pay an outstanding amount to do so, and that is how you repay them, by not showing up, and on top of it lying. That was a totally unfair gesture towards the Cubs, but it also showed up the fans, the same fans that welcomed you with open arms from the South Side and had your back since your first day in Cubbie blue. Now, the Cubs look to trade their future Hall of Famer to potentially get the monkey off their back. Rumors have him going to New York for Chicago native outfielder/1st baseman Cliff Floyd who can play Alou's left, spell D. Lee at 1st base once in a while and would be a welcomed left-handed bat in Wrigley Field. Also possibly in that trade could be Mike Piazza, who would immediately be dealt to Los Angeles for Shawn Green and then you have locked up two glaring needs...but the latter is not likely to happen. Sosa-for-Floyd seems foolish, but attatched to Sosa is baggage. So the deal looks more like this Sosa+Quitter+Ego+Clubhouse Cancer-to NY-for-Floyd+a fresh start+Chicago's own+a new page in Cub clubhouse lifestyle....Nomar Garciaparra is likely to come back to the Cubs in a one year deal to prove his health, stamina and endurance are back to a point in which he can demand a long term deal. A more likely scenario has the Cubs filling two needs by ransacking the Cardinals for clutch all-star shortstop Edgar Renteria and second baseman Tony Womack. Sounds good in principle, taking your biggest rivals double play combination. On top why not take their ace Matt Morris and make him the 5th starter? Just blow them all up. In my world, it'd be simple. Cubs sign Renteria and Womack. Re-sign Nomar and turn him into Robin Yount and move him to left field. Or, if you still have doubts about Womack as a one-year wonder, how about moving Nomar to second, a position he would be open to playing for the New York Yankees. Now you have taken from the best team in the division last year, improved your outfield and still have room for the grand prize of baseball CARLOS BELTRAN...Carlos Beltran had been living under the radar in Kansas City for a long time, but since his massive run with the Astros in the playoffs, Beltran is the man, just like A-Rod was the man. Beltran is on record saying that he would love to play for the Cubs and in Wrigley Field, and off the record by some sources saying to Dusty Baker that he wanted to play for him. Carlos seemed to love Chicago, I can't blame him, he could be the star of stars and do something that could overshadow Jordan's six championships and the '85 Chicago Bears...WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP that is 97 years in the making. The Cubs have other glaring needs though, a closer because God knows if they had a legit closer us Cubs fans would be talking celebrations, not repairs. That 2004 team was too good not to be in the playoffs. They had 6 guys that potentially could hit 30 HRs and 100 RBIs and 4 guys that could win 15-20 games a year. One of the best long relievers and set-up men in baseball in Rusch and Hawkins. But instead injuries and certain players pointing the finger at Dusty, the fans, the broadcasters, the umps, the sky whatever and whoever to take the blame off their back. It is a shame. Last winter, Jim Hendry and the Cubs looked for talent to fill in their noticeable holes. This winter, they should be looking for mind over matter.