The Cubs offense went south this past season only a year removed from being an offensive juggernaut. While Jim Hendry will attempt to find a new player or two to ignite the team’s offensive power, he signed well respected Rudy Jaramillo as their hitting coach. He will be the highest paid hitting coach in baseball and one of the highest paid coaches in all of baseball. Much will be expected to change of the inconsistent offense of the 2008 Chicago Cubs.

3 Pros:

1. Respect - Rudy Jaramillo is one of the most respected baseball minds in the game today. Why is this important? We as fans don’t know the inner game as much as the people directly related to it and Jaramillo demands the respect of many highly thought of baseball elite.

2. Past - Jaramillo has a good track record working with teams that have offensive talent. A team of Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Soto, Theriot, and some other capable players is a solid base for Jaramillo to work with. He also speaks Spanish which is a huge aspect in today’s baseball world.

3. Spirit -  From all accounts, Jaramillo will be bringing in one of the more excitable and positive personalities of coaches today. While having talented winners is the most important thing for a ball club, it never hurts to have someone who can lift spirits and portray and positive atmosphere during the long baseball season.

3 Cons:

1. Danger Looms - What if the Cubs fail? What if they don’t hit next year as they should? Jaramillo will turn out to be the Cubs 4th hitting coach in less than a year. Gerald Perry, Von Joshua, Kyosuke Sasaki (he visited the US to help Kosuke Fukudome) and now Jaramillo will all have led the instruction for Cub hitters in a years time. Signing a big contract probably gives Rudy some security but for how long if he does fail?

2. Security - The security may have a downfall that ties into the first con. With the Cubs not wanting to move around a hitting coach with a long contract it will be tough to cut him loose after this year. Why is that important? This will probably be Pinella’s final season as manager which would mean the next Cub manager might not be able to choose a big part of his staff.

3. Milton Bradley - While all signs point Bradley leaving town, it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that the only way the Cubs can move Milton is by eating all of his salary. If that is the case and Mr. Tom Rickett’s decides the Cubs shouldn’t eat the salary there is a chance Bradley stays. Adding Jaramillo will add more to that cause because of his relationship with Bradley in Texas. Bradley acted sort of like a grown up in Texas and had his best offensive year with Jaramillo as his hitting coach.

This season will be filled with exciting stories that will either amp up fans or send them into complete misery. Rudy Jaramillo seems like a good addition to the Cubs family but how much can he impact a team that could never get it going last year? Does the hitting coach have true impact? Derrek Lee doesn’t really think so. So let’s hope hitting coaches can have an impact and Jaramillo has that power.