Who's on Second?

- No. What is on second base.
- I'm not asking you who's on second.
- Who's on first.

Well, you get the idea, though you kind of wonder whether Jim Hendry does. Every now and then, old Jim seems to get the yen to stockpile second basemen. A few years ago, before the arrival of Mark DeRosa, we had quite a little logjam going there with Todd Walker, Mark Grudzielanek, Damian Jackson, and Neifi Perez in 2004, followed by the addition of Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, Enrique Wilson, and Jose Macias the following years, followed by...

Now we have Fontenot, Jeff Baker, Andres Blanco, Bobby Scales, etc., and rumors that Big Jim wants to add Luis Castillo to the mix. Well, you cannot have too much of a mediocre thing, it would seem. But this whole situation is illustrative of one of the failings of the Cubs organization in general, namely, the failure to plan ahead and genuinely evaluate their prospects. If this kid Starlin Castro is the player they think he is, and it is only a question of when he will be ready, then it makes no sense to talk about trading to get expensive journeymen to fill the slot in the interim when you already have a plethora of cheap journeymen on hand.

Actually, I did see a piece the other day that indicated the Cubs might just be leaning in that direction. It was by Paul Sullivan, not the most reliable of sources, to the effect that Hendry had told Theriot to be ready to move to 2B. Not a bad idea. Theriot is probably better suited to 2B and playing there might be the best case scenario as it will be possible to give him more time off during the season to prevent the September slumps to which he has been prone two of the last three years, since they do have a lot of options at this position. I just hope they do not bat him first again. He just doesn't take enough pitches, nor does he walk enough, nor does he have genuine base-stealing speed.