With Pujols gone, can Cubs grab NL Central?

Somewhere in a drawer, I have one of those “Why Not Us?” T-shirts Dusty Baker handed out in the fall of 2002.

The slogan fits again, what with Albert Pujols agreeing to a quarter-billion-dollar deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

The world-champion St. Louis Cardinals lost their franchise player in Pujols. The National League Central champion Milwaukee Brewers are about to lose theirs: Prince Fielder.

The NL Central is up for grabs, and there’s no reason the Cubs can’t reach up and grab it.

It’ll take a little doing, but team chairman Tom Ricketts hired the alleged smartest guys in the room in Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod.

The Cubs still need a couple of starting pitchers, but getting Fielder into a Cubs uniform (I’m sure they can find one that fits) would go a long way toward increasing the credibility of a team that got a huge push in that direction with the Epstein power trio hiring.

Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons tweeted (and said on MLB Network) that the Cubs do not have the cash to corral Fielder. I’m not buying that, not with the Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena money coming off the books.

Fielder, a left-handed batter, is a different case than Pujols, who turns 32 next month. Although Fielder’s weight is said to be about 275 pounds, he’s just 27 and has shown the ability to play every day.

There has been some talk of Fielder taking a shorter-term deal and then cashing in a again a few years later.

Fielder’s agent, Scott Boras, finally made the lobby walk at the winter meetings Wednesday night in Dallas. Reporters asked him about Fielder taking a deal that’s for significantly fewer years than what Pujols wound up getting.

“I don’t think any team that has approached us about that as a possibility,” Boras told reporters.

If the Cubs do get involved, I expect them to have competition from the Mariners and Rangers, to name just two. And what if the Cardinals decide they want to replace Pujols with Fielder? Of course, Boras spoke of a large market developing.

“It’s very clear that teams have a variety of interest in Prince, a number of teams, which makes the job very complicated,” he said. “Some teams have different levels of interest from others. I think everyone has a plan for him that they told us.

“I’m going to be leaving here and meeting with Prince and talk about the varying opportunities for him. Then we’ll sit down and begin the process of letting him tell us what directions he wants to take. He’ll kind of prioritize it for me.”

As far as the Cubs’ interest, Boras told reporters: “As to what level of interest (the Cubs have), you should probably ask them. Any team that wants to get better whether they are a younger team or a veteran team or a club that wants to win now, not many teams that are in need can pass up a core player like this.”

The Cubs under Epstein will play things close to the vest. Epstein addressed reporters Wednesday and talked about the impact of having Pujols out of the division before the signing took place.

“I’ll just say, if he left, it’d probably be a good thing for us in terms of developing young pitching,” Epstein said. “You get a young pitcher up there and he’s working on his third pitch and working on his fastball command, and you tell him to get ahead strike one, and all of a sudden, instead of a Triple-A hitter, he’s got Albert Pujols there, and it leaves the yard 420 (feet) to right-center field, and it’s not good for (the pitcher’s) confidence.”

The Cubs can create their own fear factor by going out and getting Fielder.

No deals, but Cubs happy:With the winter meetings having wrapped up Thursday, GM Jed Hoyer told reporters he felt good about what the new baseball-management team got done despite not making a trade or a signing. #147;It#146;s been a really productive week,#148; he said. #147;A lot of this week is pushing things forward. #147;You always see a lot of things get done a day or two or even early next week after these meetings, and we think that will be the case for us as well. We feel we#146;ve gotten things to a good place and, hopefully, some of those things come to fruition soon. Leaving here without a deal, that#146;s OK.#148;Feeling a draft: The Cubs were gainers and losers in the Rule 5 draft Thursday at the winter meetings. They selected right-handed pitcher Lendy Castillo from the Phillies#146; organization in the major-league phase of the draft. The Cubs also took infielder Ricky Alvarez from the Angels#146; system in the Class AAA phase. They turned around and traded him to Monterrey (Mexico) for cash considerations. Going the other way, the Cubs lost infielder Ryan Flaherty to the Orioles and infielder Marwin Gonzalez to the Red Sox, who traded him to Houston. #147;Those were two guys we spent a lot of time talking about and, candidly, we thought they were two guys who may well get taken,#148; Jed Hoyer told cubs.com. #147;They#146;re both good players and we hope we get them back. That#146;s the nature of setting your roster. You have to make hard decisions.#148;Rule 5 picks must stick with their new teams or be placed on waivers, which likely means ending up with their original organizations.BBN,FILE20002000If the Cubs could signed first baseman Prince Fielder, it would help them and hurt Milwaukee in a move that would shake up the NL Central.Associated PressBBN,FILE