Can Pena defeat tough Wrigley winds?

It comes too late to please former manager Lou Piniella, but the Cubs hope their search for a left-handed power hitter is over.

Or in Piniella parlance, their search for a “left-hand” bat.

Since Henry Rodriguez was hitting 75 homers for the Cubs from 1998-2000, the team has had trouble finding a left-handed slugger for the middle of the order.

Oh, general manager Jim Hendry has tried. There was Jeromy Burnitz, but he lasted only 1 year, hitting 24 homers.

Then there was Jacque Jones — love him or hate him — hitting 27 homers in 2006 but only 5 in 2007.

And there was switch-hitting Milton Bradley. You know how that turned out.

Now, the Cubs hope they have a keeper in first baseman Carlos Pena.

The Cubs signed Pena to a one-year, $10.5 million deal during the winter meetings to replace the dependable Derrek Lee, whom they traded to Atlanta last August. Lee was a right-handed hitter.

Pena wears No. 22 on his Cubs uniform, but to hear a lot of people talk, that number should be .196, or his batting average from last year. Pena also hit 28 homers, giving him a four-year total in Tampa Bay of 144.

Pena is trying to live down the .196, and the Cubs are trying to pump up the four-year average of 36 homers.

“I definitely want to improve all my numbers,” Pena said earlier in spring training at Mesa, Ariz. “The emphasis is on the batting average because last year was so difficult for me in that category. At the same time, I understand that’s not me. It doesn’t represent me.

“It wouldn’t be intelligent on my part to carry that piece of luggage on my back, that batting average, to carry it around and let it be the number that identifies me. It’s not even an issue for me. That’s in the past. That’s not me. I’ve pretty much erased that out of my mind.”

However it turns out, the Cubs’ search for that elusive left-handed slugger has been interesting to watch. For one thing, those hitters are not easy to come by.

“We’ve been chasing some left-handed power for a while,” Hendry said. “First base was never an issue because Derrek was so good for so long. You weren’t going to replace him until now.

“Once we got Sori (Alfonso Soriano), some of the people we could have got in right, left-handed power wise, really couldn’t play the position well, so defensively, we would have been short in a couple of areas.

“Left-handed power is hard to get. The good ones, the real good ones, people keep. They extend them. Those people make a lot of money.

“And Pena was well on his way to another huge contract if he didn’t have that slip-up last year with the average and home runs, which got below 35 for the first time in awhile.”

Piniella, who blamed the Cubs’ 2008 playoff flameout in part on a lack of a dependable left-handed hitter, maintained such a hitter forces the pitcher work to both sides of the plate, making him less likely to slide into a comfort zone.

This year the Cubs can run left-handed hitters Pena, Blake DeWitt, Tyler Colvin and Kosuke Fukudome out on given days. But Pena and his power potential will be the key.

“He gives you a different look, and it’s good for Rami (Aramis Ramirez) and for Marlon (Byrd), and it gives Colvin a chance to develop,” Hendry said.

Pena will have to prove it, and Wrigley Field can be a tough place for left-handed power hitters to ply their trade. Former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace, a line-drive hitting lefty, always expressed admiration for Hall of Famer Billy Williams, a left-handed hitter who hit 426 career homers, 231 at Wrigley Field.

Williams says lefties can make the Friendly Confines friendly.

“With the wind coming off the lake, it’s tough to hit the ball out of the ballpark in April and in May,” Williams said. “But if you’re the type of guy who hits the ball to left-center field, you have a pretty good opportunity of putting the ball over the fence or putting the ball in the gap.

“But I think it’s because of the wind blowing in from right field that a left-handed hitter always has a tough time hitting home runs. I was successful because I was a line-drive type of hitter. If you get that particular type of guy coming in, you won’t have any trouble.”

Even though opponents have effectively employed an infield shift to the right side against Pena, he has shown some ability to hit the ball out of the park to left and left-center. He hit 6 of his 28 homers the other way last year, according to STATS.

“He really found himself down in Tampa Bay,” Williams said. “He’s a good first baseman, and he swings the bat pretty well. This is what we’re looking for. He can have some pretty good years if he continues to hit the ball to left-center field.”

To that end, Pena has been working since the middle of winter with Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo.

“I have a good idea of what we want to do,” Jaramillo told cubs.com. “I just want to get his confidence going and make him realize when he’s doing it right and not so right.

“He had a lower-half timing issue. He probably needs to get better recognition. When you’re striking out 150 times, it means you’re making bad decisions.”

So far, so good, according to Pena.

“I think sometimes we stray away from the simplest form, and the simplest form is actually the best,” he said. “I think that’s when the talent can actually express itself without any limitations.

“Sometimes we overthink things, and it can really damage us in many ways, not only if you’re a baseball player but in anything you do. Overthinking things kind of cripples your talent.

“He just wanted to bring things back to basics, keep it is simple as possible so that way, the natural talent can go out and blossom.”