The interwebs are all aflutter about the possibility of the Cubs playing their home games in U.S. Cellular Field throughout the 2013 season. Why? Because the internet is full of lunatics. Despite what Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer say about the 2012 season being a “building” not a “rebuilding,” it’s a rebuilding. They’re not going to be good. Don’t get me wrong, I’m likely going to watch more Cubs games this season than I have in the past two seasons combined. I’m excited to watch a team that’s been so drastically revamped. I’m loving the changes made in this offseason. The only thing that would make Theo’s first season in Chicago a bigger success would be if the Cub front office finally admits that putting Band-Aids on Wrigley Field isn’t going to work. Rebuild the team; rebuild the park.

What better time to rebuild Wrigley Field than when you fully expect that your team isn’t going to be competitive? I think the one nightmare scenario in the minds of many Cubs fans is that the one season they play in Milwaukee or on the South Side will be the one the Cubs finally win the World Series. I don’t care where they win it, but I do understand that an image of Carlos Marmol getting the final out in the bottom of the 9th of Game Seven of the Series would be somewhat tainted if it was against a U.S. Cellular backdrop.

But let’s be realistic. If the Cubs fire on all cylinders this year, they could certainly win the NL Central, but they are not a legitimate playoff threat. Their pitching staff is deep, but not dominant. Their defense is suspect at best. They have no power. And, despite Theo’s tinkering, they probably still don’t get on base enough. And that’s okay.

Be bad for a couple of years. Add to the terrible baseball that will be played on the South Side next year. Fix your park. Then come back and win the whole damn thing in 2015 in your new, functional, beautiful park.