It was April and LaTroy Hawkins was still a Cub. Ryan Dempster was coming off Tommy John surgery and trying to make the club as a fifth starter. His command was borderline at best, but you could see that his stuff (91-95 mph 2-seam fastball, plus slider, average change) was coming back.

What were the Cubs going to do?

Well, GM Jim Hendry wanted Ryan to close. But with Hawkins giving a decent effort in 2004 it only made sense to give him the reins. And that’s what the Cubs did until about a month-and-a-half into the season when it became clear LaTroy had suffered a Mark Wohlers-esque breakdown.

At that point Dempster was the fifth starter and not doing a heckuva lot. He was striking out more than a batter/inning, but his 5.71 ERA and 41 hits/33 IP were less than inspiring. He had also walked an amazingly high 22 batters in 33 IP.

Then they made him the closer.

Since blowing his first save on May 11, Dempster’s dropped that ERA from 5.71 to 3.20. He’s given up 41 hits in 57 IP and notched around 7 K/9 IP. That K rate has picked up a little in the past month with 17 punchouts coming in 13.2 September IP.

The thing is that Ryan’s looked better as the year’s gone on. I saw him pick up the save against Houston on the weekend and he was hitting 95 with good movement on his fastball. He went through a dry spell where he wasn’t picking up Ks, but he seems to have rebounded nicely.

So what happens next year? Well Kerry Wood seems done as a starter and has the makings of an excellent closer. Dempster’s a Free Agent and seems likely to land a decent 3-year, $10-12 million contract. Kerry’s making $9.5 million this season and is signed thru 2006, with a mutual option for 2007.

It just doesn’t make sense for the Cubs to give the job to Wood and pay that extra $5-6 million for a job they’re already getting done pretty darn well. My guess is Wood either returns to the starting rotation, or gets himself dealt to another team. Hey, the Red Sox need a closer. I can see that being a good fit.

Whatever happens the Cubs won’t be sporting a $10 million closer when the season starts. That just doesn’t make any sense for a team in desperate need of power bats at the corner outfield positions and a re-built ‘pen.

Dempster’s BB/9 IP is still around 4. But he looks to be finding his groove. At 28 he’s on a perfect career path to becoming a solid Major League closer with 35-40 save potential. My guess is he reaches that number next year. He’s easily better than a Bob Wickman or Todd Jones. I’d say you’re looking at Dempster, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Gonzalez, and Jose Valverde as breakout closers to target in 2006. You should be able to land them all for around $10.