The Chicago Cubs will experiment with different lineup possibilities under Joe Maddon this coming season.

Maddon has been doing some research on lineups, particularly about the pluses and minuses of having the pitcher bat eighth. The manager inserted his pitcher into the No. 8 spot seven times with the Tampa Bay Rays.

"It's always dangerous to write up a lineup card in January because guys can get hurt," Jed Hoyer said, "but there's no doubt that guys batting sixth, seventh, and eighth now will be more experienced, more talented and certainly have better on-base skills than they have in the past."