It was definately a strange winter for baseball.  Mediocre guys were getting signed to gigantic contracts, and great players hit the jackpot.  Even the Cubs got into the spending spree, giving Lou Pinella a three year 10 million dollar contract, Alfonso Soriano got 136 million dollars over 8 years, Aramis got 75 million over 5 years, Ted Lilly will make 40 million over 4 years, Jason Marquis will make 21 million over 3 years, Mark DeRosa will make 13 million over 3 years, and even Henry Blanco will make 5.25 million over 2 years.

That’s a lot of money.  Now comes the finalization of Barry Zito’s contract.  The San Francisco Giants shocked everyone by signing Zito to a seven-year, $126 million contract,the highest in Major League history for a pitcher.

Ouch.  That’s the sound of Hendry getting punched in his large gut.  You see, Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano is eligable to become a free agent after this season. He is free to walk if he wants and test the market.  Since 2002, the Cubs have not had to pay Zambrano much money at all.  All that is about to change.  If Zito is worth seven years and 126 million dollars, what is Zambrano worth?  He’s three years younger than Zito, has more dominating stuff and most of his relevant numbers are trending upward.   He has better stats than Zito in just about every pitching category over the last three years, playing on much worse teams.

Zambrano is potentially looking at a payday of 145 million dollars over 7 years.  What are the Cubs and Hendry going to do?  Zambrano is young at 25, but he ranks fifth in the majors with 861 innings pitched since 2003.

"I’ve been saying for the last three years that he’s going to break down, but he hasn’t yet," said an American League general manager.

Zambrano also has some other health issues, hand and fore arm cramps and lower back problems.  There are also the mental health issues.  Zambrano’s temper tantrum’ s are legendary, calling out other players for their mistakes, yelling and screaming on the mound, breaking a bat over his knee, the list goes on and on.

Luckily for the Cubs and Hendry, Zambrano fired Scott Boras as his agent last year and is now represented by Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro, who are keeping their expectations to themselves. "The market will speak for Z’s value," Praver said. "There’s no reason to place a limit on it at this time."

Hendry has been known for  negotiating long-term deals before players enter their "walk" year, like the deals that Ramirez, Derek Lee, and Kerry Wood got. 

"We certainly have interest in keeping Carlos in Chicago," Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. "That’s always been something he’s expressed to me that he wants to do. We’ll sit down and have conversations with his representatives before and during spring training, and pursue it with our normal diligence."

To give a pitcher that much money over such a long period of time is scary, but so is the thought of the Cubs being without Zambrano.  He has saved this team over and over again since 2004.  When everyone was talking about Prior and Wood, it was Big Z that performed.

And now it is time to pay the piper. 

Only question is how much? 

After a horrible season in 2006, Santa has been very generous to Cubs fans this year.  He found a new job for Andy MacPhail.  He sent Dusty Baker some new suitcases so he could travel back to his beloved Califonia.  He gave us Lou Pinella as a manager.  He must have given the Tribune a sack load of money considering the amount that the Cubs have spent.  Best of all, we got Alfonso Soriano

Of course, like all good Cubs fans, I am asking for a World Series title for my Cubbies.  It seems like I ask for the same thing every year, but this year I have been extra good, so maybe…maybe…

In all seriousness, Christmas is a time of giving also.  And it is time again for someone to be given the gift that he has deserved for too many years now.  Number 10, Ron Santo will be eligable again this year to be voted into the Hall of Fame.  The way it works is that if you are passed up by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame, you are eligible to make the Hall through the Veteran’s Committee. The Veterans Committee is comprise of living Hall of Fame members (61), Ford C. Frick Award recipients (14), and J.G. Taylor Spink Award recipients (8)m and former Veterans Committee members whose terms have not yet expired (1), 84 total votes.  The Veterans Committee members will cast their votes in January and February, with results to be announced on February 27. Any candidate(s) named on 75% of ballots cast will earn election and be honored in Cooperstown on July 29, during Hall of Fame Weekend. 

So far, no one has been elected to the Hall through the Veterans Committee.  The elections are held every two years.  The last election was held in 2005.  Sixty votes were necessary for election and the top two recipients – Gil Hodges and Ron Santo – each missed by eight votes, recieving 52 votes.

If Ron does not get in this year, he would have to wait another two.  Everyone knows that Ron’s health is not the greatest, and I guess I just hope that he has a chance to stand at the podium and see his mug enshrined in Cooperstown.  I don’t have to convince you that Ron belongs in the Hall.  I don’t have to give you his career stats or talk about his life long battle with Diabetes or anything else.  You know all of that too.  What I need you to do is go to http://www.santoforhall.com/

The good people at Santo for Hall have been collecting petitions and sending them to the Veterans Committee and will continue to do so until the vote is over.  The petition is on the right hand side.  Please sign it, add your own comments, and let’s try to help Ronnie get into the Hall.

I will put a permanant link to this site on the left hand side of this blog.

We have 2 months to do what we can to help Ron.  Maybe you think it won’t make that much of a difference, but every little bit helps.  He was eight votes away last time.  With all our support, and if our voices are heard, maybe this year we will get to see Ron Santo inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, where he belongs.

With GM Jim Hendry’s recent health scare, the Cubs decided that they need to ease up on Jim’s work load.  The Cubs named Randy Bush assistant general manager, filling a position that had been vacant since Jim Hendry’s ascension to the general manager’s office in 2002. During this period, Hendry has had different people on his staff with the title of "special assistant to the GM" , including Bush ,Gary Hughes(who stepped in for Hendry when he was in the hospital during the winter meetings), Paul Weaver, Ken Kravec and former GM Ed Lynch (this guy is still on the payroll)?!   Bush will sub for Hendry on some of the Cubs’ road trips to give the GM more time to look at the Minor League teams, and also continue to do some scouting.

Bush was originally named a special assistant to the general manager for the Cubs on Jan. 26, 2005, after spending the previous five seasons as the head baseball coach at the University of New Orleans.  He played his entire career with the Minnesota Twins and was a member of the 1987 and 1991 World Series championship teams.

"One of the things I can bring is the perspective from the players’ point of view. I was fortunate enough to be part of some championship ballclubs. I think that helps. I’ve also been a head coach in college. I understand the relationship between professional baseball and college baseball.

Hendry was happy for Bush, and sees him being successful in his new role.

"He’s someone we’ve targeted for advancement since the day we got him.  He’s a quality evaluator. He has the baseball background and the intelligence to adapt to the office and move forward in front-office duties, as well as evaluate our minor-league system and help me at the major-league level in every capacity."

"It’s something we’d talked about right after John [McDonough] became the [interim] president. I thought Randy was a real good fit for us, and I’m glad we could make it happen."

Outfield Hekp

Speaking of outfield help, the Cubs got a little of that by signing Daryl Ward to a one year one million dollar contract with a mutual option for the 2008 season.  Ward can be used as a backup first baseman and outfielder as well as a left-handed bat. Ward, led Major League pinch-hitters with 17 RBIs and a .645 slugging percentage last season, and his four pinch-hit homers were tied with Cincinnati’s Javier Valentin for the most in the Majors. He batted .355 off the bench, fourth best among pinch-hitters last season. Ward hit .308 overall in 98 games for the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves, and he hit .371 with runners in scoring position. He was batting .308 (32-for-104) in 78 games for the Nationals when he was traded to Atlanta on Aug. 31 in exchange for right-hander Luis Atilano. Ward hit .308 in 26 at-bats for the Braves.  A good signing by the Cubs, especially after John Mabry was such a bust last year.  Hendry also is continuing to chase Cliff Floyd (note; he is the only one chasing Cliff Floyd).  After hitting .244 with New York lastseason with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs, Hendry wants Floyd to platoon with Matt Murton.  Floyd has been hampered by injuries the last few seasons, and I don’t get what the point of platooning him with Murton would be.  Murton bats .301 against lefties, and .295 against righties.  His .297 average is .20 above the league average for left fielders, and he is still a young developing player.  Now with a new coaching staff, he may become even more successful. With the Cubs acquiring Alfonso Soriano, they now have 3 guys in their lineup who could easily have 40 home runs.  They no longer need a power bat in left, like they did last year.  They need a guy who can get on base and set the table for the big boppers.  Murton had a tough slump in the middle of the season, but finished strong.  If he can avoid that slump, he would make a great number 2 hitter.  Let’s hope we don’t see too much of Cliff Floyd.

After a horrible 2006 season, their was a major shakeup at Clark and Addison.  Team President Andy MacPhail resigned, and he will now focus on licking Bud Selig’s boots until he takes over the role of baseball commissioner.  Dusty Baker was shown the door, and the only one upset about that was Ronnie Woo Woo.  Now Baker will go back to Cali and smoke a bunch of weed and continue to babble incoherantly on ESPN.  The last man standing was gerneal manager Jim Hendry.  Hendry was the subject of an interesting interview in SI, and this season will be the one that makes or breaks Hendry.

Hendry knows that his job is on the line.  It has been an interesting road for Hendry.   Hendry was promoted to GM on July 5 2002 by MacPhail.  Prior to his promotion to GM, he was named Assistant GM/Player Personnel Director on October 12, 2001, and previously the Director of Player Development, in charge of both Scouting and Minor League Operations.  One of his first moves was firing manager Don Baylor and replaced him with interm manager Bruce Kimm.

  After the end of the 2002 season, Hendry made an amazing deal, trading waste of space Todd Hundley for Mark Grudzielanek and Eric Karros.  Grudzielanek and Karros both had good seasons in 2003 and provided the club with veteran leadership.  Hendry finished up his 2002/03 off season by landing the hottest manager, Dusty Baker, whose Giants just lost to the Angels in seven games.  The Cubs started out hot in 2003, but then centerfielder Corey Patterson got injured in June.  A few weeks later, Hendry pulled off his second important move of the season, trading Bobby Hill and Jose Hernandez to the Pirates for Aramis Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, and Randall Simon.  All three contributed to the Cubs amazing post season run.  The 2003 Cubs should have been the World Series champs, but Dusty Baker was outmanaged by the Marlins manager Jack Mackenon and the Cubs lost in seven games.

Hendry knew the Cubs had talent, and made a big push to make the team even better in 2004.  The Cubs traded Hee Seop Choi to Florida for Derrek Lee, traded Damian Miller to get Michael Barret from the Montreal Expos and signing Kent Merker, Todd Walker and set up man LaTroy Hawkins, one of the top set up men in the game.  Right before the 2004 season started, he added Greg Maddux to the team.  Sports Illustrated picked the Cubs to win the World Series.  Of course, it wasn’t to be, with injuries to Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Sammy Sosa, closer Joe Borowski, and shortstop Alex Gonzalez.  Hendry tried his best, making a deal to get Nomar Gariciaparra, but the Cubs collapsed in the final week of the season.  Again, the fault of Dusty Baker.

The 20004/05 off season was probably the worst of Hendry’s tenure with the Cubs.  Rather than acquire more starting pitching, Hendry did not add any more arms to the starting rotation.  They thought Prior and Wood would be back and that 2004 was a fluke.  The Cubs sent Sosa and money to the Baltimore Orioles for Jerry Harriston Jr.  He signed Jeremy Burnitz to replace Sosa, and added Ryan Dempster and Chad Fox to the bullpen.  Of course Prior and Wood were injured most of the year, Burnitz was a bust, and the Cubs finished below .500.  What was Hendry’s punishment for such a bad season? A two year extension!

If you thought 2006 would be different, think again.  Hendry again felt that Wood and Prior were going to be healthy.  Again they were not.  They did not sign another pitcher, even though there were plenty on the market.  Hendry did address the bullpen by adding Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry, but the 2005/06 off season was filled with bad moves.  The Cubs traded three talented pitchers, Ricky Nolasco, Sergio Mitre, and Renyel Pinto, for centerfielder Juan Pierre.  Not only that, but they didn’t resign Pierre, leaving the Cubs at the short end of that trade.  While Nolasco posted double digit wins, and Pinto looking great in the minors, Pierre is no longer a Cub.  Then Hendry and the Cubs bid against themselves, giving Gledon Rusch, Neifi Perez, and Jacque Jones muti-million multi year contracts.

Hendry now has this season to prove that he is a great GM.  He started planning for the 2007 season by trading Greg Maddux to the Dodger for Ceasar Izturis and dumping Todd Walker for a minor league pitcher. He did not resign Dusty Baker to another contract and signed baseball legend Lou Pinella.  He resigned Aramis Ramirez, Kerry Wood, and Wade Miller, and signed free agents Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, Mark DeRosa, and Jason Marquis, and traded David Aardsma for Neal Cotts. 
All the stress apparently got to Hendry, and had to go to the hospital during the Winter Baseball meetings.  The Lilly deal was finalized while Hendry was hooked up to an EKG machine. 

Hendry has gone "all in" for the 2007 season.  I for one, hope it works out for him and for the rest of us Cubs fans.

I got to say, I was more than a little surprised when I saw that the Rangers signed Kenny Lofton to a one year deal. I was sure that the Cubs would sign him.  He is a great outfielder, a left handed hitter, a legitimate number two hitter, and he is familiar with Wrigley Field.  He is older, but he was willing to a sign a one year deal.  When Felix Pie was ready to come up, he could be used to help mentor Pie and Pie could play center on days when Lofton needed to rest, and could platoon with Murton in left field on days that Lofton started.  Sounded perfect in my little mind. 

Now that the hot stove is becoming more of a simmer, the realization is that the Cubs outfield is shaky at best.  Consider this.  The projected starting outfield is Matt Murton, Felix Pie, and Alfonso Soriano.  Jacque Jones want out of Chicago, and the Cubs will try to accomedate him.  Pie has never played at the big league level, and the other two are mediocre defensive outfielders at best, all in a ballpark that has one of the most difficult outfields.  Last year at the Cubs Convention, I listened to former Cubs outfielders like Billy Williams, Andre Dawson, and Bobby Dernier talk about how the wind, sun, and day games all make the Wrigley outfield one of the most difficult to play in. 

Are the Cubs sure they want to bring up Pie, especially with the climate at Wrigley being so hostile lately?  What happened last time they brought up a young center field prospect up too early?  Corey Patterson??  In 2006, Pie batted .283 in 141 games for Triple-A Iowa, with 15 homers, 33 doubles, eight triples and 57 RBIs. He finished second in the Pacific Coast League in hits with 158.  Doesn’t sound bad, but he has been playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, he has been hitting .216 (27-for-125) with four doubles, one home run, 16 RBIs, seven walks and five stolen bases. He’s also struck out 25 times.  How is he going to handle big league pitching?  The Cubs know he can play well defensively, and with the addition of Soriano to go along with a healthy Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, they figure to just need Pie to play good defense.  That was the same theory the White Sox had with their propect Brian Anderson, but that didn’t work out to well for Anderson or the Sox.

If Pie comes to spring training and doesn’t meet Lou Pinella’s high standards, then the Cubs might still have Jacque Jones and he could play center.  They could also go with Angel Pagan, who was the fourth outfielder last year.  He looked great in spring training, but hurt his leg in April and was out most of the season.  Another good thing about having Lou coach the team is that he has experience working with young talent.  He worked with Rocco Baldelli and really helped with his development.  He can hopefully do the same for Pie.  THe good thing is that Dusty never got a chance to screw this kid up. 

Hopefully he is ready for the big time.

Well, the Winter Meetings have come and gone, and the team that made the loudest noise at the Winter Meetings was the Cubs.  With all the moves Hendry has made, and all the money he is being allowed to spend, it has put the rest of MLB in shock.   Hendry got started before the Meetings, by signing Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez, then adding second baseman Mark DeRosa, and bringing back Kerry Wood, Wade Miller and Henry Blanco.  By the end of the Meetings he signed Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, and Daryl Ward

It leaves many other baseball GM’s with a taste of sour grapes in their mouths.   A couple of teams that have given the Cubs a hard time in the past were the first to start whining.  Padres President Sandy Alderson cried like a little girl over the Cubs signing of Soriano.

"It’s hard for me to understand how you can justify $136 million for a player of Soriano’s caliber. I don’t know what justifies that contract, other than a lousy won-loss record over the last several years.”

Boo Hoo

And of course, no Cubs bashing would be complete without the Cardinals chiming in. 

Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty said

"We’re willing to adapt to the market, but we’re not going to go . We could still put [Adam] Wainwright in the rotation. He might be better than anybody we could sign, especially when you hear the numbers involved for some of these guys. It’s insane."

Cry me a river.

For the first time that I can remember, the Cubs went aggresively after some free agents, including Alfonso Soriano.  Soriano is now entering the prime of his career.  I am used to the Cubs signing guys who are past their prime, or never had a prime to begin with.

So excuse me if I don’t care that these guys are complaining.

Do they think the Cubs are the reason for the crazy market? 

There are a few simple answers. 

One, the agents.  There job is to get the top dollars for their clients (and for themselves).

Alderson whined that they had significant money to spend, but "in some of these cases, we couldn’t even get agents to call us back.”

Gee, I wonder why.  Maybe it’s your ugly uniforms.  Maybe you should have moved quicker.  Gary Hughes, special assistant to the general manager  said      " Other teams will spend money, too. We just made our deals a lot quicker."

Or maybe Alderson hasn’t heard of a little concept called supply and demand.  Baseball has been doing very well at the gate, with tv and radio deals, with advertisors, with merchendise, and with the explosion of the internet and team websites and blogs like this (which I pay MLB for the right to do).

With this influx of money, and not very many players on the market, you are going to see rising prices.  And for once, the Cubs were involved.  New Cubs interim President John McDonough opened the vaults and the Cubs got to spend like a major market team, which they are, for once in team history.  I’m sick of Boston and the Yankees making all the moves.  We are bigger than Boston, and there is no reason we shouldn’t be spending like they do.  The only team that has higher ticket prices than the Cubs are Boston.  And they put that money back into fielding a competitive team every year.

So I am not sorry for all those middle market teams that can’t afford the big contracts.  If baseball sets up a salary cap, fine.  But they don’t, and the Cubs are free to spend their money anyway they want.  Yes, the contracts for pitchers is obscene.  Maddux, Lilly, Gil Meche, Jason Schmidt, Tom Glavine, you name them, they all were overpaid. 

But guess what?  I  saw the Cubs have rookies pitchers start in 80 out of 162 games.  That is one away from literally being half the sesason.  How did that work out for the Cubs last year?

In Sunday’s New York Times, baseball columnist Murray Chass presented the theory on the Cubs’ newfound generosity:

"In allowing the Cubs to spend the way they never have, Tribune Co. is making an investment. If the new high-priced players help the Cubs win—the World Series, especially—the value of the franchise will skyrocket, probably to a level exceeded only by the Yankees."

If that’s what it takes for the Cubs to win the World Series, I’m fine with that.  Buy a World Series.  The Trib can sell the team, and hopefully the next owner will keep pouring money into the team.  The big test will be determined with the contract status of Carlos Zambrano.  Zambrano is the most promising and talented Cubs pitcher since Greg Maddux, and if the Cubs drag their feet and wait for his market value to climb, or they let him walk like they did Maddux, that will be the true test of the Trib’s intentions. 

But after 98 years of waiting, Cub fans just want to win it all.

If that means buying a championship, so be it.

The Cubs continued to collect pitchers, adding former St. Louis Cardinal Jason Marquis to the rotation.  The Cubs have signed Marquis to a three-year deal worth approximately $20 million dollars.  Marquis, 28,  had a down year last year, going 14-16 for St. Louis in ’06 with a 6.02 earned-run average in 2006. he was 3-10 with a 6.72 ERA after the All-Star break, costing him a rotation spot in the postseason.  Marquis got a head start on a possible Cubs connection by meeting with pitching coach Larry Rothschild after the Cardinals’ successful World Series.

"Jason called me shortly after they got done with the World Series and asked me if he could come down and throw," Rothschild told WGN Radio on Friday night. "He’d talked to [Greg] Maddux during the season and [Maddux] recommended that if he had a chance to let me see him."

Maddux and Marquis were teammates in Atlanta. Marquis threw once for Rothschild, and the two talked pitching mechanics.

"One thing you could tell was that his arm is healthy," Rothschild said. "He has the arm strength. I’m not sure what happened in St. Louis last year — I have some ideas as I think a lot of people do — but I think it was a little bit of a confidence thing. There were a couple games when he had a rough time and I think it snowballed on him."

The rough time that Rothchild is talking about came against the St. Louis Cardinals, and many Cardinals fans feel Marquis wasn’t the same pitcher.  In the first interleague series versus the White Sox on June 21, Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder only lasted 2 1/3 innings giving up 9 runs on ten hits.  The Cardinals went to their bullpen and five more pitchers gave up an additional 11 runs, making the final score White Sox 20, Cardinals 6.  The next night, Jason Marquis started the game for the Cardinals.  The Sox jumped out on Marquis early, giving up 9 runs in the first two innings, but rather than pull Marquis like he did Mulder, Tony LaRussa decided to leave Marquis in the game letting him get whacked like a pinata.  By the time it was over, Marquis had given up 13 runs and 14 hits in five innings, ballooning his ERA from 4.55 to 5.53 in one game, leaving his confidence shot.

"It was a bad night all the way around," Marquis said. "Our bullpen is a little short right now. You got to go out there and eat the innings up. If that means I’ve got to take a little beating while I’m at it, so be it."

It sounded ok at the time, but that game marked the beginning of the downward slide for Marquis.  Marquis was 11-6 with a 5.55 ERA in the first half of the season, but went 3-10 with a 6.72 ERA in the second half. Teams hit .267 against him in those first 18 starts, and batted .321 in his final 15 starts.   The last insult came when he was not included on the playoff roster. 

Rothchild believes he can turn Marquis around.

"He’s a guy who has pitched 200 innings over a few years, and has had a lot of success," Rothschild said. "He’s a guy who’s done it, and seems to be healthy and we can use the innings.

"You can look at him and see that he’s a guy capable of doing that," Rothschild said. "If we get him and he does those things for us, we could have a good year."
The Cubs believe pitching coach Larry Rothchild can fine-tune Marquis and make him a more consistent pitcher. His best season came in 2004, when Marquis went 15-7 with a 3.71 ERA. His career record with Atlanta and St. Louis is 56-52 with a 4.55 ERA. 

It’s up to Larry to make the change.  Rothchild will be held more accountable to Lou Pinella’s high standard, and will be expected to get the most out of Marquis.

We’ll see, but it’s definately is getting more interesting.

Holy Cow, what is going on with Hendry and the Cubs!?  The guy is having a heart attack and he’s still wheeling and dealing!?  Yes, the Cubs landed left hander Ted Lilly, to a four-year, $40 million deal.

"Ted Lilly is a Cub," Lilly’s agent Larry O’Brien announced Wednesday night in the lobby of the Dolphin Hotel.

The Cubs were able to sign Lilly even though he was persued by the Blue Jays and the Yankees.  What made Lilly want to sign with the Cubs?  (Besides the big pile of money?  O’Brien explained that

"He was intrigued by the opportunity to maybe be involved in something special and get Chicago back to the postseason and a world championship. At the end of the day, Ted thinks they have a great opportunity to go from last to first.  Detroit did it, so why not Chicago?" 

Lou Pinella and Jim Hendry are like a couple of high pressure salesman, and players are buying what they are selling.  They want people to know that the Cubs are serious about winning. Pinella is in the middle of all of this.  He is making calls to all the free agents on the Cubs radar.  "I’ve talked to a few of them, and the ones I haven’t, I leave nice messages," Piniella said.  Pinella and Hendry convinced Lilly that Chicago was the right choice, and continue to work on Seattle pitcher Gil Meche.
"I had a nice conversation with Gil and told him we thought Chicago would be a really nice place for him to pitch," Piniella said.
Lilly is the seventh free agent to sign with the Cubs this offseason, joining Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Mark DeRosa, Kerry Wood, Henry Blanco and Wade Miller.  There is still a lot of work to be done, but this is another victory for the Cubs.  Who would have thought that the Cubs could keep a guy from signing with the Yankees? 

I got a feeling that Hendry will be out of that hospital bed soon and will continue to add pieces to the 2007 Cubs.  The NL Central is so bad that it is there for the taking. There will be people complaining about this signing just as they did when the Cubs signed Soriano.  Me personally, I’m enjoy this off season more than any that I can remember.

Go get ‘em Jim! 

Wow, a day full of rumors with the Cubs in the middle of it all!  With the Cubs and the Trib Company throwing cash around, who knows what the Cubs are capable of doing!?  With all the signings, resignings, and question marks, the Cubs are all over the place.  Everyone knows they need pitching and that their outfield still needs to be put together. 

Pitching

First off, the pitching.  Hendry knows it’s a priority, saying "It’s imperative we get one [starter] at least.  In a perfect world, I can paint a scenario where it would be very good to get two if it was two from a group that we would prefer."  The Cubs are supposedly are serious candidates to sign Ted Lilly to a 4 year, 40 million dollar a year contract.  That’s ten million dollars a year for a guy with a career 59-58 record.  Yup, 10 million dollars a year for a pitcher with a life time .500 winning percentage.  Lilly’s agent, Larry O’Brien, was meeting with the Blue Jays late Monday and was to meet Tuesday with the Cubs, Giants and Yankees.  What a glorious time to be a mediocre pitcher or a sports agent!  The Cubs are still persuing Jason Schmidt and Gil Meche.Meche really wants to play for Lou Pinella again, but the Cubs are competing with the Royals!  No, I am not kidding, the Royals.  If Meche signs with the Royals over the Cubs for a few million more, he would be a fool.

Jacque Jones Trade Bait?

The Jacque Jones rumors are flying all over the place.  The rumor is that their may be a three- team trade that would involve the Cubs, Rockies, and Pirates  . Jones would go to the Rockies, Colorado starter Jason Jennings would come to Chicago, the Rockies trading outfielder Brad Hawpe, and Colorado getting Pittsburgh pitchers Paul Maholm and Tom Gorzelanny.  All though the possibilites of this trade going off is small, it would be a nice rebound for Hendry after signing Jones to that awful contract.

The Outfield

With Jones dangling as trade bait, the Cubs still don’t know who is going to play where in the outfield.  Julio Lugo has made it be known that he doesn’t have much interest in playing the outfield and would rather play shortstop.  Kenny Lofton’s name continues to get mentioned for a possible one year deal.  For some odd reason, Hendry continues with his Cliff Floyd obsession (yes I know that Hendry scouted Floyd before he made it to the pros).  Floyd has had numerous injuries and is coming off one of the worst years of his career.

Let’s see what Hendry can put together. 

He knows his job is on the line!

With the top free agent pitchers still unsigned, (Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt), the Cubs still have plenty of second tier pitchers that they are interested in. With the GM Winter Meetings next week in Orlando, Jim Hendry knows "We had a good run for a couple weeks. I’d feel a lot worse now if a lot more pitchers had gone off the wall and we didn’t have any. It’s an important two or three weeks [coming up]."

Most teams in baseball are in desperate need of pitching, and that would definitely include the Cubs.  That is why you are going to see very high contracts being paid for pitcher that are just average.  With the Cubs resigning Ramierz and adding Soriano, along with a healthy Derek Lee, the Cubs may just need a few average arms to go along with that high powered offense.  Hendry is looking to sign Schmidt, Ted Lilly, Gil Meche, and Jason Marquis. There are other free agents, like Greg Maddux, who the Cubs could sign but won’t because either the club is not interested in them or the pitcher is not interested in coming to Chicago.  Let’s take a look at the second tier pitchers that Hendry is looking at signing.

#1-Ted Lilly

Lilly’s agent, Larry O’Brien, said that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry had made an offer but that the two sides were not expected to finalize anything until they meet again in Orlando for the Winter Meetings next week. O’Brien said;

"We’re beyond just preliminary discussions.  We’ve had an offer and we’re considering coming back with maybe another counteroffer. I would say that I’m planning on meeting with Jim Hendry down in Orlando next week, but we’re also going to be meeting with J.P. Ricciardi with Toronto and a few other clubs.  With what Chicago has offered us, and some other conversations that we’re having with a few other clubs, I think that number is definitely achievable. Who knows, it might get richer than that."

For those people who are criticizing the Soriano signing, listen to what O’Brien has to say.

"One of Ted’s biggest priorities is to get with a club that he thinks he can help get to the postseason and win a World Series. With what the Cubs have done, Ted thinks they’re looking pretty good."

Lilly was 15-13 with a 4.31 ERA in 32 starts last season with the Toronto Blue Jays, striking out 160 over 181 2/3 innings. The left-hander has averaged 170 innings and 30 starts over the last four seasons, and his 15 wins last season is a career high. The Cubs are looking for a guy who can take the ball for 30 starts this season. 

Lilly does come with a little baggage, getting into a physical altercation with manager John Gibbons last season, but he may be the best of the average pitchers.

#2-Gil Meche

Meche has spent his career playing for Seattle, but has always been an underachiever.  Its been reported that Meche has more than 15 teams interested in his services and is said to be seeking at least $8 million annually.   Meche won 11 games last season, his most since winning 15 games in 2003. He made 32 starts and threw a career-high 186 2/3 innings. Meche was 8-4 and had a 3.83 ERA in the first half of the season, but went nine consecutive starts without a win in the second half and ended up with an 11-8 record with a 4.48 ERA.  Pinella managed Meche while the two were in Seattle.

#3-Jason Marquis

Marquis really had a down year last year.  Mulder went 14-16, leading the league in losses, and a 6.02 ERA.  When he came from Atlanta to St Louis three seasons ago, he was on fire, with a 15-7 record, then in 2005 had a 13-14 record, followed by this seasons 14-16 record.  He pitched over 200 inning in 2004 and 2005, and 194 in 2006.  He was so bad down the stretch though that he was left off the Cardinals playoff roster for the last two playoff series.  If St Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan couldn’t save this guy, do you have faith that Rothchild can turn things around?

Wrap Up

These are the three second tier pitchers that really seem to have Hendry’s  interest.  There are other pitchers, Miguel Bautista, Vincente Padilla, or Mark Redman, who could end up with the Cubs if none of the other three pan out.  With the pitching market thin and a lot of teams looking for starting pitchers, there will be a lot of competition for Meche and Lilly.  Whoever gets these guys will probably be overpaying, but that’s what happens when the supply does not meet the demand.  One thing is for certain.  The Cubs can’t afford to have sixteen different starting pitchers like they did in 2006.  They also had rookies start in eighty games, which is half of the seasons games.  It may be better to have proven starters, even if they overpay, they the pitching Russian Roulette that they had last year.