Former Cub, Jeff Fassero, cut by the Giants last May, officially announced Friday night what the National League had known for a long time:

He was done.

The Springfield, Illinois native debuted for the Cubs in 2001 and started in fine fashion. By April 21st, when he struck out John Wehner to preserve a 4-3 Cubs victory at Pittsburgh, he had saved 9 of the team's first 12 wins.

Fassero, 38 years old at the time, would earn only 3 more saves over the remaining 145 games of the '01 season. (By early May, Tom Gordon had recovered sufficiently from elbow surgery to assume the closer's role.) In all, Fassero finished the year with a 3.42 ERA, with 79 K's and 23 BB's in 73 2/3 inning pitched. Not a bad season.

The lefty wore Cubbie blue until August of '02, when he was traded to St. Louis. He stayed with the Cardinals through '03, pitched for the Rockies and the Diamondbacks in '04, and for the Giants the past two years. Last season, he compiled a 7.80 ERA--Is "compiled" even the right word when your ERA is nearly 8.00?--giving up 23 hits and 8 walks in just 15 innings. Remarkably, the Giants actually let Fassero start a game last April, an ugly 4-inning, 7-hit, 4-run outing at Arizona.

Over 16 Major League seasons, Fassero won 121 games and lost 124, with 1643 K's and 724 BB's in more than 2,000 innings.