What he did: Between '05 and '06, he pitched in 115 games for the Cubs, all as a reliever. In 121 2/3 IP, he gave up 124 hits, with 100 K's, 57 BB's. He won 6, lost 7 and had a Cub career ERA of 4.29. He missed all of the '07 season following an off-season auto accident, in which he received head and shoulder injuries.

How we got him: Came to the Cubs from the Tigers along with Bo Flowers and Scott Moore in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth (2/9/05).

How we got rid of him: Claimed on waivers Tuesday by the Orioles, where he will join Moore, Corey Patterson, Paul Bako, Freddy Bynum, and Jon Leicester in Andy MacPhail's Land of Craptastic Ex-Cubs.

Good time: 8/30/06 at Pittsburgh; Novoa pitched to four Pirate hitters and fanned them all, including Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, and Jeromy Burnitz in succession.

Bad time: 7/7/05 at Atlanta. Entered the 8th inning of a game the Cubs were leading 4-3 and proceeded to give up three hits and three earned runs without recording an out. Andruw Jones's two-run homer was the killer. Cubs would go on to lose the game, 9-4.

Quote: "Give a player like that a pitch down the heart of the plate, and he doesn't miss it," said manager Dusty Baker after the aforementioned loss to the Braves and gopher ball to Jones.

Cub Epitaph: He threw the ball hard, sometimes over the plate. His best was a little above average; his worst was pretty terrible.