...shouldn't be mocking anyone else who is obviously starved for an idea.

But even after yesterday's feeble excuse for a creative thought, I can't help but mock one of the Cub blogosphere's favorite targets, Carrie Muskat, and some of her most recent output at cubs.com.

When a story begins, "Andy Pafko turns 86 in February..." you know you're in for a bumpy ride. It gets worse, as Carrie feels compelled to explain the origin of the Billy Goat Curse and point out that it's been a really, really long time since the Cubs won the World Series. Also, she quotes a 10-year-old and dredges up a bunch of John McDonough's deep thoughts from BACK IN OCTOBER(!), when McDonough was named Interim-Until-The-Team-Is-Sold-To-An-Owner-Who-Knows-Better President.

I hesitate to mess with the Enemies Of The Blog List since the season hasn't even started, but Carrie M., you're in my crosshairs.

Not all of the Cub reading today was so unsatisfying, however. Though it seems like just yesterday I was making light of the January Vineline, the February issue has now hit the streets...or at least the table in the lobby of my office from which I stole it on the way home this evening.

To be honest, I have always thought Vineline is more than respectable as far as house organs go. It's beautifully produced and a couple times, I've come across comments that could be construed as being critical of the team which the magazine is supposed to be pumping up.

This new issue focuses on the "Class of '07" and features brief profiles and ratings ("Best Pitching Mechanics"--'05 draft choice, RHP Scott Taylor; "Best Plate Discipline"--Class A outfielder Sam Fuld) of 50 Cub minor leaguers.

Jim McArdle, Vineline editor, writes about the Cubs' centerfield vacancy. As of mid-January, when the piece was written, McArdle was "uneasy" about an outfield with Murton in left, Jones in center, and Soriano in right. The thought of Soriano in center must be giving him dry heaves.

All in all, I think Vineline is $3.00 well spent.

Especially if you can steal it from your office.

...from the game's cockiest .221 hitter.

The Cardinals re-signed outfielder Preston Wilson to a one-year deal, and from a distance, it looks a lot like the Saint Louies were trying to reenact the Cubs' signing of Cliff Floyd:

The team adds a potentially helpful veteran bat, though actually playing the veteran could mean robbing an up-and-coming young player--in the Cards' case, Chris Duncan; in the Cubs' case, Matt Murton--of needed at bats.

For the Cardinals, Wilson, a righthanded hitter, is 32. Duncan, a lefthanded hitter is 25.

For the Cubs: Floyd, a lefthanded hitter, is 34. Murton, a righthanded hitter is 25.

That's about where the similarities end, however.

According to Tony LaRussa, Wilson, who can still run, will see playing time all over the St. Louis outfield, He'll share leftfield duty with Duncan, who could use a platoon partner (539 OPS against lefthanders in '06!); sub occasionally for the wellness-challenged Jim Edmonds in center; and fill in for Juan Encarnacion, who had off-season wrist surgery, in right.

As has been discussed here and elsewhere, the Floyd/Murton split is a little harder to figure. The fact is, Murton outhit Floyd against lefties (870 OPS vs. 631) and righties last year (782 OPS vs. 765), Murton is nine years younger, and of the two, only Murton is not coming off a major Achilles tendon injury.

Wilson and Floyd are both on the downsides of their careers. But from here, Wilson appears to be the better fit for his '07 team.

Here's the latest on the possible sale of Tribune Company. If you understand all of what you read, please write back and explain it.

The sentence that jumped out to me and which I assume would be of most interest to the average Cubs fan who doesn't happen to hold Tribune stock:

But other people with knowledge of management's thinking have said that the goal would likely be to take the company's newspapers private while spinning off the television stations and possibly the Cubs.

The plot thickens. Perhaps.

Today a Japanese friend emailed to report that his favorite team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, had hired Bill Buckner as a special Spring Training assistant to manager Bobby Valentine. He knew Buckner from The Error and wondered if I had any recollections of his time as a Cub.

I replied that I loved Buckner when he played here and have never forgotten the stories of how he would spend hours in the Wrigley Field trainer's room before each game, having his feet and ankles taped so he could hobble out to first base. I also said I regretted the way the national media had so dwelled on the World Series error that it was the only aspect of Buckner's career that many fans ever connected to him.

My friend misunderstood my point and immediately wrote back, apologizing profusely for having denigrated one of my boyhood heroes and for not having known more about him. I explained that his apology was quite unnecessary and that I was really talking about the negative press that has hounded Buckner ever since that fateful night in Shea Stadium.

Anyway, the whole exchange struck me as pretty funny, and I shared it with a co-worker, who I knew to be a former college baseball player and an avid fan. Turns out that my co-worker had a Bill Buckner story of his own:

Mike is from Chicago's western suburbs, and he went to school with the children of former Sox third baseman, Eric Soderholm. In the short time that Buckner was the White Sox' hitting coach, Billy Buck spent a lot of time at Soderholm's house.

One afternoon, another childhood buddy of Mike's happened to be in the Soderholm house at the same time as Buckner. In fact, the two guys found themselves sitting together on the sofa, making small talk and watching ESPN.

At some point, the baseball highlights came on. Mike's friend glanced over at the set just in time to catch a replay of some first baseman booting a routine ground ball and costing his team the winning run. The announcer delivered the killing voiceover. "That was Buckner-esque."

Mike's friend couldn't bring himself to look in Buckner's direction, let alone say anything. Finally, he peeked over. Buckner just looked at the floor, shaking his head.

I've been meaning to link to this story for awhile, but other things got in the way. Anyhow, Jerry Crasnick at espn.com produced a list of possible successors to Commissioner Bud Selig, who has said he will vacate his throne in 2009.There at the top of Crasnick's list is a familiar, bespectacled face. Crasnick writes:

Folks in Chicago don't look so fondly on MacPhail, who stepped down in September after two playoff appearances in 12 years as Cubs president. Amid the doleful postmortems, he went to work as a pivotal player in baseball's labor negotiations -- doing enough to earn a seat at the table when the new five-year deal was announced during the World Series.

MacPhail's father and grandfather are Hall of Fame executives, so he has the historical pedigree. And while the players' association respects him for his sensible and dogged approach to collective bargaining, he has experience running a small-market club in Minnesota and a bigger one in Chicago. His front-office colleagues in Minnesota still talk about him in almost worshipful tones.

Most important, MacPhail is not a self-promoter, and Selig has a high regard for him. Don't discount that as a factor.

I have no particular thoughts about this. Other than being offended by his friendship with the Shopping Mall King, I've never been particularly bothered by Selig. I hate interleague play and the forced significance MLB has attached to the All-Star game, but those weren't Selig's ideas alone; he is just the mouthpiece.

The owners long ago stripped the Commissioner's office of any real power, and I guess MacPhail could play the role of empty suit as well as anybody. As with Selig, I don't despise the guy the way many other people around here do.

I just wish he had remembered to pack his genius pills when he moved down from Minneapolis.

I had just sat down to write about what an uneventful day it had been in the Land of Ivy & Broken Dreams. Then I hopped over to cubs.com and read that Cliff Floyd is no longer an Almost Cub.

I like the addition of a decent, lefthanded bench to the roster--Floyd's career: .359 OBP, 120 OPS+--especially if it enables the Cubs to move Jacque Jones. What bothers me a ton is the possibility that Matt Murton's playing time just got cut in half.

On the one hand, Manager Lou is on the record acknowledging that Murton is a terrific prospect who needs to be on the field. Then I read about Jim Hendry's excitement at seeing a lineup of Floyd, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez, and all of a sudden, it seems that Hendry, at least, sees the new Cub as a lot more than a valuable spare part. (Also, I find the fact that Floyd, who played for Hendry at Creighton, stills refers to the Cub GM as "Coach" kind of creepy.)

Now that my blood is up, I should also point out that the Cubs have fired up the big hypnosis machine to help them convince anyone who will listen that playing Alfonso Soriano in centerfield is a good idea. (Look--the hypnosis machine is working!)

I hope it's all some sort of smoke screen for their real plan. If not, I hope the Cubs see the folly in playing a butcher out of position; that they trade Jacque Jones and bring in a professional centerfielder.

Hendry has done a great deal of work this off-season. It seems to me he still has some work ahead of him.

Oh, yeah, one other thing: the devil is interested in buying part of the Tribune.

In a lawyer's office somewhere, Cliff is bent over the contract, pen in hand. He has long dreamed of playing for his hometown Cubs, and he wants the flourish of his signature to reflect the depth of his desire. He labors over the turns and twists of each letter in his name with a concentration that would have given Michelangelo a migraine.

Floyd began the signing process Monday morning, when the Associated Press first reported that his Cubdom was imminent. Scribing the capital "C" consumed most of the morning. Following a light lunch, the veteran outfielder picked up speed, knocking off the "l," "i," and the first "f" before nightfall, at which point all agreed that Floyd should retire for the evening lest he risk injury or, owing to fatigue, a less than elegant signature.

Seriously.

Only the deadly quiet on the Cub front could explain why SO much attention is being paid to Floyd's POSSIBLY joining the team. As for his ability to contribute in '07 after an injury-riddled '06, The Hardball Times, relying on Tangotiger's Marcels projections, pegs Floyd for a 792 OPS with 18 HRs and 62 RBI in 451 plate appearances in the season ahead. Not terrible, though obviously, those numbers hinge on Floyd being a full-timer instead of Matt Murton's platoon partner, which would be his logical role on the North Side.

At the Cub Convention, Manager Lou talked about the importance of getting Murton lots of at bats. But if Piniella really does have platooning on the brain, Murton, facing lefties, would get a fraction of the number of chances that Floyd would facing righties. (Last year, for instance, Cub batters had 1,593 ABs against southpaws; 3,994 against northpaws.)

Of course, it's all moot until Cliff actually signs the deal. If and when he does, you shouldn't have any trouble getting the news.

Just because the senator from Kansas has announced his interest in becoming the most powerful man on earth, that doesn't necessarily mean it would be a good idea for the rest of us to enable it. Which brings me to this delightfully ridiculous and borderline upsetting development from the Cubs Convention:

Alfonso Soriano saying on Friday night that he's interested in playing centerfield, followed on Saturday by Lou Piniella saying, "Now that he's mentioned it, it makes a lot of sense."

Per this story by Carrie Muskat at cubs.com, Piniella only talked to Soriano about playing leftfield or right during the recruiting period back in November. Muskat writes that Piniella wanted to talk to Soriano about playing centerfield privately and only after the new Cub was in Mesa for Spring Training. Soriano's public expression of willingness to play center changed the master plan and allowed Piniella to address the matter with press.

Here's what I'm wondering:

If it's a good idea now to teach Soriano how to play centerfield, wasn't it a good idea back in November? And if it was a good idea back then, why wouldn't the Cubs have raised the issue during the recruiting process to make sure Soriano was onboard with it? (Have you forgotten about this?!) Or is it only a good idea because Soriano is agreeable?

Heaven forbid it's the latter, because that would be...well, asinine. Also it would suggest the Cubs had signed Soriano and invested a great deal of money filling other holes on the roster without a real plan for how they were going to man the outfield and flesh out their everyday lineup.

Here's another, positive take on the whole situation:

The Cubs aren't really thinking about having Soriano play centerfield or even rightfield. They realize there's risk enough in having a starting leftfielder who's just one season removed from playing secondbase (and playing it badly). What they're actually trying to do is let the rest of the baseball universe know they can fill their centerfield hole just beautifully, all by themselves, thank you. So if you Washington Nationals, for instance, are thinking of holding us up before you would part with Ryan Church, say, you can just forget it. And Darin Erstad and Steve Finley--you guys and those sleazy agents you hang around with better be paying attention, too, just in case you think you're going to back us into a corner and squeeze us for a few million more than you really deserve.

Yeah, that must be what they're thinking.


Post-Convention postscript: If you were unable to make it over to the Cubs Convention or if, as with me, the thought made you physically ill, there's a nice recap of what transpired at the Chicago Hilton and Towers over at The Cub Reporter. The piece is by dedicated TCR poster, mannytrillo.

And no, I didn't forget to acknowledge how little I know about football. I took as much joy in the Bears' victory Sunday as someone who actually believed in the team all season long. I think Rex Grossman is an average quarterback at best, but if the Bears defense can come up with another inspired effort and pry a few more turnovers out of the Colts, an average quarterback might be all the Bears need to win.

I’ve been to one Cubs Convention in my life, four years ago. At the time, the Cubs were a client of the company I work for (that makes three client mentions in two days), the passes were free, and the Cubs strongly encouraged me and my co-workers to attend since the Convention is such a rare opportunity to see all of the most wild Cub fans in a native habitat.

It was fascinating to watch the Cubs people describe the conventioneers, with a mix of admiration, fascination, amusement, and contempt. In their eyes, many of the fans were foregoing other vacations during the year so they could afford the three-day passes, two nights lodging at the Hilton, and however many broken Ted Sizemore bats or game-worn Jody Davis socks they wound up buying from the souvenir sellers.

“It’s just amazing,” one of the Cubs front office guys explained to us. “(The fans) show up for two nights, and their luggage carts are filled up to the roof. Plus, they’re walking through the lobby of the Hilton, this nice hotel, and they’re carting around toaster ovens they’ve brought from home! You’d think they’re moving into the place.”

The Cubs staff also marveled at the fans’ ability to sniff out anyone who ever wore the blue jersey. They described the frenzy that could be set loose on a crowded elevator as whispers spread that Tarzan Joe Wallis or Luis Salazar had just boarded the car.

Anyway, I went to the Convention on a Saturday morning, and I would say my expectations were met. At the time, my sons were fairly young for that kind of event (9 and 7), and we only stayed a few hours. The highlight was walking through a magnificent traveling exhibit from the Baseball Hall of Fame that featured dozens of actual artifacts from throughout the game’s history. I recall a Babe Ruth jersey, a Ty Cobb bat and a number of pieces that dated back to Honus Wagner. At no point during our time in that exhibit were there more than five people, including the three of us. That’s about 2% of the crowd we later saw waiting in line for Milt Pappas’ autograph.

I’m sure most of the Cub blogs and Web sites will have coverage of this weekend’s convention, if not reports from people who actually attended. I will be content to experience the convention through their eyes and ears.

If I ever get really, really desperate to have Augie Ojeda sign a baseball for me, I figure I can always go on eBay.

Well, almost no one.

Tribune Company received just two bids from prospective buyers, bids characterized as "tepid" in Crain's Chicago Business, at today's deadline. Based on the amounts offered, it seems that neither of the parties was terribly excited about what the Trib was selling: the whole company-- newspapers, tv stations, cable properties, online interests and the Cubs--all wrapped up in one big, financially unattractive ball. (The Chandler Trusts, one of the bidders and Tribco's largest stockholder, would hold onto the newspapers and spin off everything else.)

Tribune Company's Board of Directors is supposed to determine its next steps in a meeting Saturday. An analysis I heard this evening suggested it's likely the board will walk away from both of the bids. That could by followed by the company's selling off the individual assets, including the Cubs.

This article, headlined "Lukewarm Tribune bid encourage Cubs suitors," identifies two of those would-be suitors as Chicago businessman Jim Anixter, and industrialist Thomas Begel.

Anixter is part of an investor group that includes former Illinois State Senator William Marovitz and Don Levin, who owns the hugely successful Chicago Wolves AHL hockey team. (Coincidentally, both Anixter and Levin were clients of a company I used to work for; I believe that entitles me to free Field Box seats for life if they wind up with the team.) Begel leads a group of 15 investors he wouldn't identify.

Nowhere in the article is Mark Cuban mentioned, but I'm still holding out hope.

More than one expert has said it wasn't free agency that turned baseball's economics inside out and upside down; it was the owners' agreeing years ago to a system of salary arbitration.

With that in mind, I took a long look at the chart appearing in Wednesday's Chicago Tribune. It listed the 56 unsigned, arbitration-eligible players, their '06 salaries, '07 asking prices and the clubs' offers.

Of course, around here, the big arbitration-related news was that Carlos Zambrano is looking for $15.5 million in '07, an $8.85 million, 133% bump over his '06 salary. (The Cubs are offering a little over $11 million.) But Zambrano is an established star on the verge of free agency and what that in mind, the numbers are a little less breathtaking.

Here are some of the more breathtaking numbers:

On average, each of the 56 arb-eligible players earned about $1.35 million last season.

On average, each player is seeking a raise to $3.3 million (a 144% increase).

On average, the players' clubs are offering salaries of $2.51 million (an 86% increase).

If the players and their teams settled in all 56 cases on a salary halfway between the asking and offered prices--a strategy the Cubs have employed for years to successfully stay out of any actual arbitration hearings--their average '07 pay would still rise to around $2.91 million per man--a 116% increase over '06.

Along with the fact that Josh Paul is asking the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for a 98% raise to $940k a year, that just blows me away.

From Gus Schrader's "Red Peppers" column, Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, January 16, 1962:

The poor Cubs took such a ribbing at the Chicago Baseball Writers Association banquet Sunday night that even we felt sorry for them.

The north-siders were ably represented by El Tappe...the current "head coach" of the revolving Cub staff--a kind of baseball "queen for a day." Even Tappe couldn't resist being funny about his charges.

"You know, one of the things we Cub coaches try to teach our players is to be respectful. And I think we succeeded last year.

"A team came to town last season with a player who had collected 2,999 hits in his major league career. He needed one more to reach 3,000, and we were kind enough to let him attain that mark right here in Chicago."

John Carmichael , the Chicago Daily News sports editor who did a masterful job as toastmaster, added this comment: "It's about time the Cubs quit building character and went out and won some games."

News From Early Today: Having determined that what their roster lacked was a scandal-tainted prima donna, the Rangers may have found exactly what they were looking for.

Carrie Muskat's answers to these questions appear in today's Cub Mailbag. My answers appear below.


You still list center field as empty on the depth chart. Does this mean you expect the Cubs to either sign another player, such as Cliff Floyd, or give the job to Felix Pie? In an earlier update, you said Matt Murton is going to start a majority of games, even if they sign Floyd. If Pie is not ready and no one else is signed, will the outfield be Murton in left, Jacque Jones in center and Alfonso Soriano in right? I know this is no Gold Glove outfield, but why would the Cubs not be satisfied with this outfield lineup?-- Billy E.

First of all, Billy, you've confused me with someone else, someone who does depth charts. Last week on Chicago radio, Jim Hendry all but declared the outfield situation won't be settled until the Cubs have made more personnel moves. Murton, Jones and Soriano sounds okay to me, and I imagine it will sound okay to the Cubs, assuming there are no other bodies in the mix. Pie hit .216 in winter ball, plus there's that Corey Patterson thing hanging over everybody's head. Short of Pie hitting .400 and playing a flawless centerfield, it's hard to imagine how he could win the starting job coming out of Spring Training.

With the addition of Cesar Izturis, what will happen to Cedeno?-- Tyler F.

He'll be summering in Des Moines.

I've been hearing a lot about this arbitration stuff. What is salary arbitration? Why would a player file for arbitration? How can they benefit?-- Kevin B.

Kevin, your questions bother me. A lot. Major League players and their agents and their lawyers and their lawyers' lawyers and their financial advisors are only in this game for one reason: because they love it. I don't understand why fans always insist on making it about the dollars and cents. Please don't write me again.

Do you see any surprises coming out of Spring Training? Can someone unexpected make the team? I was thinking about Eric Patterson.-- Ron L.

E Pat is a promising player, but it wouldn't make sense for the Cubs to bring him north so he could sit on the bench at Wrigley Field. It will be interesting to see if Mark DeRosa can play second base to Piniella’s satisfaction. If he can’t, Ryan Theriot would seem to be the best Option B. Though supremely athletic, Patterson still swings and misses too much and runs into too many outs as a base-stealer.

My question is about Casey McGehee. I've seen him play through the winter, and it seems that he could be in the Majors. I read that the Cubs are inviting him to Spring Training, and I wanted to know what possibilities he has?-- Cesar T.

Now that the Cubs don’t expect to be third baseman-shopping for at least another $73 million, it seems fortuitous they have been moving McGehee, a 2005 Southern League All-Star third baseman at West Tennessee, all around the infield, even giving him time behind the plate this winter in the Mexican Pacific League. If he continues to build off last season at Iowa, he could develop into a valuable commodity: a utility player with some sock.

How can it be that "The Hawk" is not already in the Hall of Fame? In a time where ethics are a major question in baseball, Andre Dawson should be recognized and embraced for his high morals and pure dedication to the game. It's a shame the voters don't realize this.-- Justin D.

Sorry, Justin. When I first read your question, I assumed you were lobbying for Hawk Harrelson. It upset me and now I can’t continue. Try again next month.

The Tribune finally got around Friday to acknowledging the effect Barry Zito's tragicomic contract will have on Carlos Zambrano's asking price. (Wait a minute--that means the World's Greatest Newspaper got scooped by A Hundred Next Years not once, but twice! That must make this the World's Greatest...well, something.)

I'm surprised the Trib expended the column inches on the non-story Cubs story, what with the fate of civilization resting on the outcome of Sunday's Bears/Seahawks game.

For some time, I've been thinking about a Cubs vs. Bears post, and since the Bears' season could end in less than 48 hours, I better get to it.

First of all, I ceased to be much of a football fan around the time every player started preening and strutting every time he did anything. Maybe because now I have a little more emotional distance from it, I can fully appreciate the insanity of Bears fans.

I don't mean the face-painting, team license plates, love-'em-through-thick-and-thin kind of insane. I mean the legally incompetent, lacking reason, psychiatric disorder kind of insane.

Within just a few weeks this season, Bear fans went from guessing who the Bears would humiliate in the Super Bowl to imagining how Lovie Smith would look to them after his teams had suffered back-to-back, one-game playoff exits.

As best I can tell from reading the papers and listening to the wackos who populate sportstalk radio, the town is fully prepared to watch Rex Grossman lead the Bears right into the off-season. The defense is now seen as being mortally wounded since the season-ending injuries to Mike Brown and Tommie Harris. And somewhere along the way--probably around 3:15 p.m. Sunday afternoon if the Bears lose--we'll be hearing that Smith, while a good coach, lacks the fire (read: Ditka qualities) to motivate a team in the highly charged, win-or-go-home atmosphere of the NFL playoffs. There will be more. In fact, there's no bus big enough to accommodate all the characters who will be thrown beneath it by the furious Bear fans.

Are Cub fans any different? I think so, in this regard:

When the Cubs are actually contenders, I believe Cub fans, despite all the disappointments of the past five generations, genuinely hope with all their hearts. There is little talk about who should be lined up for crucifixion until the failure is complete.

Bear fans, on the other hand, seem to be able to switch from buoyant confidence to blinding rage in less time than it takes a marginal quarterback throwing off his back foot to have an interception returned for a touchdown.

Maybe it's the nature of baseball vs. football.

Maybe it's how much more alcohol football fans put away during a game. I'm guessing we're about a day and a a half away from seeing Bear fans at their frothing-at-the-mouth worst.

Uneducated prediction: Seahawks, 27; Bears, 16.

Things must be awfully slow at mlb.com for them to lead with an item like this:

Who could have predicted that Ronny Cedeno, the Cubs' light-hitting shortstop, would be third in home runs and tied for first in RBIs in the Venezuelan Winter League playoffs? Cedeno, who had two homers in 39 regular-season games for the Tigres de Aragua, already has gone deep twice in the playoffs and has six RBIs and five runs scored in seven games.

To me, the only news here is that after just one full season in the bigs, Cedeno has already earned the appellation, "light-hitting shortstop."

...who dates this girl who has a brother who is a hot pitching prospect for the Phillies and who has been invited to Spring Training. The guy I know--let's call him "Steve," since that happens to be his name--was telling me the other day how excited the kid is to be going to Spring Training and that the kid's family is beside themselves with joy and planning to be down in Florida as much as they can, watching their boy try to pitch his way into the Major Leagues.

I share that because I've never personally known a professional athlete, and it was fascinating to hear Steve talk about this young pitcher as if he were a three-dimensional human being with a mother and a father and a sister and aspirations and fears just like other people, which, of course, he is.

It made me realize that, though I'm long past the baseball card-collecting years, I still relate to these players as if they're nothing more than snapshots glued to pieces of cardboard. In honor of this epiphany, I hereby pledge to say nothing caustic about the 16 non-roster Cub players who, like my friend's girlfriend's brother, were invited earlier this week to Spring Training.

Here are the 16:

Pitchers Jason Anderson, Sean Gallagher, Adam Harben, Ben Howard, Ryan O'Malley, Carmen Pignatiello, Les Walrond, John Webb, and Randy Wells; catchers Jake Fox and Koyie Hill; infielders Mike Kinkade, Casey McGehee, and Eric Patterson; and outfielders Tyler Colvin and Chris Walker.

O'Malley and Walrond, of course, played with the big club last year. Among the others, the names of Gallagher, Patterson and Colvin stood out to me because they appeared on the Top 10 Cub Prospects list Baseball Prospectus ran back in November, a list I believe I've plagiarized about four times now.

Here goes five:

Of Gallagher, #3 on the list, BP's Kevin Goldstein writes, "(He) has a 91-93 mph fastball, and with his hard, biting breaking ball, he has two plus pitches." On the other hand, Goldstein points out that Gallagher struggled last year with his control and his change-up is "no better than average."

The speedy Patterson, a secondbaseman and the #4-rated prospect, is Corey's younger brother. He stole 46 bases between AA and AAA in '06. Goldstein characterizes him as an "athletic second baseman with leadoff tools and skills, hitting for average, drawing walks, and utilizing his plus-plus speed on the base paths. Fundamentally sound defender with dependable hands and arm."

Colvin, finally, is #5 on the BP list and was the Cubs' #1 draft pick in '06 out of Clemson. He put together a .268/.313/.483 year at short-season Boise in just under 300 at-bats. Goldstein says in a perfect world, Colvin will grow into "a corner outfielder with 20/20 potential, maybe even 30 home runs."

I'm sure all of the players' parents are very proud of them. As they should be.

Most of this Crain's Chicago Business article was completely over my head, but I believe I've grasped the essence of it:

Potential buyers of Tribune Company aren't exactly clawing at each other to get to the head of the line. As a matter of fact, they haven't even materialized.

According to the piece, buyout firms are staying away because of the generally depressed state of the traditional media business and a dramatic fall-off in the Trib's advertising revenue.

If bids, which are due in March, come in low or not at all, the company might have to consider spinning off and selling individual properties: the tv stations, the newspapers, and, I would have to guess, the Chicago National League Ballclub.

I think the upshot of this is that an individual, either by himself or as the front man for a group of investors, could purchase the team directly from Tribune Company.

I have a picture in my mind. In it, Mark Cuban is sitting directly behind the Cubs dugout, wearing an Alfonso Soriano jersey. And the only time the words "Chicago Tribune" are seen or spoken in Wrigley Field is when they buy an ad on the centerfield message board, just like everybody else.


Note: John Kass offers an unfortunately sympathetic column about WSCR's Mike North in the Wednesday Tribune. North, the subject of Tuesday's post, reiterates how sorry he is for having called Jae Kuk Ryu "a Chinaman."

(I forgot to mention yesterday that in addition to being a dimwit and a rumor-monger, North is also a practicing bigot.)

Jim Hendry submitted himself to 20 minutes of inarticulate grilling on this morning's Mike North radio show.

For those outside of the area, North is a Chicago native and former hot dog vendor who auditioned for, and won, a slot as one of the original show hosts when all-sports WSCR went on the air 15 years ago. He has always positioned himself as "one of the fans," a regular guy who's not afraid to flaunt his Chi-CAH-go accent or ask tough questions.

In fact, North confuses "non-professional broadcaster" with simply being unprofessional. He regularly advances vicious, unsubstantiated rumors (during the Hendry interview, he alluded to "talk" that Mark DeRosa has benefited from performance-enhancing drugs; Hendry let North ramble on without commenting) and his so-called tough questions tend to be indelicate, poorly masqueraded character assassinations of whomever he's interviewing.

In any case, North has a small but loyal audience and Tuesday, Hendry was apparently persuaded there was some value in addressing it.

Let the paraphrasing begin...

On how he's feeling:
Hendry said he feels great.

On why the Cubs signed DeRosa instead of handing the secondbase job to Ryan Theriot:
Hendry said DeRosa is known to be "a great team guy" and "a winner." He thinks DeRosa could be one of those hitters who "actually gets better in the second half of his career" and that his versatility will suit the team well. Hendry also said that Theriot will definitely have a place on the Cubs and that he, too, is capable of playing several positions well.

On using Kerry Wood as a closer and not just as another middle relief guy:
"That will sort itself out," Hendry said. He believes Ryan Dempster will rediscover whatever it was he lost last year and that he and Wood will both be big contributors in the Cub bullpen.

On who will be in the Cub outfield:
Hendry said that remains an open question, that there might be more acquisitions before Opening Day (think Cliff Floyd, hope Ryan Church).

On Ronny Cedeno being "ruined" (North's word) by having to learn secondbase after starting the year as the #1 shortstop:
Hendry said Cedeno was not ruined, but he'll "have to win a job in camp" after his miserable '06 season. Hendry also suggested that at his young age, Cedeno is "not going to get buried in the organization." (Sounds like somebody needs to do some apartment-hunting in Des Moines.)

On Mark Prior:
Hendry is "optimistic" Prior will be a factor in '07, but feels the team has covered itself in case he isn't healthy. About reports cited by North that Prior's fastball is topping out at 87 or 88 mph, Hendry said, "Well, he hasn't thrown with the (radar) gun at all, so I don't know where you're getting that from." North must not have known where he got that from, since he didn't press the issue.

On signing Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis:
Hendry said the Cubs' off-season plan was to add one lefty and one righty, and since he quickly deduced that Barry Zito would be looking for a longer contract than the Cubs were comfortable offering, he knew the team would have to look elsewhere (i.e., Lilly). Hendry also said the Cubs had looked into trading for veteran pitching before going the free agent route, but teams were demanding three or four of the Cubs' best prospects, which he wasn't interested in giving up.

Finally, on re-signing Carlos Zambrano:
Hendry said he and Z's agent will begin talks "in the next couple weeks" in hopes of eventually agreeing on a deal before the end of the season.

All in all, Hendry had a lot to offer, and the interrogation was probably not unlike what he and others in the Cubs front office will face from the ragged cast of characters who are sure to show up at the Cub Convention.

We'll see.

(Yes, it's spelled correctly. I double-checked.)

The interest in Jeff Samardzija's answer to the $7.25 million question--Cubs or NFL?--largely overlooks one thing:

There's serious reason to wonder if the guy is going to be any good.

Per Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus:

Baseball is still secondary to football, so he's raw; control, location, and breaking ball all lag behind; a straightforward delivery makes him more of a thrower than a pitcher at this point; commitment to waiting for the NFL Draft means he won't play first full season until he's 23.

Samardzija, who pitched well last year (2.37 ERA at Short-season Boise), was the second early-round draft pick from Notre Dame taken by the Cubs in the last two seasons. The other, Grant Johnson, was 7-5 with a 4.70 ERA (108 hits, 92 IP, 56K, 38BB) at Class A Daytona.

Considering that Samardzija had already established himself as a solid football prospect but only a questionable pitching prospect before last year's amateur draft, it's hard to understand the Cubs' rabid enthusiasm for him: the expenditure of a high draft pick, plus the record bonus he'll receive for bypassing the NFL.

Now the Cubs are facing the possibility that Samardzija, who by all accounts would need lots of seasoning before he's remotely ready to pitch in Wrigley Field, will try to play baseball and football, thus complicating his life and his schedule and almost certainly retarding his development as a pitcher.

If he goes ahead and plays both sports professionally, however, it will provide an interesting study in which is more injurious to the health of an able-bodied, young athlete:

A helmet-on-bone hit from a bloodthirsty NFL cornerback or a couple years of the Cubs' fitness regimen.

I spent Saturday morning taking apart the Christmas tree and listening to sportstalk radio. (Might be a country song or a Gary Larson cartoon in there.)

Anyway, most interesting to hear was Bruce Levine on WMVP, who says the Cubs haven't given up on signing Cliff Floyd, but are just waiting until they've done something with, about, or to Jacque Jones.

Levine also said the Cubs are looking at outfielder Ryan Church of Washington. In his brief career with the Expos/Nationals, Church has played 73 games in centerfield, 65 in leftfield and 41 in right, and he's made just two errors in three years while showing good range.

Offensively, he's coming off a season in which he hit .276 with a line (OBP/SLG/OPS) of .366/.526/892 and 10 HRs and 35 RBI in 196 AB.

All in all, he looks like an attractive commodity: a lefthanded hitter who gets on base, can hit with power, and seems to be competent at all three outfield postions. Levine said the Nationals would be looking for young pitchers in return.

If they're looking for young pitchers who may or may not be capable, we could have a deal.

mlb.com reports that White Sox shortstop, Jose Uribe--he of the miraculous, over-the-shoulder, foul ball snag in the '05 World Series--said he might have to miss the '07 season to attend "twice monthly" court appearances in the Dominican Republic, related to a shooting incident involving Uribe and his brother in mid-October. At minimum, Uribe expects to miss the beginning of Spring Training.

Last year, Uribe hit .235, struck out 82 times and walked 13.

cubs.com reports that through 39 games in the Venezuelan Winter League, (Iowa?) Cubs shorstop, Ronny Cedeno, was hitting .226 with 2 home runs and 17 RBI.

Last year, Cedeno hit .245, struck out 109 times and walked 17.

Similar to Uribe, minus the reckless gunplay.

Cubbie Curmudgeon also has an interesting take on the Cubs' shortstop situation with Cesar Izturis in the picture.

*David Newhan, a three-position outfielder who spent the last three seasons with the Orioles, is close to signing with the Mets. (That is according to si.com.) The 32-year-old Newhan told a Baltimore newspaper last week that he was likely to sign with either the Mets or the Cubs.

*Also at si.com, Jon Heyman suggests the Cubs might be 20 wins better in '07 thanks to all of the off-season moves and the return of Derrek Lee for a full season. Heyman also theorizes that Carlos Zambrano is likely to wind up with a $150 million contract assuming he pitches to form this season.

*Finally, the 2007 Cub Fan Convention is now just 16 days away. Important note to attendees: just because Mike Bielecki, Jay Johnstone, Tim Stoddard and Gary Varsho showed up last year, don't have your hearts set on seeing them this time.

In two years, the Cubs will be joined in the Cactus League by the Dodgers, who will be relocating their Spring Training Base from Vero Beach, Florida, where they've trained since 1948. The Dodgers will share a new facility in Glendale, Arizona with the White Sox, assuming the Sox can find replacement tenants for their current Spring Training base in lovely but remote Tucson.

(Watch how Jerry Reinsdorf, the old real estate tycoon, bamboozles the Reds or Twins into believing Tucson is just 15 minutes south of Phoenix!)

As for poor Vero Beach, local entrepreneurs are already advancing proposals for redeveloping Dodgertown. As reported by the Indian River Press Journal, here are the early submissions:

*A motorcycyle speedway. Two tracks staging week-long events, 25 weeks a year.

*"Shakespearia." Shakespeare-based theme park with three theaters-in-the-round. Park would simulate London in the 16th century.

*"Field of Dreams" residential village with a baseball park, "like Cooperstown of the South."

*National Club Baseball Association facility. Would host national collegiate club baseball events.

Interestingly, so far no Major League team has inquired about moving into Dodgertown.

What better way to greet the new year than with the inaugural "Enemies of the Blog" list!

In reverse order, so as to create maximum suspense:

#5. Mookie Wilson. Three strikes against Mookie: 1.) Stupid nickname. Unforgiveable. 2.) Will forever be identified as a New York Met. Again, unforgiveable, and 3.) Just HAD to hit the groundball that dribbled between Bill Buckner's battle-ravaged legs, instantly turning a great player and outstanding former Cub into a punchline. I hope you can live with yourself, William Hayward Wilson.

#4. "walk-off homer," "front of the rotation," "middle of the rotation," "back of the rotation," "innings eater," "shut-down reliever," "manufacturing runs," et al. A whole new class of baseball cliches that have emerged in the age of ESPN's Baseball Tonight and spread faster than rumors about the details of Harold Reynolds' sexual harassment suit. In the old days, we had the "staff ace," "game-winning home run," and simply "reliever," and it was good enough for us. We liked it. We loved it.

#3. Wavin' Wendell Kim. Two years after the end of his murderous reign of terror in the third base coach's box, Cub fans are still haunted by the sight of The Hawaiian Windmill imploring Aramis Ramirez to race for the plate in his first game back after a severe groin injury. Dusty Baker did more imbecilic things than bring his old pal along from San Francisco to coach third...but not many.

#2. Jerry Reinsdorf. The combover-wearing, former shopping mall developer has quite a baseball resume. It includes blackmailing then-Illinois governor James Thompson into building the White Sox a free stadium and forcing the 1994 players strike. Reinsdorf has always reminded me of Mr. Potter from "It's A Wonderful Life." Only surlier.

And now, the #1 Enemy Of The Blog (at least for the time being)...

#1. Milo Hamilton. Hack play-by-play man who, while working in Atlanta, delivered the famously pedestrian call of Hank Aaron's 715th home run. Several years later, he joined the Cubs, aspiring to replace Jack Brickhouse as WGN's lead announcer, only to have his plans and entire sense of self upended by one Harry Caray. Seemingly growing more embittered by the year, Milo still works for the Houston Astros, which says a lot about the pool of broadcasting talent in Houston.