This is a wonderful blog. I happened upon it about a year ago and thought it was great, though I haven't been back since that first time (no reason in particular).

Anyway, I felt sick to my stomach when it was pointed out to me how similar the title of my nascent series of Cub profiles was to "Cardboard Gods." The similarity was purely unintentional, but I'm going to change the title of my series out of respect for Josh Wilker, who got there first and, as I said, does a fabulous job.

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I have a post up at The Cub Reporter regarding Andre Dawson's Hall of Fame candidacy, Lloyd McClendon's inability to hit in the clutch and John McDonough's general lack of imagination, with a Brady Bunch reference to boot.

My writing schedule may be spotty over the next week. If this is indeed my last post of 2007, I would like to wish everyone who reads A Hundred Next Years--the tens and tens of you--a Happy New Year.

...an occasional series wherein I raid my kids' baseball card collections and profile a one-time Chicago Cub.

Today we train our sights on a selection from the 2000 Victory card series.

Who: Henry Rodriguez, Leftfielder, 1998-2000

How The Cubs Got Him: In a trade with the Expos on December 12, 1997 for righthanded pitcher Miguel Batista. After going .251/.334/.530 with 31 HR and 85 RBI in '98, Rodriguez became a free agent, and the Cubs eagerly re-signed him.

What He Did While They Had Him: "H-Rod," as nobody ever called him, appeared in a total of 334 games as a Cub, hitting .272 with 75 HR and 223 RBI over his two-and-a-half seasons on the North Side. When Ed Lynch traded for him, he did so to bolster the Cub offense and provide some batting order protection for Sammy Sosa. Rodriguez mostly did what he was brought to Chicago to do, delivering OPS+ figures of 121, 134, and 110 for the Cubs. As a fielder he was relatively sure-handed; his range varied from little to you've-got-to-be-kidding.

How The Cubs Got Rid Of Him: In a July 31, 2000 deal with the Marlins just ahead of the trade deadline. The Cubs sent Rodriguez to Florida for minor leaguers Ross Gload and David Noyce. Though Cubs manager Don Baylor hated to see Rodriguez traded and thought he was a key to the Cubs finishing .500 or better in '00, G.M. Andy MacPhail had picked up Rondell White from the Expos, which made Rodriguez expendable.

Something Positive Someone Once Said About Him: "Jerry Lewis had Dean Martin. Jerry Seinfeld had Kramer. There wouldn't be an Abbott without Costello. Sammy Sosa has a sidekick, as well. Henry Rodriguez came out of the shadows of Sosa to hit two more home runs Wednesday as the Cubs smashed the San Francisco Giants 10-2. Rodriguez (30 homers) and Sosa became the first pair of Cubs outfielders to hit 30 or more homers apiece since Andy Pafko's 36 and Hank Sauer's 32 in 1950." (Chicago Sun-Times, 8/13/98)

Box Score To Remember: RODRIGUEZ 6 2 4 7 (Cubs vs. Montreal, 5/14/00)

San Diego native Mark Prior signed a one-year deal with the Padres on Wednesday, joining two other, health-challenged former Cubs, Glendon Rusch and Shawn Estes, in an attempt to make manager Bud Black's staff for 2008.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says Prior is only guaranteed to receive $1MM from his new team, but that he could earn up to $3.5MM in bonuses, "including $1 million for being on the Padres' 25-man roster throughout the 2008 season and up to another $2.25 million for making 30 starts."

No one--not Prior, not even his agent, John Boggs--has suggested Prior will be ready to return to the Major Leagues by Opening Day, and the contract announced Wednesday is for one year only, with neither side holding an option for 2009, meaning Prior will be a free agent following the season. (Estimates of Prior's return date have ranged from mid-May to August or September.)

Still, looking at things from the Padres' perspective, Prior's upside is obvious and these days, the $1MM investment is neglible. As for Prior, who graduated from University of San Diego High School, he was clearly motivated to make his comeback with his hometown team.

Finally, in case you're wondering, the Cubs and Padres will play one another seven times in 2008, May 12th-15th at Wrigley and June 2nd-4th at Petco. I'm going to say that the chances are at least 50/50 that if Mark Prior ever does pitch against his former Chicago Cub teammates, it will be in 2009 at the earliest.

The Hohokams, a group of Mesa, Arizona businessmen who raise money each year for local youth and community organizations by helping to manage operations at the Cubs' spring training home, will have to re-negotiate their decade-old contract with the city of Mesa.

The city is looking to capture a bigger slice of revenues generated by the Cubs through stadium concessions and sponsorships.

The Arizona Republic reported on the situation Friday:

The move was necessary because of continued deficits from yearly operations and long-term debt-service payments on a financing agreement that paid for the reconstruction of Hohokam Stadium a decade ago...

"We want to work with the Hohokams. They've been an important part of spring training for the last 50 years," said Bob Huhn, a city spokesman. "The city hopes to maximize the money retained to improve the facility and enhance the experience."

The Mesa Hohokams...said they operated at a deficit last year after spending $600,000 on new digital scoreboards, installing new padding on the outfield walls to prevent potential injuries to players, and installing a shade structure at nearby Fitch Park for Chicago Cubs minor leaguers.

"It's obvious the city needs more revenue. The city is hemorrhaging red ink left and right," said Fernando Guerrero Jr., head of the Hohokams.

Mesa has no property tax and is heavily-dependent on slumping sales tax revenues. It must cut $12.5 million in spending during the next 18 months...

Guerrero said the Hohokams have "no choice" but to re-open negotiations with the city. Mesa was required to give the group one year advance notice to terminate the agreement, so any changes in dividing revenues or stadium operations would occur in 2009.

The Hohokams' myriad duties around Hohokam Stadium include working as ushers, managing ticket sales, the press box, parking, program production and sales, stadium security, and portions of the food service.

The organization has helped host Cactus League games in Mesa since the early 1950s, when rancher Dwight Patterson, who started the organization with 34 other local businessmen, convinced Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley to move the team's spring training activities to Arizona from Catalina Island, California.

The news here, I think, is not that the Hohokams' changing relationship with the city of Mesa will affect the experience of fans who travel to see the Cubs in the spring. (It doesn't seem that it will.) The news is that the allure of the Cubs is so powerful--the city's Cactus League revenues were up 26% last season to $5.6MM--that Mesa sees the team as an obvious source of relief from its own, serious financial woes.

Friday's edition of the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Company newspaper, carried coverage of Tribco's acquisition by Sam Zell and his plans for the Cubs ("Zell says Cubs are No. 1--to be sold off"). Relative to Zell's declaration that the Cubs would have a new owner by Opening Day 2008, the article says:

Zell's timetable appears highly optimistic, because the bidding has not begun and major league owners must investigate and approve a potential buyer. Even one of Tribune's sale advisors, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sale, said the deal would be more likely to close when the season ended next fall than when it starts in April.

In the meantime, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig wants to examine the Cubs' management under Tribune's new ownership. Cubs President John McDonough left the team last month.

The Cubs' new management and pending sale are on the agenda for the Jan. 16 owners meeting in Arizona, Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy said.

"The commissioner will review the situation," DuPuy said.

The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908 and have not even appeared in the Fall Classic since 1945.

You know what the most hurtful part of that passage is? One little word: "even," as in, "have not even appeared..."

You're cold, L.A. Times. Ice cold.

Regarding the Commissioner's decision to "review the situation" surrounding the Cubs' new management and pending sale, I believe that's Bob DuPuy code for "have a good, long laugh with all of the owners at Mark Cuban's thinking he has a prayer of being approved as the next purchaser of the Chicago Cubs."

For the second day in a row, Tribune Company staged a major news conference. One difference between today's and yesterday's was that today's did not include Japanese interpreter Matt Hidaka.

Thursday's event marked the official acquisition of Tribune Company by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell. In outlining his plans for the company's future, Zell said the Cubs will have a new opener by Opening Day '08. He also said the team may peddle naming rights to Wrigley Field.

As reported Thursday in Crain's Chicago Business:

Based on transactions at other ballparks around the country, (Zell said) such rights could be “extraordinarily valuable..."

Mr. Zell is selling the team and related assets, such as the ballpark and a cable TV stake, to help pay off Tribune’s $13-billion debt. He may sell the assets separately to boost his overall take from the transaction. As part of that strategy, he has been working on a possible deal with the governor to sell Wrigley Field to a state entity.

“We believe that that transaction, when completely vetted, is very beneficial for the city of Chicago and for the Cubs,” he said of the possible sale of Wrigley Field to the state.

A spokesman for Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. declined to comment on whether the candy maker would consider purchasing naming rights for Wrigley Field, which has carried the Wrigley name since 1926.

"At this point (selling naming rights) is just speculation," he said. "There is nothing concrete for us to comment on at this time."

Steve Stone, who left the Cubs broadcasting team after the '04 season following run-ins with thin-skinned reliever Kent Mercker and manager Dusty Baker, will be joining the White Sox radio crew in '08. He'll be the third man in the radio booth with Ed Farmer and Chris Singleton but only for the 13 Friday games the Sox play at U.S. Cellular Field.

Last August, Stone filled in for former Cub Darrin Jackson on the Sox tv broadcasts alongside play-by-play man Ken "He Gone!" Harrelson.

From Ed Sherman in the Tribune:

"The Sox have been great to me," Stone said. "To have a chance to keep a hand in calling games is something I wanted to do. I do love broadcasting baseball. I like Ed and Chris. It should be fun."

However, there's a chance the arrangement might not survive the season. With Tribune Co. set to sell the Cubs, Stone has expressed interested in having a role with the new owners.

Again, it is about keeping his options open.

"Nobody knows when the new owner will take over," Stone said. "The only thing I can say is if I'm familiar with the people who will own the team, I would like to have a discussion with them."

I've written about Stone in this space before; about how I think his divorce from the Cubs after 18 mostly good years, seems to have left him a bitter know-it-all, at least when the subject of his conversation is the Chicago Cubs.

I hope he has no connection to the new owners. I don't see that Stone is qualified for the Major League front office position he has openly lobbied for in the past, and I don't think the position of Bitter Know-It-All is one the Cubs should worry about filling.

The Peoria Chiefs announced on Tuesday that Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg would return as the team's manager in 2008.

Sandberg led the Cubs' Midwest League affiliate to a 71-68 record in '07 and a tie for the second-half championship in the Western Division, though the Chiefs missed making the playoffs by virtue of a tie-breaker. Former Cub Carmelo Martinez will join Sandberg's staff as hitting coach.

Said Sandberg:

“I’m excited about coming back to Peoria as I had a great experience there as a manager in 2007. (My wife) Margaret and I both enjoyed our time in Peoria and are looking forward to another season of living and managing in Peoria."

Somehow I would believe that more if it came from Margaret.

Former Milwaukee Brewer shorstop Pat Listach, who managed Double-A Tennessee to a 73-65 record and a post-season appearance last year, is being promoted to the top job at Triple-A Iowa, where he was hitting coach from 2001 through '05. Buddy Bailey, who managed the I-Cubs (79-65) last season, will take over at Tennessee.

Finally, former Cub catcher Jody Davis will return as manager at Class A Advanced Daytona.

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Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, reportedly on Jim Hendry's Future Cub radar since at least the Winter Meetings, admitted to a reporter from the Baltimore Sun that he used performance-enhancing drugs, confirming allegations in the Mitchell Report.

Roberts describes his steroid use thusly:

"In 2003, when I took one shot of steroids, I immediately realized that this was not what I stood for or anything that I wanted to continue doing. I never used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing drugs prior to or since that single incident.

"I can honestly say before God, myself, my family and all of my fans that steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs have never had any effect on what I have worked so hard to accomplish in the game of baseball. I am very sorry and I deeply regret ever making that terrible decision.

"My only hope and prayer is that the Orioles, my family, friends and fans that have supported me so faithfully will forgive me."

Though Roberts was one of 19 current or former Baltimore players named in the report, the two-time All-Star was the highest profile player in the group. He could spend the rest of his career, whether it's in Baltimore, Chicago, or somewhere else, trying to scrub the stink from his reputation.

On a positive note, the Mitchell Report marks the first time in recent memory that the O's have finished among the leaders in the American League.

Outfielder Cliff Floyd, who looked last season like he was clearly in the twilight of his career, is going to a place where twilight guys have historically been most welcome: Tampa Bay.

Floyd, a 15-year Major League veteran, signed a one-year deal for $2.75MM (with incentive bonuses that could earn him another $2MM), plus a team option for 2009. The lefthanded-hitting Floyd will rotate with right-handed hitters Rocco Baldelli and Jonny Gomes in filling the Rays' DH and right field slots.

From espn.com...

While a Gomes-Floyd right field platoon would be subpar defensively, the two players might compensate with their combined production. Gomes has a career .932 on base-slugging percentage against left-handed pitching, while Floyd has an OBP of .859 vs. right-handers.

A graduate of Thornwood High School in South Holland, Floyd, 35, had 9 HRs and 45 RBI in 108 games for the Cubs last season, hitting .284 with a .373 OBP and an OPS+ of 102. Like many of his Cub teammates, Floyd had trouble hitting at Wrigley Field, where he only hit .269 with 3 HRs.

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According to Mark Prior's agent, John Boggs, 11 teams have shown interest in signing the rehabbing righthander to a contract. The New York Daily News reports that the Mets and Yankees have both shown "preliminary interest."

As the Daily News points out...

The Yankees drafted Prior in the supplemental round of the 1998 draft as a high schooler, but failed to sign him - he turned down a $1.5 million offer that the team made a few months after the draft, a signing strategy executives rued afterward. Prior went to college instead...and later signed (with the Cubs) for $10.5 million.

I no longer despise the teams at the top of the salary chart the way I used to, mostly because the Cubs have joined them, but also because, as the Yankees have proven now seven seasons in a row, spending the most money doesn't guarantee you'll be hoisting the big trophy at the end of the World Series.

Where I do think the free-spending teams enjoy a distinct advantage, however, is in a case like Prior's, where a big-budget organization can afford to gamble, hope to hit the jackpot, and not be any worse off if the player turns out to be a bust.

According to mlbtraderumors.com, the Astros and Cardinals might also be in the mix for Prior.

After enduring the Mitchell press conference this afternoon and following the reactions later in the day from Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, I can definitively say that I am choking on my ambivalence.

I'm disgusted by the players who may have flaunted multiple federal laws, the most basic notions of fairness, and the integrity of a game many of them would presumably claim to love.

But I'm just as disgusted by the carnival that Major League Baseball staged today wherein the names of dozens of players were splashed across every form of media in the English-speaking world--the Spanish-speaking world too, I imagine--and effectively identified as law breakers and cheaters without anything even resembling due process.

I'm guessing that many, most, perhaps all of the players named did what the general public now assumes they did. But in a country that purports to believe that you're innocent until judged guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of peers, that really isn't the point.

I hope any player who is so inclined hires legal counsel and drags MLB through the courts system until it hurts. The plight of those players who might in fact be innocent of the implied charges brings to mind the case of former U.S. Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan, who famously said after being acquitted on corruption charges in a New York City courtroom, "Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"

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Baseball Prospectus fed Kosuke Fukudome into their PECOTA player performance projection machine and threw the switch.

PECOTA's guess at Fukudome's 2008 numbers:

.289 AVG/.410 OBP/.504 SLG/15 HR/58 RBI/94 SO/70 BB

BP's Chief PECOTA-Keeper, Nate Silver, says those numbers make Fukudome look an awful lot like Boston's J.D. Drew.

More from Silver:

PECOTA holds Fukudome’s playing time projection down because he missed about half of last season due to elbow surgery. If he’s healthy in spring training, that should no longer be a concern. And look at that pretty OBP! Fukudome is unlikely to be a huge power threat, but that on-base ability should address one of the Cubs‘ primary areas of weakness.

The question, of course, is whether they’ll be smart enough to put him in the leadoff spot (Fukudome also runs pretty well) and demote Alfonso Soriano.

August 10, 2006:

The Cubs were visiting Milwaukee. Aramis Ramirez drove in Juan Pierre with a first-inning sacrifice fly to put the visitors in front, 1-0. The Brewers, however, scored four runs in the home first, then mounted a 6-1 lead by scoring twice more in the third, an inning that ended with Brewers pitcher Doug Davis grounding out.

Now it looks like the one-ball, no-strike pitch that Davis grounded to Cubs shortstop Neifi Perez is the last pitch Mark Prior will ever throw as a Chicago Cub. The Cubs chose not to make a contract offer to Prior before Wednesday's 11pm deadline, making a free agent of the 27-year-old Prior, who is currently rehabbing his surgically repaired right shoulder.

Bruce Miles, writing in Wednesday's Daily Herald before the Cubs officially excised their former golden boy, explained that Jim Hendry wanted Prior to agree to a one-year deal for less than the $3.575MM he was paid last season, plus a club option for 2009. Writes Miles:

The Cubs' viewpoint is that they rehabbed Prior in 2007 and will do so for part of 2008, and they want protection against him leaving as a free agent if he comes back and does well.

Prior's view is that it's not his fault he got hurt and he owes it to himself to test the market as a free agent after he has six full years in the big leagues.

We'll have to side with the Cubs on this one. Prior appeared in only nine games in 2006, when the shoulder began acting up. Since his 18-6 campaign in 2003, Prior worked in 21 games in 2004 (when elbow stiffness sidelined him) and 27 games in 2005.

Prior's career numbers as a Cub: 42 wins, 29 losses, a 3.51 ERA (ERA+ of 123) and 757 strikeouts over 657 IP. His best season was his only complete season in the majors, 2003, when he went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA and damn near pitched the Cubs into a World Series.

Unlike his teammate Kerry Wood, whose 21-strikeout effort as a rookie will help distinguish his Cub career forever, Prior may ultimately be best remembered by Cub fans for his spectacular injuries: a shoulder injury resulting from a violent collision with Braves second baseman Marcus Giles that looked like it was straight out of Chicago Bear two-a-days; a fractured elbow which was the result of getting drilled by a Brad Hawpe line drive in 2005.

According to cubs.com, Prior's surgeon, the famous Dr. James Andrews, believes the righthander could be Major League-ready by middle or late May, though Prior's agent admits his client's return could be a month or two after that.

What there is no disputing is that if and when Prior pitches his next Major League game, it won't be for the Chicago Cubs.

For the benefit of those who haven't properly prepared for the arrival of the newest Cub by learning his native tongue, that headline means "Yes!" (Myself, I've been in Berlitz classes for weeks. It's called devotion to the cause, folks.)

With all of the Kosuke Fukudome rumors and partial truths that the media have reported in recent weeks, I am still coming to grips with the fact that this deal is actually done. But reports to that effect have been all over the Chicago media this evening, led apparently by one from David Kaplan of WGN Radio.

Around 10pm, Pat Boyle of Comcast Sportsnight reported that he had spoken to Jim Hendry shortly before going on the air, and Hendry confirmed the Cubs had signed the Japanese star to a four-year deal. Hendry did not confirm a dollar figure; Boyle said Comcast's sources placed the number at somewhere around $14MM per season.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports phoned into the Comcast show and said Fukudome had actually made up his mind to come to the U.S. several days ago, when Rosenthal reported that he had. Rosenthal contends Fukudome and his representatives only denied a decision had been made because Japanese baseball etiquette dictates that a player formally and respectfully inform the team he is leaving of his plans before he starts to entertain new offers.

(Respectful behavior in baseball negotiations--funny stuff, huh? Fukudome really does have a big adjustment in front of him.)

More from Foxy Ken:

• Scouts say the U.S. player whose game most resembles Fukudome's is Raul Ibanez of the Mariners, who, ironically, was rumored to be on Jim Hendry's radar if Fukudome landed elsewhere. (For those not well versed in Ibanez, the 12-year, career American Leaguer is a lifetime .285 hitter. His 162-game average line over those 12 seasons--21 HRs, 91 RBI, .345 OBP, .471 SLG and an OPS+ of 111.)
  

• Fukudome could hit as high as second in the batting order, but could also be a big contributor lower in the lineup.

• Fukudome should be fully recovered by Opening Day from the elbow problems and endoscopic surgery that ended his 2007 season in Japan.

• The Fukudome signing will not help the Cubs pry Brian Roberts loose from the Orioles. The problem is not that Jim Hendry has been unable to focus his attention on striking a deal with Andy MacPhail; it's that Orioles owner Peter Angelos has a management-crush on Roberts, one of his favorite players, and MacPhail will have to do a lot of sweet talking, tap dancing, and maybe a few other things to persuade Angelos that it's in the O's interest to trade Roberts at all.

• Speaking of the trade discussions with the Orioles, don't expect Felix Pie to be part of any deal. The Cubs don't want to trade him and have told Baltimore as much.

Rosenthal's bottom line: Fukudome is going to a difference-maker for the Cubs.

Lastly, I would be remiss and completely out of character if I didn't point out how utterly and profoundly ecstatic I am that Kosuke Fukudome will NOT be wearing the black pinstripes of the Chicago White Sox.

So I'm going to point that out--I'm beside myself with joy.

This is it. The announcement that Kosuke Fukudome will absolutely, positively, for sure-no-kidding be playing in the Major Leagues in 2008; one giant step closer to the BIG announcement, when Fukudome devastates all of Cubdom by signing with someone other than the Cubs.

So, Mr. Fukudome, you need a day or two more to ponder the biggest decision of your career, if not your life. (Frankly, I don't know where you get off keeping so many baseball fans on pins and needles.)

Just so you're aware, Mr. Lifetime .300 Hitter and Potential National League All-Star, the Cubs aren't intimidated by the possibility that you could choose to stay close to home or sign with some other Major League team: our GM, Jim Hendry, will have plenty of other free agent, left-handed-hitting outfielders to choose from.

I'm talking Barry Bonds, Milton Bradley, Darin Erstad, Steve Finley (yes, he's still alive), Luis Gonzalez, Shawn Green, John-Ford Griffin, Geoff Jenkins, Ricky Ledee, Kenny Lofton (he was swell back in '03), Rob Mackowiak, David Newhan, Trot Nixon, Orlando Palmeiro (it's his brother who has the steroid and truth-telling issues), Corey Patterson, Scott Podsednik (that groin injury will heal some day), John Rodriguez, Brandon Watson and DeWayne Wise. Yes, that DeWayne Wise.

By my count, Mr. Fukudome, that's 19 alternatives with previous big league experience, 18 of whom--to the best of my knowledge--are not under federal indictment.

Just wanted you to know where we stand, sir.

We await your answer.

Their bags stuffed with lots of tiny hotel soaps and tiny bottles of hotel shampoo, the baseball people have all checked out of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, taken off from Nashville International Airport, and scattered across the country. Some, like Dave Dombrowski, are returning home triumphant. Others, like Jim Hendry, see important items left on their to-do lists.

Though he was able to snag the "young power arm" of Jose Ascanio from Atlanta, Hendry didn’t land his speed guy, his left-handed hitter, or his new outfielder during these Winter Meetings. By all accounts, he is still in contention for the Orioles’ Brian Roberts, who's speedy and hits left-handed, and the much coveted Kotsuke Fukudome, who hits left-handed and plays outfield. (The O's may be waiting to conclude a Roberts trade until they can move Miguel Tejada and Eric Bedard; Fukudome's answer might be coming soon.)

One deal Hendry and the Cubs did close in Nashville involved the acquisition of minor league pitcher Tim Lahey from Tampa, who had selected Lahey from the Twins with the first pick in Thursday morning's Rule 5 draft.

Here’s what Baseball America had to say about the pickup:

Lahey was a catcher at Princeton, then converted to the mound when the Twins drafted him. He has a short, catcher-like arm action, but he throws strikes with his 90-92 mph fastball, one that has touched 95 according to Cubs officials, and the delivery adds some deception. A 20th-round pick in 2004 by the Twins, Lahey also throws a solid-average slider and a changeup. The Cubs see room for improvement, since Lahey is still relatively new to pitching.

"He's got real good sink with a ground ball ratio of almost 3-to-1 and the makings of a pretty good slider," Cubs farm director Oneri Fleita said. "It's amazing—I think he has 178, 179 innings and has less than a hit per inning pitched. That's pretty good for a guy who just got converted. We're excited to see him.

"He's a big, strong durable guy with great makeup and we wanted to roll the dice on it. It wasn't long ago that Carlos Marmol was changed from a catcher to to a pitcher. Boy, if he's half as good as (Marmol) is, we might have gotten lucky."

Here we are, three days into the Winter Meetings, and the biggest thing to happen to the Chicago Cubs so far is a trade involving Omar Infante.

True, there's time: we have a lot of off-season yet to play, and the Cubs could still make a signficant move before Team Hendry leaves Nashville. I don't have nearly the browsing skills to keep up with all of the Cub-related rumors circulating, but the most recent one involves the possible acquisition of Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts.

As covered in the Baltimore Sun...

Although no specifics have been revealed, one baseball source said the Cubs have put a "significant" offer on the table that would include a starting pitcher for Roberts, the Orioles' lone All-Star in 2007.

One player in the proposal is believed to be right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher, who entered last season as the Cubs' fifth-ranked prospect, according to Baseball America. Gallagher, 21, pitched primarily in Double-A during the 2007 season, going 7-2 with a 3.39 ERA in 11 starts. He made eight appearances in relief for the Cubs, allowing 14 earned runs in 14 innings.

It's likely the second player in the deal would be a position player, although the Cubs' top prospect, outfielder Felix Pie, is not being offered, according to a team source. One possibility is outfielder Matt Murton, 26, who hit .281 last year with eight home runs and 22 RBIs in 235 at-bats.

The 29-year-old Roberts, who hit .290/.377/.432 (AVG/OBP/SLG) last season, is a left-handed hitter and would instantly help the Cubs address their OBP issues, two qualities that seem to carry weight with Cubs manager Lou Piniella these days.

Of course, the other thing he has going for him is that he's not Kaz Matsui.

The Cubs traded left-handed reliever Will Ohman and recently acquired utility man Omar Infante to the Braves on Tuesday for aspirin-tablet-throwing, rookie reliever Jose Ascanio.

The Braves will use Ohman to fill the bullpen slot vacated by veteran lefty reliever, suburban Crestwood native, and one-time Cub Ron Mahay, who is in the process of departing Atlanta by way of free agency.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Braves General Manager Frank Wren contacted Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski in October to see if Infante was available in trade. Dombrowski, of course, wound up shipping Infante to the Cubs a couple weeks ago for Jacque Jones.

The Journal-Constitution's David O’Brien explains the Braves’ interest in Ohman thusly:

Ohman had a 4.33 ERA in 220 appearances over five seasons with the Cubs, with a road ERA more than four runs lower than at Chicago's Wrigley Field. His .233 career opponents' average includes a .196 by left-handed hitters.

The Braves believe he'll benefit getting away from Wrigley, where Ohman had a 6.63 ERA in 101 appearances. He has a 2.32 career ERA everywhere else.

"It's one thing if it's just one year," Wren said of the home/road disparity, "but when you see it consistently for the last three years ..."

Ohman had 1.45 ERA and .167 opponents' average in 29 road games last season, and an 8.66 ERA and .376 OA in 27 home games. In 2006, it was 1.73/.169 on the road, and 7.14/.252 at Wrigley.

Ohman's career numbers against the Braves might also have added to his appeal: 10 K, 2.08 ERA in 8.2 IP.

Of Ascanio, meanwhile, O’Brien writes:

The Cubs liked hard-throwing Ascanio, 22, who had 84 strikeouts with 24 walks in 94 innings in 2007, including 13 strikeouts in 16 innings for Atlanta after a promotion from Class AA.

"Ascanio was hard to give up," Wren said, "but the way we looked at it, if we could fill needs with two guys we need, it was something we should do."

The Braves have had concerns about Ascanio's chronic back problems, though he seemed to have it under control last season.

In an interview aired earlier this evening on Comcast Sports Night, Cubs GM Jim Hendry said the team sees the Venezuelan Ascanio as someone who could play a role in the Cubs bullpen this season.

I wonder if he voted Sunday.

Last year, on the first day of the 2006 Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the Cubs denied they had completed a deal with free agent pitcher Ted Lilly and announced that scouting director Tim Wilken had been named East Coast Scout of the Year.

Today, the first day of the 2007 Winter Meetings in Nashville, may have been a little less action-packed.

While various rumor factories linked the Cubs to a number of other teams' players--including Raul Ibanez, Brian Roberts, Josh Hamilton and of course, the Japanese stars Kuroda and Fukudome--and linked a number of Cubs players--including Ryan Dempster, Mark Prior, Scott Eyre, Will Ohman, and Matt Murton--to other teams, no Cub deals were actually consummated on Monday.

This Winter Meetings stuff is fun...right up to the moment I get a headache from trying to keep up with all of trades that sportswriters make up.