I stumbled across this photographic tour of the new Yankee Stadium tonight in the middle of the Wall Street Journal's newly expanded sports section. (Both the online and offline Journals are seeing the enhanced sports coverage.)

After marveling at what must be the world's most imposing baseball stadium, a park in which the Cubs and Yanks will play exhibition games on April 3rd and 4th, I got to thinking about the Cubs' yet-to-be-developed Triangle Development, which was going to be part of a Wrigley Field campus.

It says a lot about the political power of the Yankees and the Steinbrenners in New York City and about the complications of doing business in Chicago, not to mention the hopelessly messy state of Cubs ownership, that Yankee Stadium is what it is and that the Cubs' Triangle Building is still non-existent.

On Wednesday, the Cubs didn't reacquire Alan Benes or Fred McGriff or Bill Mueller or Todd Hundley or even Francis Beltran, Kevin Orie, Mark Bellhorn or Robert Machado. But they did sign a teammate of the aforementioned 2002 Cubs, former 20-game winner Jon Lieber, who agreed to a one-year, $3.5MM deal and very possibly, a shot at making the Cubs' starting rotation.

Ken Rosenthal, who first reported the signing early this morning at FoxSports.com, said that according to his sources, Lieber was actually assured of a starting spot; that the assurance helped persuade Lieber to bypass richer offers from other teams and rejoin the Cubs.

Lieber said the appropriate thing when he spoke to the press:

"I'll do whatever it takes to help the Chicago Cubs win and if that's pitching out of the bullpen, so be it."

Lieber last pitched for the Cubs in July of '02, when an elbow injury ended his season--and his time with the Cubs--prematurely. The Yankees signed him as a free agent in February of '03, essentially funding his rehab following Tommy John surgery, and Lieber rewarded the Yanks by going 14-8, 4.33 in 2004.

In December 2004, Lieber signed with the Phillies and went 29-30, 4.56 in his three years as a Phil. His '07 season was cut short by a ruptured tendon in his right foot, suffered apparently in an interleague game against the Indians in June. The foot was operated on, and by October, Lieber was able to begin following his normal, off-season workout regimen.

Lieber's career record as a Cub is 48-36 over 121 starts and more than 800 IP.

That's an awful lot to have received from the Pirates in exchange for Brant Brown.

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.

---

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.

So the former Cub catcher and former Cub managerial candidate Joe Girardi is now in charge of the Yankees, and the former Yankee manager Joe Torre is talking to the former Cubs front office guy and current Los Angeles GM Ned Colletti about replacing the former Cubs minor league instructor Grady Little as manager of the Dodgers.

What I'm wondering is, which Joe Torre is Colletti thinking about hiring?

Joe Torre's Managerial Record, National League:
894-1,003, .470
1 post-season appearance in 15 seasons

Joe Torre's Managerial Record, American League:
1,173-767, .605
12 post-season appearances (and 4 championships) in 12 seasons

Torre sure became smart the minute he got around a $195 million payroll.

On Monday, the former Cub catcher Joe Girardi endured an entire day of interviews as he pursued the job in which Lou Piniella has absolutely, positively, unequivocally, no interest whatsoever.

Following the Girardi interviews, Hank Steinbrenner, one of the two Steinbrenner sons newly empowered by father George, stepped before the microphones and in a guttural, inarticulate sort of way heard on ESPN radio Tuesday, pronounced Girardi to be a worthy candidate to become the next Yankees manager. (The consensus favorite for the position still seems to be Don Mattingly, however.)

This article in the Times explains the roles assumed within the Yankee hierarchy by Hank and his younger brother, Hal. If you ask me, it's not a pretty picture.

Closer to home, another father-son succession process has unfolded. The Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, who died of cancer about four weeks ago, has been succeeded as the team's chairman by his 55-year-old son, Rocky.

In a little over three weeks on the job, Rocky has "reassigned" the former Hawks coach and longtime team executive Bob Pulford to a position from which he can no longer damage the hockey club and started making plans to telecast Blackhawks home games, a move his late father deemed unthinkable. Most remarkable of all, nine games into the season, the Blackhawks have won more games than they've lost.

It seems like Rocky Wirtz is committed to breathing some life into the franchise whose demise his father oversaw. Even Coach Denis Savard, a longtime Bill Wirtz favorite, would appear to be in a produce-or-get-fired position.

I wonder if Joe Girardi knows anything about hockey.

If the events that unfolded three Octobers ago didn't convince you, nor the three-game comeback that culminated Sunday night in Boston, I'll state it emphatically:

The Red Sox are no longer the Cubs' kindred spirits, their brothers in heartache, their similarly cursed, American League cousins.

They're the Yankees.