December 2008 Archives

After not allowing the year to end quietly, Jim Hendry joined Casey Stern and Rob Dibble on the Show Wednesday afternoon. Hendry discussed trading Mark DeRosa, signing Aaron Miles, Alfonso Soriano, Mike Fontenot and revealed the fact he has had no talks at all this off-season with the Baltimore Orioles about Brian Roberts.

Here are a few of the highlights and the latest from the mill on New Year's Eve.....

A day after appearing to agree on a deal that would send Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies, Jim Hendry ended the year in surprising fashion.

The Cubs signed former Cardinal Aaron Miles to a two year deal worth $4.9 million. Miles will earn $2.2 million in 2009 and $2.7 million in 2010. Shortly after signing Miles on Wednesday, the Cubs traded Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for three minor league pitching prospects....including right-hander Jeff Stevens who was the closer for Team USA and Chris Archer and John Gaub, both Class-A pitchers.

The Cubs took advantage of a favorable home schedule in August and paced the second place Brewers. The offense struggled in September before waking up and putting away the division against the Cardinals on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Wrigley.

The Cubs designated Scott Eyre for assignment on August 5th and traded him to the Phillies two days later for minor league pitching prospect Brian Schlitter.

From a memorable August to Hurricane Ike to Carlos Zambrano's No-Hitter against the Astros in Miller Park to winning the Central Division for the second year in a row, the final two months of the regular season provided an appropriate ending to a great year.

According to a report from Ken Rosenthal, the Cubs are close to a deal that would send Jason Marquis along with cash to the Colorado Rockies for reliever Luis Vizcaino. The trade is not expected to be announced until next week.

Rumors have suggested in recent days the two teams were discussing a deal but a report on Monday indicated the Rockies could not afford to absorb any of Marquis' $9.875 million dollar salary for next season. Rosenthal indicated the cash going to Colorado would be less than $1 million dollars.

Updated 7:08pm C.T. - Joel Sherman reported on XM Radio minutes ago that the Marquis deal is done. The Cubs have traded Jason Marquis along with a million dollars to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino. XM Radio is the only source at this point reporting the deal is done.....will update if more information becomes available. The Sun-Times reported that Milton Bradley could be next.

Interleague play, a broken hand, DL trips for Carlos Zambrano and Reed Johnson, new arms added to the mix, a big turnaround against the Fish and a four-game sweep were just a few of the storylines and highlights for the Cubs in June and July.

The solid start Lou Piniella preached about ended up being the difference as injuries and a difficult schedule caught up to the Cubs, and almost bumped them out of first place in the Central. The notion that divisions cannot be won in July was thrown out the window in 2008 after the Cubs showed how important every game is during a long season.

From Kosuke Fukudome's dramatic home run on Opening Day to Reed Johnson's catch to Jim Edmonds to sweeping the four game series against the Brewers at the end of July to Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter in Milwaukee against the Astros, it was truly a magical summer for Lou Piniella's crew.

The Cubs posted 97 wins, the most for any Cubs team since 1945, won back-to-back division titles, featured eight all-stars, the NL Manager and Rookie of the Year and the most patient team at the plate that the North Side had seen since...

The summer of 2008 was full of firsts and since but unfortunately the ending was not what anyone expected. Over the next several days the CCO will take a look back at the season that was and a team that should be remembered as one of the best to ever put on the blue pinstripes.

According to a report from Buster Olney that is focused on where Manny Ramirez may end up, "The Cubs have maxed out their spending for the winter and in any event couldn't consider an outfield of Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano."

While Manny being Manny for the Cubs would be farfetched at best, the wording by Olney stating, "The Cubs have maxed out their spending for the winter" is more than concerning.

The last weekend update of the year and the baseball world is still debating the Yankees agreeing to terms with Mark Teixeira before Christmas. The Yankees have committed over $400 million on three players so far this winter and there has not been a word from Bud Selig and his office....a different stance than he had when Jim Hendry opened the checkbook after the 2006 season. It will be interesting to see if the Commissioner of Baseball issues a statement on the Yankees spending spree.

On the Cubs front, news and rumors from the offices at 1060 West Addison have been few and far between since the Winter Meetings. According to a report on Friday from the Rocky Mountain News, the Cubs are still shopping Jason Marquis and the Rockies could be a fit. XM Radio reported the rumor on Saturday and stated Jason Hirsh and another player might be involved.

Here's the latest after a Holiday week, including the A's and Bobby Abreu, more on Jason Marquis and two Japanese pitchers are on the Cubs radar....

According to a report from ESPN.com, Randy Johnson agreed to a 1-year deal with the San Francisco Giants on Friday. The Cubs were rumored to be interested in the Big Unit once they traded Jason Marquis and if they did not acquire Jake Peavy.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed according to the report on Giants.com.

According to a report from ESPN.com, Sammy Sosa "is still waiting for an offer to play in the major leagues.".... ESPN's source is a report published by a Dominican newspaper, Listin Diario. Apparently Sosa wants to do more than play in the upcoming World Baseball Classic and stated, "I still don't have an offer, and I shouldn't be looking for offers out there. Any team who wants to sign me should have the initiative and make an offer."

The 40-year old former Cub has played only one full season since being traded to the Orioles by the Cubs in 2005. The 1998 National League MVP missed the 2006 season and came back for the 2007 season with the Rangers with one goal in mind....career home run number 600.

Sosa hit the 600th dinger of his career against the Cubs off of Jason Marquis in June of 2007....