Cubs Introduce Bradley

The Cubs had a press conference today to announce that the signing of Milton Bradley is official. The deal is 3 year, $30 million. I'll post a recap of the press conference coming up. Stay tuned...

Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney spoke first:

• This is the first time that a player who was not a Cub has said focused on wanting to come to Chicago the whole off season.
• Crane says Milton was very patient and thanked him and his team for that.
• He thinks Bradley will be a very productive player for the Cubs.

Jim Hendry was up next:

• He said dealing with Milton was a very positive process.
• The Cubs were really in need of landing an outstanding outfielder who can hit left handed.
• The Cubs have known all off season that they needed to get the right guy.
• Randy and Jim have talked about 1000 times on who would be the right fit. They did their homework.
• Jim and Milton had dinner together in LA. He came away thinking great things about Milton.
• Bradley told Hendry that he knew it would take a little time, but he wanted to become a Chicago Cub. That was on the 5th or 6th of November!
• The Cubs are convinced that Bradley is in really good health.
• The Cubs are thrilled to have him and he is exactly what they needed to help them get to the next few levels that they haven't been able to get to the past few years.

Next Bradley put on his Cubs jersey. He wears number 21, the same number Sammy Sosa made popular Cubs. So we have another #21 in Right Field. Bradley stepped up to the mic

• Bradley said that it is a great honor to say he's a Cub.
• He considers himself the most blessed man on the face of the earth today.
• Milton says the Cubs have been on his radar for awhile now.
• All he wants to do with the Cubs is WIN.
• He says he got nothing but honesty from Jim.
• Someone asked why he wanted to come to the Cubs. He said that going into every year the focus is winning the World Series.
• Bradley doesn't like people speaking about him if they've never met them before.
• Levine asked about him trying to stay on the field. He said that he has been on a good workout all off season.
• He says he doesn't have to explain the past "incidents"
• Bradley does everything he can to help his team win on each given day.
• He has spoke to Derrek Lee and Chad Gaundin about playing for the Cubs. Bradley says he's never talked to someone who didn't like playing for the Cubs.
• Bradley says he's an outfielder at heart not a DH.
• There is no pressure in baseball. It's easy!

I'll have more posts throughout the night on Bradley and other Cubs topics.

Cubs 2008 Naughty and Nice List

Well, tomorrow's Christmas Eve and it's time to put together our 2008 Cubs Naugty and Nice lists. Here's what I got:

Nice:
Ryan Dempster- for leading the team in wins
Jim Hendry- for adding Reed Johnson, Jim Edmounds and Rich Harden
Sweet Lou- for winning manager of the year
Geo- for winning Rookie of the Year and for having a great year
Mark DeRosa- for having the only Cubs playoff HR and for dealing with the trade rumors for 2 year in a row
Mike Fontenot- for being the most underrated guy on the Cubs.
Carlos Zambrano- for tossing a no-no
Jeff Samarjiza- for having a great first few months in the Bigs
Pat Hughes- for being such a great play-by-play man
All the Cubs fans who are still loyal despite the lack of winning
Henry Blanco- for accepting his role even thought he got little playing time
Sam Fuld- for signing lots of autographs in Spring Training
Jason Marquis- for no good reason
Ted Lilly- for being the best 4th starter in the game of baseball
Carlos Marmol- for being a great set up man
Adam Dunn- for wanting to be a Cub

Naughty:
Jim Hendry- for letting Kerry Wood go
Derrek Lee- for grounding into so many double plays
Alfonso Soriano- for choking in October
Aramis Ramirez- for choking in October
Matt Sinatro- for getting lost when he drove to Cincinnati with Lou
Kosuke- for falling apart after the first 2 months of the year.
Joey Gathright- for jumping of cars
Felix Pie- for never proving himself
MLB Veterans Committee- for leaving Ronny out, again
-The Cubs fans that say they won't follow the team as closely any more because of the sweep to end the season.
Rich Hill- for have a "lost" season
Ronny Cedeno- for taking up Matt Murton's spot on the 2008 Cubs roster
Micah Hoffpauir- for waiting his turn
Bob Brenly- for not getting that managers job
Raul Ibanez- for signing with the Phills
Dave Otto- for being boring when ever he fills in for Ron Santo
MLB Network- for stealing Dan Plesac and his train
TBS- for giving the Cubs bad luck in the playoffs

Well what do you think? Leave a comment!

Trivia Answer: Reed Johnson did gymnastics as a child.

The Next 2 Days Comcast Sports Net will be reliving the Cubs and White Sox 2008 seasons. Here's the schedule:
Christmas Eve:
7:00 PM CT- CSN Rewind: 2008 Chicago White Sox
Christmas Day-
10:00 AM- Repeat CSN Rewind: 2008 Chicago White Sox
Noon- Sox Classic; Cle @ CWS Sept. 28, 2008
2:30 PM- Cubs Classic; Mil @ Cubs Sept. 18, 2008
7:00 PM- CSN Rewind; 2008 Chicago Cubs

Check out the holiday episode of Cubscast from yesterday.

And listen to "Harry Caray" visiting with Steve Cochran of WGN Radio on Christmas Eve 2004.

Well, I'm going to take a break the next few days to enjoy Christmas. I'll be back with an update on the Cubs on Friday.
Everyone, have a very Merry Christmas.
☺ Brandon

Cubs sign Joey Gathright

The Cubs have agreed to a 1 year 800,000 deal with Joey Gathright who was non-tendered by the Royals last Friday. Gathright adds speed off the bench and can play all 3 outfield positions. It seems that Felix Pie is out of luck because he is out of options which means that he can not be sent back to AAA and Gathright is a similar player to him except Joey is a better hitter. Gathright is a left handed bat, but the Cubs will continue to pursue a middle of the order, left handed bat for right field.
Quotes from Jim Hendry:

• "We set out to find a real speed guy for the club and a left handed hitter and he makes a lot of sense."
• "He's a world class speed guy who can do a lot of things for us."
• "If he's not starting, he's a tremendous piece off the bench every day."
• "We're a long way from opening day, a lot of things can happen."
• "I feel confident that we'll end up with a good left handed hitter, there's still a lot of things to do."

In my opinion, the Gathright move does add some speed and depth, but this isn't going what we were hoping for. I would expect that the Cubs still acquire 1-2 more left handed hitters that are everyday players, not just bench guy. I don't think the Cubs really needed another backup outfielder because we already have Reed Johnson (or Kosuke if Reed starts) and DeRosa or Hoffpauir can back up the corner outfield spots to give Soriano and our new right fielder days off.

More Gathright Info:

• 27 years old
• Bats: Left, Throws: Right
• Played for Tampa Bay 2004-06, KC 2006-08
• .263 Career average
• 1 Career HR, 78 SB
• Drafted by Rays in the 32nd round of the 2001 Draft
• 22 RBI & 21 SB in 2008.

Other Cubs Rumors:

• According to Ken Rosenthal, Fucal is headed back to the Braves.
• Bobby Abreu is seeking a 3 year, $48 million dollar deal.
• Kevin Towers said he will listen to all offers on Peavy, but is no longer actively trying to trade him.

What do you think of the Gathright signing?

I'll keep you posted.

Update: Peavy Talk

A quick update on Peavy-
MLB.com's Corey Brock says that Padres GM Kevin Towers told him that we should know one way or the other on the Peavy trade by the end of the meetings. Towers thinks a deal will take a 4th team. DeRosa and Marquis could be hand ups, especially Jason's contract. Kevin Hart, Josh Vitters, and Felix Pie are some of the names Corey Brock mentioned.

Accourding to Cubs.com a possible 3 team deal has been proposed that would send the following players to the following teams.
Phillies Get: DeRosa
Padres Get: Marquis, Jason Donald, and either J.A. Happ or Carlos Carrasco, Pie, and Vitters
Cubs Get: Peavy

Also the Cubs could loose Donald Veal in the Rule 5 Draft Tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Names rumored to be on the Cubs radar

Well for my first rumors post I will list all the names that have been rumored to be on the Cubs radar this off season. I'll have an update coming up about what's going on with Jake Peavy and at the Winter Meetings in Vegas.

• Bobby Abreu
• Milton Bradley
• Adam Dunn
• Rafael Furcal
• Brian Giles
• Jeremy Hermida
• Raul Ibanez
• Randy Johnson
• Jake Peavy
• Brian Roberts
• Ben Sheets
• Mark Teahen
• and more

So Here's whats been going on with rumors and Cubs notes in Vegas this week at Baseball's Winter Meetings:

• Ron Santo was not elected to the Nation Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee on Monday. He received only 60.1 percent of the vote falling shy of the 75 percent needed to make it. I won't share many personal opinions on this blog but it's obvious that Ronny belongs in Cooperstown.

Most of the Cubs talk this week has been related to Padres pitcher Jake Peavy. Different sources have been reporting totally different things. I'll try to sort things out:

• Sources have said that the Cubs and Padres have discussed a 3 or 4 team deal involving the Baltimore Orioles and/or the Philadelphia Phillies.
• The Phills have interest in Cubs utility man Mark DeRosa. Rumors have said that DeRosa could go to the Phillies in a 3 team deal that brings Peavy to the Cubs.
• John Perrotto from baseballprospects.com said yesterday that the Cubs might shop Carlos Zambrano after acquiring Peavy. This was a crazy rumor and the Cubs shot it down today.
• Today Jim Salisbury from Philly.com said that Kyle Kendrick could be included in a deal for Peavy.
• The Twins were discussed as a possible 3rd team today.
• Carrie Muskat of Cubs.com say that the Cubs will not trade DeRosa
• Corey Brock of MLB.com said that the Phillies might want Scott Hairston from San Diego.
• Peavy's agent Barry Axelrod has left the meetings, but Buster Olney of ESPN.com says he still thinks the Cubs will get the deal done.
• Other guys that could be leaving the Cubs in the Peavy deal include: Jason Marquis, Ronny Cedeno, Felix Pie, Josh Vitters, Sean Marshall, Rich Hill, Angel Guzman, Jose Ceda, Mike Fontenot, and Wellington Castillo.
• Some sources say that the Peavy talks are being slowed down because of 3 factors: 1. The sale of the Cubs. 2. The Cubs want to dump Marquis salary before adding Peavy's big contract. 3. Some say that the Cubs would like to get a left handed bat that plays right field before adding Peavy.

Speaking of the Cubs looking for a right fielder....

• Jim Hendry met with Seth Levinson, who represents free agent outfielders Milton Bradley and Raul Ibanez today according to Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000.
• Bruce says that Lou Piniella told him the Cubs will add a left handed bat within the next couple of days.
• The Cubs seem to be closest to signing Milton Bradley.

Also former Cub Kerry Wood is close to signing with Clevlend. It will be hard to see Kerry in a different uniform and I think that was a big mistake by Jim Hendry. However, I do think Carlos Marmol will pitch well in the closers role next season.

Thanks For Reading and feel free to post comments.