And there's the white flag

We surrender! Please, get Jose Contreras out of here!

Well, this was something that I thought should have happened last offseason, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. The Sox traded away both Jim Thome and Jose Contreras last night, dropping the average age of the team by 5 years (10 when we learn that Contreras isn't really 30-something) and clearing a whole lot of cash for...well, we don't know yet. Probably re-signing Danks to a longer deal and then getting a free agent or two to replace the soon-to-be-gap from Jermaine Dye.

In exchange, the Sox sent cash to get these guys out of town and received Justin Fuller and Brandon Hynick. I don't know a lot about these two guys just yet, other than that Hynick (24) looks like he might be up for the 5th starter spot or long relief sooner than later. Don't worry about Fuller, as he looks like Brent Lillibridge part deux.

So what does it mean? There's a couple possibilities:

#1. The Sox want Tyler Flowers to get real experience
Flowers is hardly a defensive catcher, and with AJ being the force that he is right now, it's not likely that he would get the playing time he needs. However, I do see that a DH spot just opened up for a guy with bad fielding skills...

#2. Josh Fields is worth another look
Another possibility is getting Konerko some time at DH and having Fields play 1B more often. I find this less likely simply because Konerko is a great glove at 1B (he may not have the range, but he can pick missiles out of the dirt) and because Fields is allergic to belt-high fastballs.

#3. Scott Podsednik is unloved
If there's one thing I've noticed this season it's that Pods hasn't really gotten a lot of credit for anything since June, and he hasn't really done anything to earn it. With the acquisitions of Kotsay and Rios, KW is saying "I don't think you're an everyday outfielder." That said, expect Pods to be moved to a Timo Perez-like role next season if the basic outfield returns. If the Sox lose Dye or Quentin (or both), then he gets to keep his job in LF.

#4. Quentin?
Lost in all of this is that Quentin's contract (along with Bobby Jenks and a few other choice names) is expiring at the end of the season. As much as I want to think that the money saved on Thome and Contreras will be spent on a large FA acquisition or resigning a lot of these guys, I expect neither. Unless Quentin comes cheap (and with his injury history, he might), don't expect to see a lot of familiar faces next year. The only player who seems to necessitate a new contract is Danks. After that, it's all in KW's wallet.

Cubs Decision Making Less Impaired With Each Passing Day

"Oh yeah, Ryan...that feels great...finish me off, pal..."

For some reason, players are expressing loyalty to return to the Cubs. Not only that, but they are expressing a desire to return to a team with a "storied history" for a discount! On Tuesday, Ryan Dempster signed a 4-year contract to return to the equivalent of baseball purgatory - at a discount.

How much of a discount, you ask?

Dempster technically signed a $52 million contract, but he could easily make far less than that. Throwing his signing bonus into next year's salary, Dempster earns $12 mil in 2009, 1$2.5 mil in 2010 and $13.5 mil in 2011 with an option for $14 mil in 2012.

To put that in perspective, Buehrle's extension (signed in 2007, when players were slightly cheaper) gives him $14 million for all four years (more than Dempster makes in any year), no trade rights in 2008 (something Dempster does not have) and a clause that if he does get traded, his salary bumps to $15 million a year and adds a year to the contract (keep dreaming, Ryan).

Now, I'm not saying that Dempster is a better or worse pitcher than Buehrle, but I am saying that they have had close enough numbers where their contracts would be indicative of their value (Buerhle has plenty of "implode in the second half" seasons). For a guy who posted the best season of his career - and as a starter, no less - the Cubs definately got a relatively safe passage.

For the Cubs' sake. let's hope his career path doesn't mimic Carl Pavano's.

Kerry Wood If He Could

After one too many surgeries, even peeing is a problem

I meant to touch on this Friday, but I really wanted to make sure that Kerry Wood wasn't coming back. I mean, Wood is kinda like that hobo on Taylor street who comes up to your car with a spray bottle and a roll of paper towels. You tell him, "no, I'm great, don't need the window wiped. I don't have any money for you. Thanks anyways." Kerry Wood knows better, though. He proceeds to muck your window up anyways, and because you always do have the money, you pay him out of guilt. Rinse and repeat.

This time, it seems that the Cubs are really rolling the windows up and driving away, as every comment I've seen essentially says, "Kerry deserves more money and a longer contract...somewhere else. [Please go away, I just had my windows cleaned.]" They even went out and got another player to fill Wood's role - just to show they were serious.

Most people know that Wood's agent contacted the Cubs for a multi-year deal, and was turned down for "financial reasons." But did you know Kerry tried to come back to the Cubs for a one-year contract? That's right - like a loyal dog, Wood wanted to help the team and come back on the cheap. He wanted to keep trying to make up for all those years of medical failure.

And the Cubs still won't have any of it.

While Kerry sits outside on the porch and scrapes at the door, the Cubs have brought in Kevin Gregg and let him eat the table scraps. Gregg just had his best year in baseball...at 30 years old. There's also that whole "coming off of surgery" thing that's never good news. Couple this with the fact that Gregg is a bit of a slow starter, and he might become the Cubs' new whipping post by the end of May. Does anyone remember how "fun" it was to torture Jacques Jones and Juan Pierre? Yeah, I thought so.

I wish Kerry the best...and the path of Mark Grace: get shunned by your team after giving them almost 10 years of service just to go on and win the World Series the following year with another squad.

Renting Griese

I hate ballet

Another day, another shrewd move by the Bears. Just two years into a 5-year deal, the Bears dealt Brian Griese back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a 2009 draft pick.

I can't imagine how this deal could have gone any better.

First of all, we don't have to pay Griese's $300,000 bonus. We also don't have to deal with yet another mediocre QB creating a controversy next year. We save cash, and best of all, we get something BACK -- and all we did was borrow him from the Bucs for two years!

Unfortunately, the Bears also announced that they have no plans to pursue Ayanbadejo, so we'll see if the Bears have some mast plan (if any) on what to do with the money surplus.

My guess? Re-negotiate contracts with Harris, Urlacher and Hester, and spend the rest of the offseason planning for the draft.

Lord help us if we don't get an offensive lineman...

Breaking: Bears Sign Briggs

No Lance, Thank You

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. The Bears just announced a six-year deal for Lance Briggs today, and I couldn't be happier. Briggs is easily the best defensive player on the team (yes, better than Urlacher, I said it), and he's worth every penny. I say "every penny" without a specific amount because this news is so breaking that the terms of the deal haven't been disclosed yet.

Rather than prattle on about Briggs, I'll just let the Bears.com website do it:

"Ranked by most publications as one of the top players on the open market, Briggs will return to the Bears after agreeing to a deal that runs through 2013. The 2003-third-round pick has been selected to the Pro Bowl each of the past three seasons.

In 2007, Briggs ranked second on the Bears with 140 tackles and led the team with 10 tackles-for-loss. The Arizona product also had two sacks, one pass breakup two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery."

I'm pissed about losing Berrian -- it's true. I also wanted the Bears to make a run at Faneca.

Briggs more than makes up for it.

Next on our shopping list: Go get us some offensive linemen!

No Moss

Worst. Day. Ever.

Look, I'm happy that the Bears have cleared about 20-30 million from their cap, and that there's more savings to come, but you're surely on crack if you think that money would be best spent on Randy Moss.

Let's look at some quick facts that keep Moss off this team:

#1. Personality. The Bears of the 1980's were all about flashiness and style, things that Moss would have excelled in. However, the current Bears team is very much about teamwork and selflessness (see: universal hatred of Cedric Benson for his holdout). If Moss continues to be his usual entertaining self, he may find that he doesn't have an audience for it.

Oh, and then there's all the crime and anti-team behavior. You know: not playing games when you don't feel like it, marijuana, and, of course, the Straight Cash Homey incident.

#2. Oakland. I cannot stress this enough. Bringing in an A+ receiver does not a good team make. The Raiders brought in Moss to give their team a legit receiving threat (to go along with LaMont Jordan on the ground) in what seemed like a surefire move to get the Raiders back into contention. Well, except that the rest of the team still sucked, and Moss didn't see why he should put himself on the line for a bad team. This says it all.

Moss flopped around like a dead fish, and underperformed for a team that likes to throw the deep ball. Heck, they even had a speedster (Porter) to take some heat off of Moss on the deep routes. It just doesn't matter if Moss doesn't care. If Moss can turn his back on Oakland (which had a much better run game than we do), why not Chicago?

#3. Money. As much cap room as we've saved, I find it hard to believe that the Bears would go after the top WR available with so many other holes to fill. Moss had a 2007 performance that nets him the big bucks, and it's not likely that the Bears would blow all that cap room on just one player (Unless his name is Lance Briggs).

The Moose is Loose

That just about sums it up

If you didn't already hear the news, Muhsin Muhammad was released yesterday. This clears the Bears of nearly $4 million dollars that Moose would have gotten by staying with the team through 2010. This is, however, only half the story. If Moose were a "clubhouse cancer" or "me-first" type player, I would understand the move. Likewise, if Moose were on a team filled with younger players that could outshine him, it would also be logical to move an older player.

The problem is, none of these things are true.

Moose was one of the lone defenders of Grossman during his struggles, and took the work ethic of the receiving corps to new heights. He took most of the blame for any loss upon himself, and finished 2005 and 2006 as the team's leading WR (Berrian took those honors in 2007, but with the offense as dismal as it was, that's nothing to cheer about). Not only was Moose a solid player amid a mess of inconsistencies, but there really isn't anyone else on the squad who can overtake him as the WR1 or WR2 on the depth chart (and they don't want to risk running Hester every play, so don't even try telling me that).

The real reason, I believe, is to better allocate his salary (much like the cut of Fred Miller) into one of three places:

#1. Re-signing Lance Briggs. This is the correct move, as Briggs proved last year that he can be everything Urlacher is and more. With Urlacher having the dreaded neck surgery, Briggs will be more valuable than ever. Give him every penny because, hey, he's earned it. This also allows the Bears to use the unrestricted free agent tag on Berrian (more on that here), netting them some return instead of just letting him walk.

#2. Re-signing Bernard Berrian. While not the best move, it would certainly explain the willingness to part with Moose so hastily. The Bears could then bring in Marty Booker on the cheap, and have a similarly potent 1-2 WR corps for half the price of Moose and Berrian. This, of course, allows Briggs to walk -- not my favorite resolution.

#3. Letting both walk and using the money on something else entirely. Very possible. The Bears have a few players that are now on the chopping block because of money (Griese and Darwin Walker just to name a few), and have expressed interest in bringing back players such as Grossman. It's very possible that a lot of players get shiny new restructured contracts, and the Bears sign only Marty Booker just to fill the gap Moose left.

However this turns out, I think the Bears may have gone into "double edged sword" territory. As much as I won't miss Moose dropping the easy catches (above) or his slowing routes, I will miss his work ethic and consistency.

Here's hoping this one doesn't come back to bite us in the ass...

And I Thought It Was Zell's Inside Man

When Flintstones go bad

Simply getting robbed of a division title is SO last century.

The Cubs decided to get a kick start on losing year #100 by just getting flat-out robbed.

"Todd Robert Smith, 44, was arrested Saturday and accused of taking items from a number of locations including the Chicago Cubs training facility...The Cub players were pitcher Jeff Samardzija, catcher Jake Fox and outfielder Tyler Colvin. Police said all three players had personal items stolen, which included checkbooks, cell phones and credit cards."

When Sam Zell said he was going to squeeze every penny out of this franchise, he wasn't kidding! Interestingly, Smith confessed to the Cubs burglaries, and hundreds more. Why? Because he's addicted to meth. Seriously -- that was his excuse. I've got to remember to do that next time I get into trouble.

More importantly, why steal from a football player, a rookie/spring training invitee, and a career AAA catcher? Not a single one of these players is useful or has a full-time spot on the team -- whose bright idea was it to skip over Fukudome's locker? You could just tell him that it was "American Taxes" that charged over $1,000 at a local Wal-Mart.

Welcome to Spring Training, indeed.

The Detroit Yankees

The singles were for keeping Todd Jones

The Tigers had taken a lot of beatings from the White Sox from 1995-2005, but it looks like money does make a team after all. The Tigers just signed Curtis Granderson to a 5 year $30.25 million contract -- before he was even eligible for free agency. This marks yet another expensive move by the Tigers that (unfortunately) makes them even better in the long haul.

At some point in 2004, the Tigers decided that they were going to become big spenders. They were coming off an 119-loss season (an AL record), and had a middle of the road payroll. First they offered Magglio the largest and longest contract (by far), and then they signed Pudge Rodriguez to a similarly huge deal. There were some minor wheelings and dealings over the past few years (not going to knock their starting pitching in 06 -- that was solid), and then this year they came out spending again.

First they went after Edgar Renteria, and then followed with the unthinkable trade for Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. These players cost money! Any holes that the offense had were filled and then some. It's not like Brandon Inge wasn't a good 3B, and now he has to go back to playing catcher to try and get a backup spot on the team!

The real question is, do you need to spend so much money to be a good team? I hate that baseball encourages teams to abandon their star players because they're too good (and therefore too expensive), but there's something to be said when a team like the Tigers (or the Cubs!) blows a couple hundred million in an offseason and magically becomes competitive. If your team is bad, it should be because you have a lousy farm system -- not because you're a penny pincher. It's part of the reason I'm secretly an A's fan -- they're competitive every year with shrewd acquisitions and homegrown talent.

God, baseball needs a strike.