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Apparently, Tom Ricketts is going to be the new owner of the Chicago Cubs.  Ricketts has personal ties with the Cubs as he is a huge fan, he met his wife in the bleachers, and once lived in a building near Wrigley Field.  Ricketts’ deal is in the $900 million neighborhood; that’s a major increase from the $21 million that Tribune Company paid to buy the franchise back in 1981.  It should be interesting to see what kinds of change Ricketts can bring to the organization!

In other random news: The Under Armour signs may be gone because of a disagreement on terms of the contract between the company and the Chicago Cubs.  And Wrigley Field is supposedly supposed to undergo some major renovation soon in order to be complete by 2014 (it would be the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field).  Changes would include new concessions, bathrooms, and the construction of the triangle building.

There’s really not much to talk about today with the Cubs.  I think the new owner is supposed to be announced very soon… by soon, I mean probably tomorrow.  I believe that it is currently down to Hersch Klaff and the Ricketts family with Ricketts being the outside favorite.

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to take a look in on Wrigley Field today.  I thought it would be neat to see how it looks with all the snow covering the bleachers, the field, and everywhere else.  They sure got that ice rink out of there just in time for the big snow storm.  Happy cold weather everyone.

Once again, Andre Dawson misses out on the Hall of Fame.   Another former Chicago Cub that misses the Hall by a few percentage points (see Ron Santo).  This sucks.  The Cubs peaked on September 20, when they clinched the division.  Since then, there hasn’t been a whole lot to be excited about.  The playoffs were a bust.  There have not been any thrilling trades or pickups.  Ron Santo misses the Hall.  And now Andre Dawson misses out too.  And to top it all off, the Cubs are still up for sale, but Mark Cuban is out of the running (I guess Ricketts is a good candidate, but he’s no Cuban).

At least we aren’t Seattle.

Tomorrow is the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement.  According to a recent article , the entire press conference will be covered on the new MLB Network starting at 1:30PM EST.

This link will give you all the information on the candidates on this year’s ballot.   Here is the official list taken from that site:

Harold Baines
Jay Bell
Bert Blyleven
David Cone
Andre Dawson
Ron Gant
Mark Grace
Rickey Henderson
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Jesse Orosco
Dave Parker
Dan Plesac
Tim Raines
Jim Rice
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell
Greg Vaughn
Mo Vaughn
Matt Williams

The players whose name I put in bold were former Chicago Cub players.  It is expected that Rickey Henderson will make the Hall of Fame for sure because he is the all time leader in runs scored and stolen bases.

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote a real good article about the off season moves of the Chicago Cubs and the rest of the National League Central.

I found Rogers’ take on the off season to be pretty rational.  I think he makes a great point when he says that while the Cubs may have only made a few trades, they have benefited even more from the other NL Central teams doing nothing.  Rogers also points out that only seven teams have made any significant transactions that will improve the club.  According to Rogers, only two of those teams come from the National Leage: The San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets.  The other five include: the Yankees, Athletics, Indians, Orioles, and Royals.  He also goes on to say that the trend of the American League being the stronger league will only continue as free agents like Manny Ramirez and others are likely to move into the American League where they can contend.

I don’t really care about the whole “American League” is better stuff… I mean, the Cardinals won in 2006 and the Phillies just won it in 2008.  Just make the World Series and just about anything can happen.  Who cares what the Cubs do… as long as they actually win some games come October, then it’s all good.

According to what was really the only Cubs news of the day, the Chicago Cubs will be broadcasting nine of their Spring Training games.  Among the highlights of the broadcast schedule are that Comcast SportsNet will air three games; including one of the games against the New York Yankees in New Yankee Stadium, and WGN will air six including the first look at the 2009 Cubs on March 4 against the White Sox in Las Vegas.

In case you are interested, the broadcast schedule looks like this:
(retrieved from Cubs.com)

March 4- vs. White Sox @ Las Vegas (WGN)
March 5- vs. White Sox @ Las Vegas (WGN)
March 7- @ Brewers (WGN)
March 14- vs. Angels (WGN)
March 20- vs. Padres (WGN)
March 22- vs. Mariners (Comcast SportsNet)
March 27- vs. White Sox (WGN)
March 30- @ Royals (Comcast SportsNet)
April 4- @ Yankees (Comcast SportsNet)

The Cubs made it official today by hosting a press conference to announce the signing of Milton Bradley.  They made such a big deal out of it that you’d think he was the second coming of Sammy Sosa or something.  OK— Sammy might be a bad example, but I guess he may be somewhat fitting (I’m thinking of late Sammy).

So despite all of my pessimism over Bradley coming to the Cubs, the Chicago based media is trying to sell this as a great signing.  I am not exactly sure if I would agree with the media right now.  I can see why they would say that, but I think the prescene of Bradley in the clubhouse can not be overlooked.  And then you’ve got people like David Kaplan on Chicago Tribune Live saying that all of Bradley’s ex-teammates have said that Bradley brings something special to a team.  Of course Kaplan is going to say something like this… especially when Bradley is sitting right next to him on the set of the show.

The point is that I guess I shouldn’t be so negative about Milton Bradley, but it is going to take a lot to convince me about this guy.  Kind of like Alfonso Soriano…. I am still not a member of the Soriano bandwagon and I don’t plan on hopping on anytime soon.  We will see.

I love how flighty Jim Hendry can be… actually, I hate it.

So apparently, Hendry wants to start up the Jake Peavy talks yet again.  This is what now, the fourth time this offseason that the media has “restarted” the Jake Peavy talks?  I think this got old the second or third time that this happened.  I don’t want to start believing in this garbage again, but I guess it makes sense why I would get my hopes up…

A quick refresher on the current starting rotation:
1- Zambrano
2- Harden
3- Dempster
4- Lilly
5- Marshall

Hendry mentions that he wants to get a new pitcher because we just lost Marquis.  He hints that while Sean Marshall and Chad Gaudin may be good choices, as well as Jeff Samardzja, Kevin Hart, and Angel Guzman.  Obviously, the biggest problem with acquiring Peavy would be taking on that large contract.

The circus begins again, let’s see what happens this time around.

Here is all the latest that I have heard from today:

-The Cubs are getting close to naming a new owner of the team.  The field has been narrowed to about three candidates and there should be some announcment before Opening Day 2009.

-It was announced that Milton Bradley has agreed to a 3 year, $30 million deal with the Cubs.  The acquisition of Bradley is supposed to be the Cubs’ answer to acquiring a left handed bat.

-The Cubs are still waiting to announce a move involving Jason Marquis.  It is expected that he will be sent to the Colorado Rockies for Luis Vizcaino.  The announcment is expected to be made later today.

Are you freaking kidding me ?  I get it.  We need some left handed/switch hitters in the lineup, but seriously?  Did we need to go with Milton Bradley?  As much as I want to think that this is a good move, I have a hard time seeing the good in it.  I guess you can refer to this blog that I posted back in December.  I just have a bad feeling when I think of the attitudes that we now have on this team: Soriano and his lackluster defense, Bradley and his temper, Zambrano and his “Whatever, I’ll do what I want” aura, and I am sure that you can all fill in the blanks with the others.

Maybe I’m just really still upset that we’ve replaced the classy guys like Mark DeRosa and Kerry Wood and all that we will have to show for it is– Milton Bradley.