It's All Over

The last day of the Major League Baseball season is always a sad one. Especially when it ends in early October for the Cubs. Especially when you're capping off a year as bad as this one. Especially when the payroll is expected to drop this winter.

However, there is still a reason to keep an eye on the Chicago Cubs. There is still a reason to hope. The Cubs finished strong. Today's 4-0 loss to the Astros was sour, but they still went 5-2 on the final road trip of the season. They went 24-13 in the 37 games under Mike Quade.

The Astros win today put them in fourth place in the NL Central. The Cubs dropped to fifth with a final record of 75-87. There are a lot of questions to be answered this winter.

Here's the latest from the final weekend of the 2010 season:

• The biggest question going around, "Will Mike Quade return as the Cubs full-time skipper in 2010?" Tom Ricketts and Jim Hendry were asked today, "When do you plan to have a manager in place?"
• Quade told Carrie Muskat that he feel good about his chance to return.
• Cubs legend Ron Santo will be honored in Mesa, Arizona next Saturday. Ron will have another shot at the Hall of Fame in December.
• Bob Melvin was interviewed for the manager's job by Jim Hendry on Saturday in Houston according to the report from the Sun Times.
• Carlos Zambrano wants to Cubs to go after Adam Dunn.
• Speaking of Big Z, Jim Hendry has announced that the big right hander will stay with the Cubs next season.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that if the Cubs wait for Joe Girardi to finish his season to name their manager, they will be taking a risk. Many other candidates may have moved on by that time.
• CSN Chicago reports that Rudy Jaramillo plans to honor his contract as the Cubs hitting coach no matter who the team's manager is.
• While there is no time table for the search for a new manager, Jim Hendry expects to narrow it down in the next couple weeks.
• Tom Ricketts said on the WGN Radio broadcast today that the new manager will be in place by mid-November.
• Paul Sullivan reports that Jim Hendry was pleased with Kosuke's season. Hendry said that Kosuke did a much better job. He does not believe the team over-evaluated the right fielder.
• Carlos Marmol, Geovany Soto, and Sean Marshall are all arbitration eligible. They will all be due big raises once again.
• Xavier Nady is the only Cub set to become a free agent. Aramis Ramirez will take his player option for 2011.

Opening Day is at Wrigley on April 1 against the Pirates! I'll keep you posted on all the rumors and news... the best time to blog on the Cubs is during the winter!

Go Cubs Go!