Breaking News: Kerry Wood Returns to the Cubs

Update 4:55 PM CT It's official. Right hander Kerry Wood has agreed to a 1 year, $1.5 million deal to come back to the Cubs. Chris De Luca's tweet was the first to announce the official word. More on Woody's return later!

There were rumors going around the web last night that Kerry Wood was close to signing with the White Sox, but those turned out to be false. Now, it looks like Woody is going have an encore stint with the Cubs!

David Kaplan was the first to report this story and it has since been confirmed by Carrie Muskat and Ken Rosenthal. It look like it will be a one-year deal. I will update this post as soon as more information becomes available.

Crosstown Showdown History

The Cubs and White Sox have been meeting each year since interleague play started in 1997. Bragging rights are on the line and this year even more so with both teams struggling and the BP Crosstown Cup up for grabs for the first time. Yesterday's game was not pretty, but hopefully the Cubs step it up the rest of the weekend at Wrigley.

Before we preview the rest of this year's Crosstown Showdown, let's take a look back at the history of the Cubs/White Sox series.

The two teams in the Windy City met for the first time on October 9, 1906 in Game 1 of the World Series. The Sox won the series in six games. The two clubs have never met in the World Series again to date, and they would not play each other at all in games that counted until interleague play in '97. The season series consisted of only one three game set at Comiskey Park in '97. The Cubbies won the first regular season game ever against to Sox on June 16, 1997 by a score of 8-3. The home South Siders bounced back and took two of three.

In 1998 the first and only sweep in the Crosstown Classic took place when the Cubs took all three at Wrigley Field. The next year the six game (3 in each park) format began. In 2006, one of the most famous (or infamous) Crosstown Series moments took place. Michael Barrett punched A.J. Pierzynski in the face after A.J. ran over Michael on the play at the plate. A bench clearing brawl and four ejections followed the punch.

For the first time ever both clubs in the Windy City met as division leaders in 2008. The road team won all six games of the series that year resulting in a 3-3 season tie. A Cubs/Sox game was postponed for the first time in 2009. It was made up in September, but both teams were already out of the race.

With the win yesterday, the White Sox now lead the All-Time regular season series 38-35. The Sox have won the season series six times, the Cubs have won three times, and they've split the six games four times.

Coming up at 3:10 on FOX the series continues with Game 2 at Wrigley. Carlos Silva, who's looking to improve upon his perfect 8-0 record, will pitch against Mark Buehrle. Tomorrow night the final game of Part 1 of the showdown will take place on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball at 7:05 CT. Ted Lilly (1-5) and Gavin Floyd (2-6) are both having tough years. They will face off tomorrow on the hill.

Cubs/Sox Series at U.S. Cellular Field:
Friday June 25 3:05 CSN
Saturday June 26 6:10 FOX
Sunday June 27 1:05 WGN

When the Cubs are in need of a win... Silva's the right guy to have going!

-"I don't care who wins as long was it's the Cubs."

The Latest as the GM Meetings Close

• The GM Meetings ended at noon today.
• Adrian Gonzalez won the NL Gold Glove for first base today. Derrek Lee did not get the award, so no Cubs received Gold Gloves.
• Tomorrow the Silver Sluggers will be announced.
• Rich Harden's agent, Arn Tellem, said today that he has not seem Jim Hendry at the GM Meetings, but they have talked. "I'm sure we'll be talking more in the next week or two," he told Bruce Miles.
• A report from Ken Rosenthal yesterday started the speculation that Marlon Byrd is on the Cubs radar. Byrd could be the Cubs new center fielder in 2010 once Bradley is traded, with Kosuke moving to right.
• Mike Cameron is another outfield option for the Cubs.
• Accoring to a Report from FoxSports.com the Cubs are nearing a deal with LHP John Grabow. The deal could be for 2 years.
• Jim Hendry would like to have a couple of deals done in the next few weeks before the winter meetings begin on December 7.
• The Cubs and Rangers continued talks yesterday on a deal that would send Milton Bradley back to his former team, according to the Chicago Tribune.
• The Giants are not willing to do a bad contract sway for Bradley.
• The Mets and Rays are also options for the Cubs to deal their right fielder.
• The Cubs are in no hurry to open up talks with Derrek Lee on a contract extension.
• The Cubs and White Sox will battle in Vegas again in Spring Training 2010. The Cubs will be returning to Cashman Field for the 6th straight year. The games will be March 12 and 13 this year, and they will be split-squads for both teams.
• The full White Sox Spring Training schedule is out. The Cubs and Sox have 3 other meetings: Saturday March 6 in Mesa, Sunday March 7 in Glendale, and Friday March 19 in Glendale.
• The Cleveland Indians also have their schedule out, so we know that the Cubs will play them on March 22 in Mesa.
• The South Siders start their Spring Training on March 5, so expect to the Cubs start around that date (a little later then last year). The full Cubs Spring Training Schedule has not yet been released.
• Bruce Miles notes that the Cubs have a lot of arbitration-eligible players this offseason.
• Carlos Marmol, Jeff Baker, Sean Marshall, Ryan Thriot, Koyie Hill, and Angel Guzman are all on the arb list.
• Jim Hendry is not looking for a short stop. He's very happy with Theriot and he expects Fontenot and Miles to have bounce back year. Also, Jim likes Andres Blanco's defense.
• There's been no talk with Carlos Zambrano about waiving his no trade clause.
• Mike Fontenot has earned "Super Two" status, which means he could get a big raise.

The latest from Bruce Levine's chat yesterday:

• Right now, the teams most interested in Milton Bradley are Tampa, the Mets, Texas, and possibly the Angels. Hendry talked with Tampa Bay a lot this week.
• The Cubs will most likely pick up a player that another team wants to get rid of in the Bradley trade like Lyle Overbay, Luis Castillo, or Pat Burrell.
• The Cubs are counting on Rudy Jaramillo to get the very best out of guys that slumped in 2009.
• Jim Hendry has no money to spend on Free Agents at this point. If the Cubs add someone, it will most likely be via trade.
• Mike Cameron is the Cubs "Plan D out of A, B, C, and D according to Levine.
• The Bradley for Castillo trade talks are not strong.
• The Cubs are looking to get a better player, whether he is right handed or left handed.
• Sam Fuld is a diabetic, so the Cubs are hesitant to make him a full-time player because of his disease.
• An Orlando Cabrera type signing would be "difficult to fit in the budget right now".
• The Cubs are trying to project their own guys like Caridad for roles in the bullpen next year.
• They do have some interest in Mike Gonzalez, but they should be able to finish negotiations with John Grabow in the next 10 days.
• Jake Fox is a 24th or 25th player on a good team in Bruce's opinion.
• He thinks Bradley will end up on an AL team.
• Dan Uggla is not a good fit for the Cubs because of his lack of defensive skill.
• Levine gives it a 5% chance that Milton will be on the Cubs roster on Opening Day.
• The only way the Cubs will add a guy like Roy Halladay is if they trade Zambrano, and at this point that doesn't appear to be happening.
• His guess is that the Cubs will eat about $5 million of Bradley's salary.
• Rich Hill is not a good alternative for the Cubs. (Um Duh..)
• Alfonso Soriano is working hard in the Dominican right now.
• If the Cubs get Kevin Millwood in a Bradley, they could turn around and try to trade him again, or they could keep even though he's injury prone.
• Levine shoots down the idea of Mark DeRosa returning to the Cubs.
• The Cubs don't want Pat Burrell, but they want Milton Bradley a lot less.
• Bruce like Marlo0n Byrd.
• The Cubs could be interested in Ramon Troncosa, a power arm from the Dodgers.

Bruce's chats have a lot of great info. He does one every Tuesday, so each week I will try to get a recap up with Cubs related highlights.

That's it for now, I'll keep you posted as the hot stove continues to burn...

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 to Play Sox at Cashman Field, Cubs '09 Spring Training Schedule

The Cubs and the White Sox have added 2 games to their spring training schedule.

The 2 teams will meet in Las Vegas on March 4th and 5th. Both teams will be playing split-squads during these 2 days. The March 4 game will be at 8:05 PM CT. The game on the 5th will be at 2:05 CT. The Cubs and Sox will now play 5 times during the spring.



Here is the Cubs full 2009 Spring Training Schedule:

Feb. 25 VS LAD, Mesa, 2:05 CT

Feb. 26 VS MIL, Mesa, 2:05 CT

Feb. 27 VS TEX, Surprise, 2:05 CT

Feb. 28 VS CWS, Mesa, 2:05 CT

Mar. 1 VS SD, Peoria, 2:05 CT

Mar. 2 VS ARI, Mesa, 2:05 CT

Mar. 3 VS OAK, Mesa, 2:05 CT

Mar. 4(ss) VS CLE, Goodyear, 2:05 CT

VS CWS, Las Vegas, 8:05 CT

Mar. 5 VS CWS, Las Vegas, 2:05 CT

Mar. 6 VS LAD, Mesa, 2:05 CT

Mar. 7 VS MIL, Maryvale, 2:05 CT

Mar. 8 VS TEX, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 9 VS KC, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 10 VS SEA, Peoria, 3:05 CT

Mar. 11 OFF

Mar. 12 WBC

Mar. 13(ss) VS Sea, Mesa, 3:05 CT

VS LAA, Tempe, 3:05 CT

Mar. 14 VS LAA, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 15 VS ARI, Tuscan, 3:05 CT

Mar. 16 VS MIL, Maryvale, 3:05 CT

Mar. 17 VS LAD, Glendale, 3:05 CT

Mar. 18 VS SF, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 19 VS SEA, Peoria, 3:05 CT

Mar. 20 VS SD, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 21 VS CWS, Glendale, 3:05 CT

Mar. 22 VS SEA, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 23 VS OAK, Phoenix, 3:05 CT

Mar. 24 VS COL, Mesa

Mar. 25 OFF

Mar. 26 VS SF, Scottsdale, 3:05 CT

Mar. 27 VS CWS, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 28 VS COL, Tuscan, 3:05 CT

Mar. 29 VS CLE, Mesa, 3:05 CT

Mar. 30 VS KC, Surprise, 3:05 CT

April 1 VS OAK, Phoenix, 3:05 CT

April 2 VS CLE, Mesa, 2:05 CT

April 3 VS NYY, New Yankee Stadium, 6:05 CT

April 4 VS NYY, New Yankee Stadium, 12:05 CT



The Cubs will host a luncheon with some of the Cubs players during the Cubs caravan. It will be held on Jan. 14 from 11 AM to 1 PM CT at Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse. Tickets are $100. The money will benefit Cubs Care. Space is limited to 120 guests. Jim Hendry will speak about the upcoming season and one Cubs representative will be seated at each table. Tickets go on Sale Wednesday at 10 AM CT by calling 773-404-CUBS.



Also, the Cubs, NHL, and the Chicago Blackhawks will an open skate at Wrigley Field's temporary ice rink on January 4 from 9 AM to 4 PM CT. However, the event for neighborhood residents is already sold out. Find more information at Cubs.com.



And finally, several sources say that the Cubs are expected to sign Joey Gathright to add to the Cubs bench for next year. Gathright was non-tendered by the Royals last week.

I'll keep you posted.