Breaking News: Cubs Sign Carlos Pena

The Cubs have signed first baseman Carlos Pena to a one-year, $10 million year.

To help the payroll in 2011, the team will not pay Pena the final $5 million until January of 2012. Pena was offered multi-year deals elsewhere, but he says Chicago was his preference. He loves the city and thinks the team has a shot to win.

Carlos was irked by plantar fasciitis last season but is supposedly fully recovered. Time shall tell.

Notes on Carlos Pena:

• Bats/Throws: Left
• Position: First Base
• Birthday: May 17
• Age: 32
• Last Season's Number: 23 (that will have to change since it is retired for Ryne Sandberg)
• Previous Teams: Rays ('08-'10), Red Sox ('06), Tigers ('02-'05), A's (2002) and Rangers (2001).
• Drafted: By the Rangers in the first round (10th overall) of the 1998 draft.
• MLB Debut: September 5, 2001
• 2010 Stats: 144 games, .196 AVG, .325 OBP, 28 HR, 84 RBIs
• Career Stats: .244 AVG, .351 OBP, 28 HR, 84 RBIs

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted!

Notes from Day 2 at the Winter Meetings

It's the second day of the 2010 MLB Winter Meetings in Florida. Although rumors and news surrounding the team itself will take a backburner this week because of the passing of Ron Santo, let's get caught up on what has happened at the meetings.

• Yesterday the Cubs named Mark Riggins their pitching coach. Riggins previously served as the Cubs minor league pitching coordinator and spent many years in the Cardinals organization. He spent two years on the Cards big league staff under Joe Torre in the '90s.
• Tennessee Smokies pitching coach Dennis Lewellyn will be promoted to fill the roving role that was held by Riggins in 2010.
• CBS Sports reports that the Cubs are targeting Adam LaRoche.
• Bruce Miles doubts their interest in LaRoche.
• Jon Heyman thinks that the Cubs would like to add Carlos Pena to fill their first base opening.
• Jerry Crasnik of ESPN tweeted today that Brandon Webb's representatives were to meet with the Cubs this afternoon. Webb has been connected to the Cubs over the past week or two.
• The Arizona Diamond Backs have interest in inking Xavier Nady.
• The White Sox signed a pair of former Cubs in Daryle Ward and Jeff Gray. Both men were given minor league deals.
• Thanks to BCB for this one- the Pittsburgh Post Gazette says that the Cubs are shopping Tom Gorzelanny. With Casey Coleman, Carlos Zambrano, Carlos Silva, Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells all in the rotation mix as well, this reports may be accurate.
• Ken Rosenthal has connected Kerry Wood to the White Sox, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
• The Orioles will be in on Derrek Lee.
• Speaking of former Cubs, Kevin Gregg and Rich Harden both have offers on the table. Rich could come back as a reliever.
• Bruce Levine says that Kosuke is back on the trade block, but only if Hendry knows he can get another left handed bat to take his place.

I'll update with any other news that breaks tonight.

Breaking News: Mark Riggins Named the Cubs Pitching Coach

Mark Riggins has been named the pitching coach of the Chicago Cubs. Riggins was previously the minor league pitching coordinator. More news and updates from the winter meetings later...

Ron's Greatest Moments in the Booth

Here is the countdown of my top ten moments of Ron Santo during his 20 seasons in the WGN Radio broadcast booth.

10. Sir, can you please SIT DOWN!
A couple of seasons ago a fan holding up a large sign in Houston stood up and blocked Ronny's view of the game. Over the air, the Cubs legend screamed at the fan and asked him to have a seat.

9. Carrot Cake
At some point during the early part of the last decade, Ron asked Pat what type of cake he liked to eat on his Birthday. Hughes said he was a fan of carrot cake, and Ron sounded disgusted when he said "You can't have carrot cake on your birthday!". This hilarious clip is available on The Best of Pat & Ron CD, which you can order on WGNRadio.com.

8. YESSSSSSS!!!!
"YEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! YES sir!!! YESSSSSSSSS!" Ron's priceless reaction when the Cubs won the division in 2008.

7. "If this kid keeps pitching like this we might be in a World Series."
Ron's heartfelt commentary during the Kerry Wood 20 strikeout game in 2008. This classic was replayed yesterday on WGN Radio.

6. Pat's Sweater
Ronny always gave his partner a hard time about the old smelly sweaters that Pat would put in the Wrigley Field closet and break out when the weather got nippy. This sweater was a frequent topic of conversation over the years until finally Santo got fed up with it and stole it. He donated it to a carwash for them to use as a rag.

5. Boltzy
Any reference to producer Matt Boltz's drinking habits were always enjoyed by listeners. Ronny had a lot of fun over the years at Bolty's expense. At one time when describing a particular incident Ron had, Pat said "It was very late at night... It was with Matt Boltz."

4. "Oh Nooooo!"
Ron uttered this phrase over the air many times, but the most popular one came in 1998. Everyone knows about went Brant Brown a routine fly ball and Santo screamed the two words.

3. Speaking of Two Words...
Thom Brennaman loves to share the story about the first words Ron Santo ever uttered over the air as the Cubs color commentator. Ron, Bob Brenly and Thom were beginning their first season as the WGN-720 broadcast team in 1990. Spring Training was in the books, but it was Opening Day and the first game that counted ever with the new team in the booth. Just as the red light went on to signal that they were on the air, a gust of wind picked up and blew Ron's papers all over the place. Ron uttered two words that Thom says "you cannot say on radio, but Ron Santo said them." The legend was off and running!

2. The Question
In the early 1990s when the games were on national TV, Harry Caray would come to the radio booth to join Brennaman and Santo for all nine innings. During one game, things got a little dull so the fantastic trio started talking about Ron's hairpiece. Harry asked the famous question. "Thommy, I'm gonna take the dare. I gotta ask you Ron, when you go to bed at night, with your lovely wife, do you wear your toupee?" Santo's reply came after tons of laughter. "Harry, I take that off and a put a hat on!"

1. It's on fire!!!
Pat Hughes' favorite Ron Santo story is the time his hairpiece caught on fire at Shea Stadium in 2003. We've all heard the story lots of times. During the National Anthem of a game in April, Pat saw smoke billowing out from the top of Ron's head. This moments was discussed many times for the next seven years.

Come baseball season, it is not going to be the same.

Ron Roundup

We'll get back to Cubs news when the winter meetings start on Monday, but for now it's all about Ron Santo. Number ten has been honor all over the Internet, TV and radio over the last two days. Here's the latest.

• Tomorrow at noon central time MLB Network will air "This Old Cub".
• Tomorrow at 1:00 CT the Carlos Zambrano no-hitter will be replayed on WGN Radio.
• The Honoring Ron programing continues on WGN-720 at 3:00 with "Cubs Confidential" featuring #10, and then with Sports Central from 4:00 to 5:50.
• Bleed Cubbie Blue posted a cartoon to the Cubs legend today.
• There is talk that Pat Hughes will make a CD to remember Ron.
• Click for the Ron Santo page on WGN-720's site.
• George Castle wrote about how ashamed HOF voters should be.
• TCR did a nice job talking about Ronny.
• Pat Hughes said last night in a TV interview that it seemed like Ron was indestructible and that he would always bounce back. Sadly, this time he didn't.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted.

More on Ronny

It has been a very tough day for me and any Cubs fan. Ron Santo represented this organization in such a unique and amazing way. His enthusiasm and sense of humor in the booth as well as his prolific playing career will never be forgotten.

WGN Radio has done a great job honoring Ron all day long and the coverage will continue throughout the weekend. Listen to audio of all the coverage you missed today on www.wgnradio.com/santo.

Here is the schedule for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday
1:00 to 3:00- Kerry Wood 20 K game rebroadcast
3:00 to 4:00- Cubs Confidential with Ron Santo
4:00 to 6:00- Ron Santo edition of Sports Central with Koz and Memolo

Sunday
1:00 to 2:00- Cubs Confidential with Ron Santo (one-on-one interview with David Kaplan)
2:00 to 4:00- Rebroadcast of Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter
4:00 to 5:50- Ron Santo edition of Sports Central with Koz and Jill Carlson

Next Friday morning number ten's funeral will be broadcast live on WGN-TV.

Breaking News: Ron Santo Dead at Age 70

Cubs legend Ron Santo died early this morning due to complications from bladder cancer. Ron was and is not only one of the greatest Cubs of all time, but he was a true hero. Santo was planning on returning the the WGN Radio broadcast booth in 2011.

My deepest condolences go out to the Santo family. This is a tough day for the Cubs organization. This is the tough day for me personally as Ronny was my favorite Cub of all time. I have more than enjoyed listening to him in the booth with Pat Hughes all these years.

I'll be covering this sad news all weekend on the blog, so stay tuned and check back for more.