Catching Up Quick Hits after the Holiday

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays! Let's catch up:

• Matt Capps has signed with the Washington Nationals, so the Cubs are still in search of a reliever and right fielder.
• Ben Sheets and Joel Pineiro are on the Cubs' radar.
• Bruce Levine says that the Cubs are not involved in Jason Bay or Matt Holliday.
• The Cubs did have a chat with the Yankees, but Carlos Zambrano is not going anywhere.
• Carlos Zambrano's agent told Bruce that "Big Z is not interested in being traded". Zambrano has a no-trade clause, so that's that.
• Carlos and Ryan Dempster are both living in Chicago this offseason.
• Dave Van Dyck says that even Kevin Gregg could be an option for the Cubs!
• TCR's 2002 season in review
• "Santo" Claus likes to give during the holidays.
• Kiko Calero is the type of guy that the Cubs are really looking at according to Levine on Talkin' Baseball.
• Jose Contreras could be an option for the Cubs as a fifth starter until Ted Lilly comes back.
• Andre Dawson is waiting for his HOF call.
• Check out some funny Christmas Cubs parody pieces via the links in this Bleacher Nation article.
• The Cubs sale was on the list of "Top Chicago Business Stories of 2009".
• Bleed Cubbie Blue had the 'Twas The Night Before Cub Christmas".
• CCO did their annual familiar carol with a Cub Twist.
• Thanks to Chicago Cubs Online for this one- citing Jim Duquette of XM Radio as their source- The Cubs are very interested in adding Johnny Damon to play center field.
• Jonathan Hood said that Jim Hendry will probably make another trade or two.
• Replacing the innings Carlos Zambrano eats would be hard to do for the Cubs. .
• Levine thinks that the Cubs using Zambrano as a pinch hitter and letting him run the bases the way he does when he hits is a mistake.

Cubs TV Announcer Bob Brenly was on the Danny Mac Show on 670 the Score earlier this week:

• Brenly's daughter got engaged over Thanksgiving and his son did so a week later.
• Bob's offseason is going good so far.
• Milton Bradley is a very talented player when he lets his play do the talking and keeps his mouth shut.
• Brenly thinks that Bradley "had to go" calling him a "huge disruption in the clubhouse."
• He is not sure what Silva will bring to the team. Carlos' role is still unknown.
• The Free Agent class this year is not the strongest, but there are some role players out there that could increase the Cubs chances to win next year.
• Bob says that we need the guys we have on the roster to perform at the level that they are expected to in 2010. Ramirez, Kosuke, Soto, and Soriano all need to stay healthy and bounce back.
• Brenly thinks Zambrano will be back next year even though he hasn't achieved the kind of success that he should so far in his career with his talent level.
• The Yankees might not have the prospects the Cubs would need in return for Zambrano. If they were to pull off a trade, it would have to be a 3-way deal so the Cubs can get some solid prospects back.
• Kosuke is out of his comfort zone in center field. He's much more comfortable in right field.
• Bob would not like to see Felix Pie back in the Cub uniform. The combination of Reed Johnson and Sam Fuld could be enough.
• The Cubs would still like to get a guy who could play center every day and lead off, but if that guy is not out there, Reed and Fuld isn't the worse thing that could happen.
• B.B. thinks Carlos Marmol will be similar to Mitch Williams as Cub closer. The Cubs need a guy like Matt Capps who would be a plan B if Marmol were to stumble.
• Bob Brenly doesn't step across the line in dealing with Michael. It's a little bit of a balancing act because Bob has to be an employee and a father.
• The younger Brenly made great strides defensively in 2009.
• B.B.'s looking forward to the Len and Bob Bash.

That's it for now, I'll keep you posted on Everything Cubs as always as the weekend moves along.