This is a cautionary tale that has a happy ending. First, searching for images of Mel wearing a Cubs uniform -- his tenure was so bad in Chicago that I couldn't even locate a decent one, so enjoy this picture of him in Expos garb.

via www.baseball-almanac.com

The caution, of course, is "Don't assume that by signing an 'established' closer, that you're actually going to get someone good". During the 1990's, the Cubs did this time and time again; before Rojas was signed on December 10, 1996 they had done it three other times: with Dave Smith before the 1991 season, with Randy Myers before the 1993 season and with Doug Jones prior to the 1996 campaign. Only Myers had any success on the North Side -- the others were horrid.

You wouldn't have guessed that Rojas was about to stink the joint out, either; he had just turned 30 and had two good years closing in Montreal. In 1996 he had 36 saves with a 3.22 ERA and struck out 92 in 81 innings, walking only 28 and allowing only five homers.

The 1997 season started and as soon as you could say "jimriggleman", came to a screeching halt. The Cubs lost a NL-record 14 straight games to start the year; Rojas didn't even get a save opportunity till the season's 19th game. He blew that one, giving up two 9th-inning runs to turn a 3-2 Cubs lead into a 4-3 loss. OK, so the winning run scored on an error; maybe it wasn't all Mel's fault.

It got worse. By June 5 he had five saves -- and four blown saves; the June 5 blown save was particularly spectacular. With two out and two on in Philadelphia with the Cubs leading 8-5, Rojas served up a three-run homer to Mike Lieberthal; the Phillies won in the 10th. After managing to save four games at the end of June and beginning of July, he gave up another three-run homer in the ninth inning with two out on July 15 at Wrigley Field, this one to Houston's Bill Spiers, turning what looked like a 3-2 Cubs win into a 5-3 loss. By the time he blew another lead on July 30 in Atlanta, by giving up two consecutive hits after a leadoff triple and an out, he had been getting regularly booed every time he appeared on the field at Wrigley.

You can justifiably criticize Ed Lynch for most of his tenure as Cubs GM -- but in dumping Rojas, Brian McRae (who had also worn out his welcome in Chicago after two decent years in 1995 and 1996) and Turk Wendell to the Mets, Lynch made his best deal as GM, and acquired two players who played key roles in the 1998 wild card year: Lance Johnson, who did decent work as a platoon CF, and Mark Clark, a serviceable inning-eater (sort of the Jason Marquis of his time). So, Mel's acquisition did have a happy ending, from a Cubs point of view, at least.

Meanwhile, Mel got even worse in his very first game as a Met on August 9, 1997. Entering a 3-3 tie with Houston in the top of the 9th, Mel gave up a triple, single and walk before he got anyone out; after another single, Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer off him. His Mets ERA (5.13) was even higher than his Cubs ERA (4.42). After an even worse year in 1998 (6.05 ERA, 1.69 WHIP), the Mets somehow managed to get the Dodgers to take him in exchange for Bobby Bonilla, who was also nearing the end of a good career. Mel threw 14 innings for three teams (the Dodgers, Tigers and Expos) in 1999 with an 18.00 ERA and was done.

All of this is one more reason to keep Kerry Wood. Homegrown. Had a good year. Isn't too old. His arm seems sound. Bring him back.

The Tribune reports this afternoon on the new round of bidding:

At least three prospective buyers have submitted a new round of bids to Tribune Co. for the Chicago Cubs, one of professional sports' trophy franchises.

Chicago real estate investor Hersch Klaff; the Ricketts family, founder of online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by Marc Utay, a New York private equity investor, delivered their proposals by the Thanksgiving deadline, according to sources involved in the negotiations.

The name Marc Utay is new to me -- I don't recall his name being mentioned in the first round, and don't know anything about him. If you're wondering what's up with Mark Cuban, the article says:

It was unknown at the time this report was filed whether two other prospective buyers -- Houston businessman Jim Crane and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team -- had submitted new bids.

While Cuban has expressed ardent interest in the Cubs, he has not been active in the sales process for months, according to a source. His chances to buy the team took a hit when federal securities regulators charged him last month with insider trading.

I still believe the Ricketts group is the one that will eventually end up with the Cubs; the Ricketts family, though living now in Omaha, has Chicago roots and from what I have heard, would stand back, let the baseball people run the show and open up the purse strings. As ever, we await further developments.

Today is the deadline for major league teams to offer arbitration to their free agents -- 10:59 pm Central time, specifically, so we may not hear specifics till tomorrow.

photo via assets.espn.go.com

So does Kerry Wood get offered arbitration? Yes. No. Maybe. You can bet that if he is offered arb, he'll accept -- and don't assume that's a budget-breaker, either. Wood wants to remain a Cub -- we all know that. It's more than possible he'll take less than an arbitrator would award to do so. The deadline for Wood to accept arb, if offered, is next Sunday, December 7.

What will be more interesting to see is whether other players, particularly, as noted in Ken Rosenthal's article above, Adam Dunn, are offered arbitration. It's possible the Diamondbacks will want to keep him; we'll see after today.

Other Cub rumors are summarized neatly in this Dave van Dyck article, in which he says, basically, nothing's happening right now and isn't likely to until the winter meetings get under way next week.

Use this thread for arbitration and trade discussion today. I'll update the post with any new information if it comes in during the day.

The schedule with game times was published in the December issue of Vine Line, which those of you who subscribe (or get it because you are a season ticket holder) should have received in the last few days.

I've updated the BCB tentative schedule with all the available game times; the Cubs website has not yet been updated. Click on the link for all the available game times as of now. All times listed on the BCB schedule are Central time. (As of Saturday morning, these times were not yet listed on the Cubs website.)

Notes:

• The Cubs will have a nighttime season opener, 6:05 Central time, at Houston on April 6. I have adjusted the countdown clock on the right sidebar and the game time on the left sidebar.
• There are 26 night games listed; the Cubs are permitted 30, by city ordinance. The ESPN Sunday night schedule has not yet been set; you can presume that the Cubs will be chosen for at least a couple of home Sunday nights (April 19 and July 12 vs. St. Louis and August 30 vs. New York are possible dates). Teams can appear a maximum of five times a year on ESPN Sunday games (that limit doesn't apply to other ESPN dates).
• There are 26 Saturday dates. Only eight of them currently list game times. Teams can appear eight times on Fox Saturday games; those dates will be chosen later.
• There are two discrepancies between the Vine Line schedule and schedules posted on other teams' websites. The Vine Line schedule says the August 21 date at Los Angeles is "TBD". The Dodgers website says it's at 7:10 PDT (9:10 CDT). And, the Vine Line schedule shows the September 7 game at Pittsburgh as 6:05 CT; the Pirates website says that Labor Day game will be at 12:35 EDT (11:35 am CDT).
• The Cubs have only one of the dreaded night-game-on-the-road-day-game-the-next-day-at-home trips in 2009: a night game at Houston on June 11, and a day game on June 12 vs. the Twins at Wrigley Field. There's also a night game at Colorado (7:35 CT) on August 10 and a home game the next day, but the August 11 home game vs. the Phillies is a night game.

Isn't it nice to hear those summer dates and think about baseball in the cold of late November? I'll continue to update the schedule as I get more times, and hope to confirm the tentative spring training schedule sometime next week.

A clue can be found in this New York Daily News article:

Brian Fuentes' representatives told the Mets the free agent closer is seeking a three-year deal worth $10 million to $11 million annually, according to a source familiar with the discussion. That price tag is a bit high for the Mets, but they are still interested in the former Rockie.

Note, incidentally, what name is not mentioned in that article: Kerry Wood. If that's the market price for Brian Fuentes -- I don't see Wood getting such an offer from anyone. I still think Wood and the Cubs will come to a one-year agreement, perhaps with incentives. That'd make a lot of sense for both Kerry (who could prove he's healthy by putting up another injury-free year) and the Cubs (who would, obviously, benefit from such a season).

Finally, a quote from Mets GM Omar Minaya in that article is particularly interesting:

"Right now we're in the early stages. My understanding is a lot of clubs are reevaluating this market, more so because of the unfortunate financial strain that is going on not only in baseball but throughout the world."

That's undeniably true. We may see free agents signing for a lot less than otherwise might have been expected.

Freddy Garcia was an intriguing idea, although Lou says the Cubs have enough starters. Well, now, we can forget about that:

Veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia may have hit a speed bump on the comeback trail. Garcia, a free agent who finished the 2008 season with Detroit, left a game in the Venezuelan Winter League on Thursday after two innings due to shoulder discomfort, according to Venezuelan newspaper El Universal.

And remember, for those of you who are Jake Peavy fans, he also had some injury issues during 2008.

This is a cautionary tale that has a happy ending. First, searching for images of Mel wearing a Cubs uniform -- his tenure was so bad in Chicago that I couldn't even locate a decent one, so enjoy this picture of him in Expos garb.

via www.baseball-almanac.com

The caution, of course, is "Don't assume that by signing an 'established' closer, that you're actually going to get someone good". During the 1990's, the Cubs did this time and time again; before Rojas was signed on December 10, 1996 they had done it three other times: with Dave Smith before the 1991 season, with Randy Myers before the 1993 season and with Doug Jones prior to the 1996 campaign. Only Myers had any success on the North Side -- the others were horrid.

You wouldn't have guessed that Rojas was about to stink the joint out, either; he had just turned 30 and had two good years closing in Montreal. In 1996 he had 36 saves with a 3.22 ERA and struck out 92 in 81 innings, walking only 28 and allowing only five homers.

The 1997 season started and as soon as you could say "jimriggleman", came to a screeching halt. The Cubs lost a NL-record 14 straight games to start the year; Rojas didn't even get a save opportunity till the season's 19th game. He blew that one, giving up two 9th-inning runs to turn a 3-2 Cubs lead into a 4-3 loss. OK, so the winning run scored on an error; maybe it wasn't all Mel's fault.

It got worse. By June 5 he had five saves -- and four blown saves; the June 5 blown save was particularly spectacular. With two out and two on in Philadelphia with the Cubs leading 8-5, Rojas served up a three-run homer to Mike Lieberthal; the Phillies won in the 10th. After managing to save four games at the end of June and beginning of July, he gave up another three-run homer in the ninth inning with two out on July 15 at Wrigley Field, this one to Houston's Bill Spiers, turning what looked like a 3-2 Cubs win into a 5-3 loss. By the time he blew another lead on July 30 in Atlanta, by giving up two consecutive hits after a leadoff triple and an out, he had been getting regularly booed every time he appeared on the field at Wrigley.

You can justifiably criticize Ed Lynch for most of his tenure as Cubs GM -- but in dumping Rojas, Brian McRae (who had also worn out his welcome in Chicago after two decent years in 1995 and 1996) and Turk Wendell to the Mets, Lynch made his best deal as GM, and acquired two players who played key roles in the 1998 wild card year: Lance Johnson, who did decent work as a platoon CF, and Mark Clark, a serviceable inning-eater (sort of the Jason Marquis of his time). So, Mel's acquisition did have a happy ending, from a Cubs point of view, at least.

Meanwhile, Mel got even worse in his very first game as a Met on August 9, 1997. Entering a 3-3 tie with Houston in the top of the 9th, Mel gave up a triple, single and walk before he got anyone out; after another single, Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer off him. His Mets ERA (5.13) was even higher than his Cubs ERA (4.42). After an even worse year in 1998 (6.05 ERA, 1.69 WHIP), the Mets somehow managed to get the Dodgers to take him in exchange for Bobby Bonilla, who was also nearing the end of a good career. Mel threw 14 innings for three teams (the Dodgers, Tigers and Expos) in 1999 with an 18.00 ERA and was done.

Lynch signed one more "established" closer -- Rod Beck, who did a good job in 1998, but got hurt and was traded before the next year was over. After that, Rick Aguilera was acquired by trade and also stunk; Tom Gordon did an OK job for the year and a half he was a Cub, and the next closer who was successful after that was Joe Borowski, who had been rescued from the scrap heap.

All of this is one more reason to keep Kerry Wood. Homegrown. Had a good year. Isn't too old. His arm seems sound. Bring him back.

Barry Rozner weighs in on the Peavy mess, with a convoluted trade scheme that made my jaw drop lower and lower with each succeeding paragraph.

I'll spare you reading it if you don't want to by saying that the summary of all the players involved in Rozner's fantasy would be something like this:

Cubs get: Jake Peavy and Brian Giles

Padres get: Jason Marquis, Sean Marshall, Felix Pie, Josh Vitters, Ronny Cedeno, Jose Ascanio, Mike Fontenot and Sandy Koufax (OK, yes, I made that last part up).

Besides the fact that Giles isn't leaving San Diego and that the Padres would have little use for Marquis and that Vitters is really the one and only blue-chip prospect the Cubs have, we have the little matter of Lou stating the other day that the Cubs aren't looking for starting pitching any more. And as we have been discussing in various threads over the last couple of days, what Lou wants, Lou generally gets.

Usually Mike Downey, Phil Rogers or Rick Morrissey would be in contention for writing the dumbest Chicago newspaper sports column of the month. But Barry, you win. This is nonsense. Book it: Jake Peavy and Brian Giles will not be wearing blue pinstripes in 2009.

And with that, goodnight. And Happy Thanksgiving.