Cubs Make Some Moves

Well, the Cubs made their secondbase decision by signing Todd Walker to a one-year deal for $2.5M with a 2006 option based on plate appearances. They also inked Nomar Garciapara for one-year $8M.

I think Walker is the more important signing. It'll be great to have his left-handed bat in the lineup everyday near the top of the order. I hope Nomar can return to form and stay healthy but I'm not holding my breath. I'm afraid we're going to see way too much of Neifi Perez next year at the Friendly Confines. They also offerred arbitration to Matt Clement and Todd Hollandsworth. It sounds like Clement already has multi-year offers from other teams and so likely won't accept. However, the Cubs will get a draft pick as compensation. Hollandsworth is likely to return. One minor signing was backup catcher Henry Blanco, almost as poor a hitter as the departing Paul Bako but a good defender.

Overall though the Cubs haven't really improved anything yet over the team that won 89 games last season and you might say they've gone backwards by losing Clement in favor of Glendon Rusch, signing Ryan Dempster and Perez and with Sosa getting a year older. If they can sway Carlos Beltran away from the Yankee that will all change however. The winter meetings are about to start...