'right for the price

The Cubs grabbed OF Joey Gathright. Gathright was signed to a one-year contract worth $800,000. A good price for a player like Gathright.

The OF had a down year offensively in 2008, but has serious speed (said to have been clocked at 3.3 seconds from home to first on a bunt) and a lot of upside. The left handed batter can play all OF positions and has played for Sweet Lou in Tampa.

Gathright adds another versatile player to the roster and another low-priced bargaining chip. This may impact Pie, who is out of options. Milton Bradley is still on the radar as an every day option in the OF.

What's going down this offseason

Fukudome was invited to join the Japan team for the World Baseball Classic on March 5-23.

Cubs signed Reed Johnson ($3 million), Chad Gaudin ($2 million) and Neal Cotts ($1.1 million) to one year deals, avoiding arbitration and said they would offer contracts to Cedeno, Wuertz and Kevin Gregg (the reliever picked up from the Marlins).

If you were under a rock, you missed Kerry Wood moving on and the constant blabbing about Jake Peavy. The Cubs are also after a lefty bat, with the mercurial Milton Bradley in the fore of pundits minds at the moment.

Allegedly, the Cubs are trying to dump Marquis' salary and I don't blame them. Numerous other cubs (Fontenot, De Rosa to name a few) have come up in hot stove talk, but their value is obvious and the Cubs will not part with players like that without getting something good.

All-in-all, nothing much has happened since the end of the season. Team wasn't sold. No huge names in or out (I love Kerry and was sad to see him walk out of town, but he doesn't fall under "major moves" distinction). No major off-season troubles.

The Bears are about to drop off the NFL playoff picture, so we can start daily yammering about the upcoming baseball season any time now.