Upon further review

At the General Managers meetings this morning in Orlando, FL the MLB GM's began baseball down the path that most of the other professional sports have already gone down. Allowing instant replay to be part of the officiating process. The vote by the GM's was historic, normally these votes are 2-1 against replay, but this time it was 25-5 in favor.

The recommendation, by a 25-5 vote, was limited to boundary calls -- whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the top and bounce back, and whether fans interfere with possible homers.

I would say this is pretty much just a sign of the times. All of the new younger GM's in baseball have grown up in an era where replay has been part of the NFL. We are in the technology age. So I guess this is a national progression. Not so fast my friends.

I'm probably 'out of step' on this one, and feel free to tell me if I am. I really think that blown calls and the human element are as much a part of baseball as hot dogs and flat beer in wax cups. The blown call is part of baseball lore. Take the Jeffrey Maier incident back in the 1996 ALCS. Did the umps blow the call? There is no doubt about it (look to the left). But that play is a memorable play in baseball history. I also pretty confident in the MLB umpires. I think they get most of these calls correct. Yeah, occasionally you have a blown call. But that's part of the game. Just like it is when an umpire has a bad day behind the plate.

So it looks like this will take baseball down the merry road toward having replay in the game in the next few years. The next step will be for the owners to vote on it and after that the MLBPA and umpires will have their say. I'm not sure if this will be in place for 2008, but who knows the MLB has started to instigate change at a quicker pace in recent years. It seems like this is the first step in getting replay into the grand ole game.

No brainers

Yesteday the Cubs announced several moves that wouldn't surprise anyone. Backup outfielder and pinch hitter Daryle Ward will return to the Cubs in 2008. Both Ward and the Cubs exericized mutual options. Ward will earn $1.2 million in 2008. This was my favorite Ward play from 2007.

In other hot stove news the northsiders declined club options on Cliff Floyd and ALLELUJAH Steve Trachsel. So Cub fans, I am happy to reprt "Our short Cub nation nightmare is over".

The northsiders have alos added RHP Adam Harben to their 40 man roster.

So Kerry Wood is the clubs only free agent at this moment. It sounds like the Cubs will try to bring Kerry back for their bullpen. If Kerry wants to commit career suicide and try to start again, it sounds like there will be takers. Hard to believe, but I guess that is the state of starting pitching in MLB today.

Hot stove stuff

Wanna know how bad the baseball playoffs were this season? So bad that the Hot Stove League actually got going in the seventh inning of the final WS game when Boras announced that his client would be opting out of his contract with the Yankees. At that point the Red Sox, who were in the process of winning their second WS in four seasons, became the second baseball news item. Strange days indeed. The Red Sox were still a day away from their parade when the Braves and Tigers made the first trade of the offseason, which happened to take an All Star shortstop off the market. Yep, the hot stove is pumping out. Where do the Northsiders fall in all of this? Well they are installing a new field at Wrigley Field. So far on the roster front: nothing but the occassional free agent filing and a bunch of rumors coming out of the offices at Clark and Addison. It's been awhile though, so here we go:

Barry Rozner claims the Cubs payroll will be $115 million. That my friends represents a real nice increase. You can count me among the surprised at hearing this. Unlike Barry, I suspect the ownership change will have an impact. But hey, he's closer to this than I am (and Barry is close to John McDonough). If the 15% payroll increase is true the Cubs have some legit options heading into 2008 to make this team better.

Kerry Wood, Jason Kendall, Cliff Floyd and Steve Trachsel have already filed for free agency. Kendall is as good as gone. According to some reports there is some interest in Woody on the free agent market. Some rumors even have him going back to starting. IMO that would be career suicide for Kerry at this point. Wood has the opportunity to save his career coming out of the bullpen as a setup man or even a closer. I think it's laughable that a team would even consider that. Cliff Floyd wants to return to South Florida to end his career. All the best to whatever team take a flyer on the great Steve Trachsel. LMAO.

Bruce Miles reports the Cubs have interest in Japanese star Kosuke Fukudome. Left handed hitting outfielder and no posting process! What's not to like. Check out the video below of Fukodme in action. (Notice the bat flip and after he rounds the bases the stuffed pig he gets at homeplate--think McDonough can get a sponsor for that at Wrigley Fd.?)



The Cubs may have interest in another Japanese import pitcher Hiroki Kuroda. They tried to get him last season but personal reasons kept him in Japan. Sounds like those reasons have cleared up and Kuroda is heading to the states.

Curt Schilling on his Official Blog has named the Cubs as one of twelve teams that he would consider pitching for next season. Probably some of the most interesting news so far. Paul Sullivan discussed this on the Trib's Hardball blog yesterday. My quick take on this is: how much does Schilling have left? I imagine a move to the NL Central would probably be of benefit to "Red Light Curt". If the Cubs can get Schilling on a short (1 or 2 year) deal filled with incentives, I say give it a whirl.

Most of the rumors heard at this time are just that. Still it will be interesting to see how Hendry addresses the Cubs needs this offseason.