Chicago Cubs

On Thursday, the Kansas City Royals released first baseman Mike Jacobs.

Should the Chicago Cubs give Jacobs a call?

There are a couple reasons Jacobs intrigues me as a free agent, the biggest of which is that he would bring something the Cubs' bench currently lacks: power.

One of the hottest rumors flying around Thursday at baseball's Winter Meetings is that the Boston Red Sox have agreed to trade third baseman Mike Lowell to the Texas Rangers for minor league catcher Max Ramirez.

Lowell, who has dealt with numerous injuries over the past few seasons, is set to make $12 million in 2010, while Ramirez's salary is substantially less; Ramirez made $402,000 last year.

On Thursday morning, Major League Baseball held their annual Rule 5 Draft, in which teams can pirate other teams' minor leaguers for nothing.

The deal with the Rule 5 Draft is that any player selected must be on the selecting team's major league roster for the full season, or the selecting team is forced to send said player back to their original team with cash considerations.

Last year, the Cubs selected David Patton, who had an incredible spring and then disappeared because of "injuries" and poor performance.

There are many different reasons for why teams trade their popular players.

Sometimes it’s as simple as having too many good options for too few spots on the team, as was the case when the Phillies traded Jim Thome to make way for Ryan Howard in 2005.

Baseball's hot stove has been on full blast putting Milton Bradley trade rumors into motion.

Late Tuesday rumors of a "mystery" suitor came to light that could join the favorite Tampa Bay Rays, this according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat and Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. So far, we know the Royals, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Mariners have pretty much ruled themselves out of the race.

The first article I ever wrote for Bleacher Report was my 1990s All-Decade Cubs team, to which the link is below:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/164257-all-1990s-chicago-cubs-team

So here it is, the sequel, my All-2000s Cubs Team. This one was a lot less painful to compile as I did not have to include such past studs as Steve Buechele and Brian McRae like I did for my 1990s team.

However, as awful of a decade for Cubs baseball as the 1990s was, the 2000s were almost worse for Cubs fans, as heartbreak after heartbreak be felled the North Siders.

With the dust still settling from the acquisition of Curtis Granderson in New York, the Yankees have some decisions to make about their 2010 outfield.

What happens to Melky Cabrera? Do they entertain the idea of bringing back Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui? Are they done adding outfielders?

This might be the perfect time for the Chicago Cubs to give the Bronx Bombers a call and ask about Nick Swisher's availability.

Alfonso Soriano has seen most of his stats diminish every year since his career season with the Nationals in 2006. Because he had a decent 2007, his first season as a Northsider, some have argued that his Cubs career, thus far, could be described as a wash or even a mild success.

His statistical trends, however, show that his Cub career has been poor, and is getting worse.

Is this heaven? No, Mr. Sandberg, it's Iowa!

Reports are that the Chicago Cubs have promoted Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg to the bench in Iowa as the manager of their Triple-A affiliate.

Somewhere, Joe Morgan is telling someone that Sandberg can't manage, either.

Baseball's Winter Meetings have begun, and there isn't a team with as clear-cut a mission this week as the Chicago Cubs: get rid of Milton Bradley.

It appears Cubs GM Jim Hendry will do everything in his power to unload the switch-hitting outfielder/designated hitter this week after the marriage between the volatile Bradley and the organization, and Cubs fans, went south in terribly public fashion.