Jim Hendry

On New Year's Eve, almost exactly a year after Chicago last signed a free agent outfielder away from the Texas Rangers, the Cubs try again with Marlon Byrd.

The Cubs announced Thursday that they have agreed to a three-year, $15 million deal with Byrd.

Byrd's a nice complimentary player. As Danny Sisto will tell you, he'll play at least above average defense and will hit the ball fairly well. Last year in Texas, he hit 20 home runs and drove in 89 runs.

ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting on Wednesday that the St. Louis Cardinals' offer to free agent outfielder Matt Holliday is in excess of $100 million.

In the wake of Jason Bay agreeing to a four-year deal worth $66 million with the Mets ($17 million per), it's hard to imagine another team throwing that kind of coin at Holliday.

The Chicago Cubs are in dire need of some help after missing the playoffs last season, and have let a number of free agents go by already this off-season.

The New York Yankees were looking to get rid of Melky Cabrea and he ended up getting traded to the Atlanta Braves.  Others like Nick Johnson and Jason Bay were out there, but both have ended up going to New York. Johnson signed with the Yankees earlier this month and Bay has agreed terms with the New York Mets Tuesday, according to ESPN.com.

But what about Johnny Damon?

I understand that the new Cubs owners have no appetite to increase the payroll for 2010. And, if you look at it reasonably, one can understand.

Yet we all know that the way in which Cubs GM Jim Hendry has spent the money has left a huge void and right now, as currently constructed, the Cubs are not a contending team.

Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry almost made another free agent mistake on Wednesday. Thankfully, money means more to some players than the chance to win.

Former Pittsburgh closer Matt Capps, who was on the Cubs radar as a potential setup man for closer Carlos Marmol, agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals. Capps will reportedly get a base salary of $3.5 million, with another $425K in performance incentives built into the deal.

Adding Capps could have been the final piece in the puzzle that gets Hendry fired if he had taken the money in Chicago.

The recent reports suggesting that the Bronx Bombers were interested in at least exploring a trade with the Cubs for Big Z has left me wondering, once again, just what the hell Jim Hendry is thinking.

True, Zambrano has a full no-trade clause and hasn't expressed any willingness to relinquish it, but for Hendry to not even entertain the idea, if true, is stupid.

I hope Chicago Cubs fans are gearing up for another six months of disappointment, because this winter isn't giving any indication that 2010 will be any better than the season it will follow.

The Cubs closed their 2009 season with one singular goal: Unload Milton Bradley. The marriage was a failure almost immediately, and GM Jim Hendry made it clear when he sent Bradley home for the last few weeks of the season that he couldn't be back in Chicago next year.

For Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry, for Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels, and for free-agent outfielder Marlon Byrd, the last 48 hours have made an interesting, interwoven series of impacts upon the tone and tenor of the MLB offseason.

Lost amid the flurry of Monday's higher-profile deals, free-agent outfielder Mike Cameron agreed to a two-year pact with the Boston Red Sox.

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.