MLB

The Chicago Cubs took another outfielder from the Texas Rangers today (Thursday) when the club signed Marlon Byrd to a three year 15 million dollar deal.

This time, things should be vastly different then the Bradley experiment.

In addition to the signing of Byrd, the Cubs also signed Byrd’s old hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo who is said to have a hand in convincing the club to grab Byrd before it’s too late.

Last year, I ran what I hoped to become a tradition here at Cubbie Nation, the current team captured in pictures.

The premise is pretty simple. Teams and seasons come and go, and for as much time as we give to being with them, there's something wrong about the notion that many of these guys are gone, if not altogether forgotten, by the time the playoffs have ended.

Multiple sources have reported that the Cubs have inked free agent center fielder Marlon Byrd to a three year, $15 million contract. The question now becomes, is he worth it?

While Byrd is a good player and was no doubt the best available free agent center fielder on the market, he fails to address a number of the Cubs needs.

During my childhood, when I was first learning about baseball, I can remember asking my father, “Who is a good pitcher?”  We lived near Washington D.C., and the hapless Senators offered little to root for, but my father answered, "Now Camilo Pascual, he’s a good pitcher.  But it’s hard on him, because Washington is never very good.”  I can vaguely remember him saying something about Pascual keeping a good ERA and pitching many good games, even though it was hard to win.

Finally, the mystery is over. 

Eight days ago it was reported that the Phillies had come to terms with a bullpen pitcher, believed to be either Danys Baez or Mike MacDougal. 

Now we have learned that the Phillies have agreed to a two-year deal with Baez, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki and SI.com's Jon Heyman. 

It's no shock, seeing that the Phillies have long held interest in Baez, back to his days with Tampa Bay. 

For a bullpen that was in flux for much of last year, it will give the Phillies some stability at the back end of the game. 

Not since the days of Corey Patterson have the Cubs had a clear cut center fielder. This search is finally over, with the Cubs singing 32-year-old Marlon Byrd to a 3-year, $15 million deal.

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.

In the summer of 2008, Decatur, GA product Xavier Avery found himself in a very precarious situation. The two-way star could have signed a letter of intent to play football at the University of Georgia, where he would have led a very talented backfield.

It seems hard to believe, but we are almost to the year 2010. And with any impending new decade, it seems only fair to look back on the best of the previous 10 years.

So with that, I present my Top 10 picks from each position between the years 2000-2009: Second basemen.

As with any ranking, there will always be snubs. I welcome any comments suggesting players that may have been left off this list.

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