NL Central

Reports out of Philadelphia Friday are that the National League Champion Phillies will not pursue an extension with Brett Myers.

Myers, once the top of the Philadelphia rotation, fell out of favor over the last couple years because of injuries and off-the-field issues. He spent some time as the Phillies closer before Brad Lidge was acquired as well.

A whisper leaked out of Arizona on Wednesday that Chicago Cubs' left-hander Ted Lilly underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Tuesday and isn't expected to return until April.

Great. [Collective sigh from Chicago's North Side.]

Here we go again.

So how does the knowledge that Lilly's now expected to likely miss the first month of the season impact the Cubs as they approach this important winter?

Let's examine a few scenarios.

Reports are flying out of Arizona, where the Chicago Cubs are having their first winter management meetings with new owner Tom Ricketts, that apparently 2009 hasn't bottomed out just yet.

Apparently, the team's only All Star might be a question mark to begin the 2010 season.

That's right folks, it appears that Ted Lilly had arthroscopic surgery on his left (pitching) shoulder yesterday.  The Cubs aren't releasing a lot of details, obviously, but they did say they hope Lilly's ready "within the month of April."

The Houston Astros have named Jamie Quirk their new bullpen coach, according to senior director of digital media Alyson Footer.

Quirk was the bench coach for the Colorado Rockies from 2003-08 before joining the Cincinnati Reds last season as a scout.

“Jamie has a wealth of experience and comes highly recommended,” Astros general manager Ed Wade told Footer on Wednesday, Nov. 4. “He had a long playing career and spent 15 seasons as a Major League coach. He’s another solid addition to our staff.”

How ironic is it that the capital of our great nation, the brick and mortar embodiment of “Of the People, By the People and For the People,” is just just now permeating the myopic brains of Redskins fans fed up with Daniel Snyder?

Reports out of Tampa late Tuesday afternoon are that the Rays have dealt second baseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is believed that the Rays will receive reliever Jesse Chavez in return, but the full details of the deal have not yet been released.

Iwamura was hurt early in 2009 and lost his job to surprising All-Star Ben Zobrist. The Rays had been rumored to be shopping Iwamura to a number of teams, including a deal that would have sent him to the Chicago Cubs with Pat Burrell in exchange for Milton Bradley.

Filed:October 30th, 2009

Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts

And with one 20 minute press conference this morning, an historic event has come and gone, with the Ricketts family officially announced as the Cubs owners.

According to the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice (as well as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart), the Houston Astros have added two new faces to their 2010 coaching staff.

Beyond the hiring of new manager Brad Mills (along with the return of Sean Berry as hitting coach and Dave Clark as third base coach), the Astros have announced the addition of Al Pedrique [pictured] as bench coach and Bobby Meacham as first base coach.

The Astros' new pitching coach is also planned to be unveiled sometime in the very near future.