Bruce Levine Notes and Others

On talking baseball on Saturday, Bruce Levine said:

Bruce said that Jim Hendry really wants Jake Peavy in his rotation and if he can't get Peavy you might hear the Brian Roberts rumors again (that makes no sense to me because Roberts only has 1 year on his contract yet and the Cubs just traded the Orioles Pie. The Cubs also pick up Miles to go with Fonty at second. I will be find with it, if they give up a discount). The only way I see them getting Roberts is if they trade Fonty, which I won't think will happen. He says you will start hearing the rumors again in March or April for a blockbuster deal ( when the ownership is pretty much resolve).

He also says that Cubs are either going to sign Aurillia or Millar for the 25th man roster (as a bench player).

Levine is hearing from good sources that Carlos Zambrano will not pitch in the WBC.
Levine mentioned 2009 needs to be a breakout year for Big Z.

The Cubs have scheduled 25 starts for Rich Harden.
Sean Marshall and Aaron Heilman are in the mix to take Harden's other eight starts.

The Rich Hill-to-the-Orioles trade has not been officially announced and according to Bruce Miles, Hill appears to be gone. Word of the trade leaked to the Baltimore press but the Orioles must make room on their 40-man roster before acquiring Hill from the Cubs.
Many think the trade will become official at some point in the coming week.

Jayson Stark began his Cubs discussion with the still possible acquisition of Jake Peavy, but revealed more concerning news regarding the sale of the Cubs.

"But does that mean this deal can get revived sometime soon? Not necessarily, because there are still major ownership issues. And no matter how much the folks at MLB might want to get the Cubs' sale approved by Opening Day, the timetable isn't solely in its hands.
"I don't think we're anywhere near as close to resolving the ownership situation as it looks," said one baseball man with knowledge of those machinations. "You have to remember [the seller, the Tribune Company] is in bankruptcy court. So if somebody comes along and says, 'We offered more money,' the court can say, 'You have to take the most money.' So there's no way of saying right now whether this gets resolved in two to three months or six to eight months."

So why does that matter? Because the Cubs can't add a $63 million contract without ownership approval. And there's still no assurance they'll have an owner before Opening Day. So how can they move forward on a deal?

Right now, they can't even get a tentative go-ahead from prospective owner Thomas Ricketts because he's still, technically, negotiating. And even after those negotiations are completed, the court still has to sign off."

Stark dropped his gem a couple of days ago, but as the saying goes....better late than never

On A side Note: It is Ernie Bank's 78th Birthday today.

I will always keep you posted on the latest Cub news.