The Chicago Cubs finished out 2008 by trading super-sub Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for three minor league pitchers and signed former St. Louis Cardinal, Aaron Miles, to replace him. Miles' deal is a 2 year agreement reportedly worth $4.9 million. Along with the three young hurlers, right-handed closer Jeff Stevens, right-hander Chris Archer and south-paw John Gaub, the Cubs gained more payroll flexibility for next year with DeRosa due $5.5 million next year.

That payroll, along with the savings from trading starting pitcher Jason Marquis, was used, as expected to ink the switch-hitting outfielder, Milton Bradley to a 3 year deal worth $30 million. The deal is still contingent on Bradley passing a physical, which given his history of injuries is no small matter. I would expect the deal to be completed barring some major health related red flags, and the Ken Rosenthall is reporting that the Cubs plan to use Bradley primarily in right field, spelling him occasionally with Kosuke Fukudome. Despite Bradley's injury riddled past, the 30 year old should provide the power the Cubs had been looking for this offseason.

Bradley smacked 22 home runs last year, dividing them evenly between the left and right sides of the plate, driving in 77 runs with an average of .321 in 126 games last year for the Texas Rangers. The Cubs had long been reported to be seeking a left handed bat for the outfield and with his switch hitting abilities, Bradley fit the mold perfectly.

Over the course of a week the Cubs will have replaced Marquis and DeRosa with 3 minor league pitchers, Luis Vizcaino, Aaron Miles, Milton Bradley, and about $24.5 million in debt payed out over the next three years. While the DeRosa to Miles switch is likely a step backwards, it's tough not to like the Cubs flury of moves. Assuming Bradley can stay healthy (which might prove to be a big assumption) the holiday season of 2008 will have been a VERY productive one for Cubs GM Jim Hendry.

The Chicago Cubs have reportedly traded starting pitcher Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies for reliever Luis Vizcaino.

The move is largely a salary dump for the Cubs who will rid themselves of about $5 million of Marquis' $9.5 million salary. The Rockies acquire an enigmatic starter who should eat some innings at the back of their rotation, and dump a reliever who had a 5.43 ERA and a DUI arrest in October.

There's speculation that the Cubs' savings will be used to sign free agent outfielder Milton Bradley. Bradley, who put up a .321 average and 22 home runs last year with the Rangers would provide the Cubs the outfield bat that they've been seeking.

The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that the Cubs pursuit of Padres pitcher Jake Peavy has come to a close, at least according to Cubs manager, Lou Pinella.

Sweet Lou was quoted as saying "Starting we don't need. We're set. We've got six good starters, and they're all experienced. Getting Dempster back was the key. We're in good shape with our starting pitching."

Now I don't mean to call Lou's honesty into question here but do you mean to tell me the Cubs wouldn't prefer to replace Jason Marquis with Jake Peavy? They wouldn't like to replace a guy who's best ERA was 3.71 (from five years ago) with a guy who has averaged an ERA of 2.92 over the last 5 seasons? They wouldn't want to replace a start that's topped out at 138 strikeouts (also 5 years ago) with a guy that's averaged over 200 per season?

Give me a break! Now look, the Cubs might well have decided to start looking at other options to make their team better. The Peavy trade talks have been fairly stagnant for quite a while now. However, please don't try to sell my the BS line of not needing to upgrade your starting pitching. A rotation of Peavy, Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Harden would be one of the most potent rotations ever assembled and it's a heck of a lot deeper than a Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Harden, Marquis (or Marshall) rotation.

The game of baseball is fickle at times, and most teams (even the great teams) are just an injury or two away from dropping back to the rest of the pack or worse. After Zambrano's shaky finish last year are the Cubs really sure that his arm is going to be able to hold up? Can they really count on him as their ace this year? If Dempster were to go down with an injury who would eat those innings? Is there any reason to think that Harden will somehow learn to stay healthy after several injury shortened seasons?

My point is, starting pitching, especially GOOD starting pitching, is something you can never have too much of in this league. So, if I were the Cubs, I might keep trying to work out a deal to land one of the best pitchers in the league over the last 5 years. Oh, and the same goes for the Atlanta Braves that pulled this same "no longer interested" stunt last week.