MVN - Most Valuable Network

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

…make every play clear the way to victory;
Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.
We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with your T-formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you’re wearing the crown.
You’re the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears, bear down.

 I didn’t have time to check for a chat program this week, so stop by Chad’s Bears Chat site if you wish to discuss the game.

 If you want baseball news, I’ve got nothing other than Shawn Estes just won’t die.

TCR Friday Notes

A little extra this week to get you through the three day weekend…

UPDATE: Cubs signed infielder Tomas Perez to a minor league deal with a spring training invite.

- If I had a vote for the Hall of Fame, it would have went to Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire, Andre Dawson, Goose Gossage, Bert Blyleven and Alan Trammell. I still can’t forgive Lee Smith for Game 4 of the NLCS, so screw him on my imaginary ballot that doesn’t count for anything.

- Here’s one that Cubs.com seemed to miss or just didn’t care about. It seems pitcher Adam Harben (the bounty in the Phil Nevin trade) whom we just invited to spring camp had Tommy John surgery in October after a few games in the AFL. If you recall, he was removed from the 40-man roster during the offseason and part of the condition of him resigning with us on a minor league deal was that he’d get a spring training invite even though all he’ll be doing is rehabbing at that point. That’s an odd little series of events. Harben who was up there on some of the Twins prospects lists a year or two ago has been suffering from some loss of velocity on the fastball. We’ll see if the surgery helps him regain some of that along with his prospect status.

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Erstad and Finley on Cubs Radar

Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports is reporting that FA outfielders Darin Erstad and Steve Finley are “on the Cubs radar” as potential stop-gap CF candidates for 2007, and that they are still interested in signing Cliff Floyd as a part-time LF.

Rosenthal also mentions Bernie Williams as a possible bridge (and mentor) to Felix Pie, although it is not clear whether Williams will retire if he can’t get a new deal done with the Yankees.

Rosenthals’s comments presume that Jacque Jones leaving the Cubs is a given, and maybe it is. But it is at least theoretically possible for the Cubs to just keep Jones and play him in CF until whenever Pie is ready, and then move Jones at that time. But maybe Jim Hendry has promised Jones that he positively will trade him prior to Opening Day. I don’t know.

Cubs Schedule 11 More Players for NRI

The Cubs have announced the names of 11 more players who have received Non-Roster Invitations to Spring Training.

Together with the five players who received NRIs to ST in November, the new list of NRIs is:

* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS (9):
Jason Anderson
Sean Gallagher
Adam Harben
Ben Howard
* Ryan O’Malley
* Carmen Pignatiello
* Les Walrond
John Webb
Randy Wells

CATCHERS (2):
Jake Fox
# Koyie Hill

INFIELDERS (3):
Mike Kinkade
Casey McGehee
* Eric Patterson

OUTFIELDERS (2):
* Tyler Colvin
Chris Walker

Four notable names NOT on the Cubs NRI list are:

RHP Federico Baez
2B Mike Fontenot
1B Micah Hoffpauir
RHP Jeff Samardzija

Baez–a rubber-armed swingman and one-time infielder in the Orioles organization–pitched for Team Puerto Rico in the WBC last Spring and split time between AA and AAA in ‘06; Fontenot–the one-time DP partner of Ryan Theriot at LSU, who was acquired by the Cubs from BAL in the Sammy Sosa deal a couple of years ago and who has been the starting 2B at Iowa the last two years–almost certainly has no future in the Cubs organization, but he probably at least deserved a courtesy NRI to the big club’s camp; Hoffpauir tied Scott Moore for most HRs among Cubs minor leaguers in ‘06 and would appear to possibly have a future as an MLB 1B-LF-LHPH; and Samardzija was supposedly promised an ‘07 NRI to ST when he signed with the Cubs last Summer.

Behind the Scenes at MVN

Congratulations to Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn on their elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Goose Gossage reached the 70% plateau and was just 21 votes shy of induction, so it appears it’s just a matter of time before he gets in. Andre Dawson was at 56.7% and Lee Smith was at 39.8%. You can view the final vote tally here.

Anyway they’re moving some stuff around in hopes of getting rid of the glitchiness over the last few weeks. Bear with us.