[DawnBTVS]

Here are the upcoming free agents for the Chicago Cubs.
1: 1B Eduardo Perez. Will be 31 years old and put up an uninspiring .304 OBP last season with only 16 HR.
2: CF Chad Curtis. Will be 31 and well... he sucked.
3: LF Jose Canseco. Will be 36 years old and wanted to test free agency anyway.
4: MR Russ Springer. Wanted to test free agency, was hoping to re-sign him too.
5: SP Jeff Juden. Our #5 rotation spot carousel continues although we will have Gio Gonzalez back healthy for the season.
6: SP Darren Oliver. Rather adequate pickup but control issues have annoyed me (177 BB over the past 2 years)
7: 3B Dean Palmer. Will be 31 years old and just couldn't make contact.
8: SP Bobby Jones. Will be 30 years old and wanted to test free agency. Another guy I would've liked to re-sign.

Here are the results for the Salary Arbitration hearings on 11/12.
- CF Doug Glanville, LF Robin Jennings, 2B Miguel Cairo, and MR Greg Keagle will all receive the minimum $292,814. 1B Scott Stahoviak will receive $364,800.

Goals for Free Agency...
- Get 2 SP
- Get an upgrade offensively at 2B.
- Get an upgrade offensively at LF.

My first contract offer goes to 2B Chris Stynes at 3 years for $3.36 Million per season. He had 498 AB last season between Cincinnati and the Dodgers and struggled with LA (.244/.299/.319) but he makes good contact, has decent enough pop with 10 HR, and can get on base.

I also make a 1 year $540K offer to LF Trenidad Hubbard who is 34 years old but last year had a .343 OBP in 378 AB and he walked 10.3% of the time.

I make an offer to CF Darren Lewis who is 33 but has been shafted during his recent years. It's a 1 year deal at $540K but he's great defensively with a great eye (61) and decent enough contact. His only substantial playing time came in 1999 with Seattle where he put up a .352 OBP in 299 AB.

SP James Baldwin will get a 1 year deal at $480K. He got turned into a MR lasy season and had a 6.06 ERA but the 2 years before that he combined for an ERA of 4.35 with a record of 21-16.

I finally make a 3 year deal at $2.45 Million per year to SP Scott Karl. He's been with Seattle and had a 4.70 ERA last year in 226.0 IP.

On 11/25, Trenidad Hubbard is the first to sign. Chris Stynes doesn't like my offer so I scour the other 2B options and spot 2B Craig Counsell. I throw him a 2 year offer at $460K per year. Last season he had a .321 OBP in only 301 AB with Minnesota. The year before he had a .350 though in 241 AB.

On 11/28, Darren Lewis signs the contract. He'll likely start in CF ahead of Doug Glanville. On 12/01 Craig Counsell signs.

We sign SP James Baldwin on 12/8 and give the Chicago White Sox our 1st round pick as compensation.

On 12/12 we get a big signing in SP Scott Karl who should give us a solid 1-2-3 in the rotation now.

My final free agent offer goes to C Jesse Levis who should be an upgrade as a backup to Mel Rosario. He's been toiling in AA and AAA the past few years but has a great eye (71) to go with decent contact. It'll be a 1 year deal at $460K.

He signs on December 17th and I have room for one more player on my 25 man roster.

I'm surprised to see that MR Russ Springer has not had any contract offers. I throw him a 2 year deal at $570K to help improve my bullpen.

I cheer when he signs on 12/29 and the 25 man roster is now officially complete.

Other notable transactions...
12/1: Colorado Rockies signed Ivan Rodriguez to a 1 year deal at $1.05 Million. He hit .271/.295/.480 for them last year with 27 HR. Great steal for Colorado.
12/6: Seattle Mariners signed 1B Fred McGriff to a 2 year deal at $4.66 Million. He hit .284/.396/.407 with 13 HR between Anaheim and Cincinnati.
12/8: Montreal Expos optioned Vladimir Guerrero to AA. In 1998 he hit .261/.304/.374 with 11 HR and has largely been in AAA since then. He's only 24 years old though but it is slightly concerning.
12/13: Los Angeles Dodgers optioned Paul Konerko to AA. He's had the same issues as Vladimir Guerrero but posted OBPs under .300 in 1997 and 1998.
12/23: Philadelphia Phillies signed C Scott Hatteberg to a 3 year deal at $6.86 Million. He had 19 HR and hit .259/.348/.473 last season with Kansas City.
12/31: Boston Red Sox optioned Trot Nixon to AAA after he put up a .770 OPS in 285 AB.
1/21: Tampa Bay signed CL Mariano Rivera to a 1 year deal at $880K. He had a 3.36 ERA with 36 S for the Yankees.

On 2/1 I see that Tampa Bay has put 1B Tino Martinez on waivers. I put in a claim because I loved him in real life and he did hit 28 HR last season.

To make room, I put Doug Glanville on waivers to send him down to AAA.

On 2/5, the Oakland Athletics claimed him and will get his services.

Here are your opening day Chicago Cubs!
Payroll: $25.02 Million. We're still dead last with Milwaukee 2nd to last at $40.19 Million but damn it... if I can win 69 games on an initial $17 Mill payroll then I should be fine nearly boosting that by $8 Million.

The Evil Empire leads everybody with $100.49 Million.

Rotation
Roy Oswalt
Josh Fogg
Scott Karl
Gio Gonzalez
James Baldwin

Bullpen
Terry Adams
Ryan Karp
Russ Springer
Jose Antonio Nunez
Scott Stewart
Gabe White
CL: Rick Helling

Infield
C Mel Rosario
C Jesse Levis
1B Tino Martinez
1B Carlos Pena
2B Craig Counsell
2B Tony Batista
3B Dave Hansen
SS Kevin Stocker

Outfield
LF Trenidad Hubbard
LF Robin Jennings
CF Darren Lewis
RF Pedro Valdes
RF Jay Gibbons