Just North of Wrigley Field

posted by James - 5:57 PM

Oh, happy day in Wrigleyville!!!

ESPN.com has reported 1B Derrek Lee will spend the next five years in Cubs pinstripes!

I could not be happier about this, since he has retained his status as my NUMBER ONE FAVORITE CUB since GM Jim Hendry acquired him before the 2004 season for squat and less-than-squat.

Even though he greatly contributed to the demise of the Cubs World Series hopes in 2003, greedily winning the Florida Marlins' second trophy since their way-too-recent inception, I think I liked him instantly because of his on-basiness and his defense, how Cubs fans couldn't get over his strikeouts and how it took Triple Crown stats for Manager Dusty Baker to move him above sixth in the batting order.

Since he'll have spent seven years with the Cubs at the end of this deal which includes a complete no-trade clause, I'll match this trade against any of the past great Cub trades including the ones fitting Ryne Sandberg and Sammy Sosa for a Cubs uniform.

Now that Hendry has followed his own extension with his most-important acquisition's extension, Baker becomes the next focus for an extension. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it, because he hasn't convinced me he's worth it over the last three seasons.

How he treats my other sources of joy right now - Cubs youngsters OF Matt Murton, SS Ronny Cedeno and LHP Sean Marshall - will go a long way towards convincing me he should stick around next year, much less two or three years.

The credit for alerting me to the good news goes over to the diligent Goat Riders, but still no word where they got the scoop on this. As I posted on their site, I can assure you it did not come from me and it did not come from the bum who lives on the Southeast corner of Clark and Addison. Though, he did confirm for me the Cubs had scheduled a press conference for tomorrow morning, so maybe he knew more than he led on.