Wednesday morning news bits

Ken Rosenthal reports the Cubs might be in the market to try to aquire outfielder Marlon Byrd.  He had a career year last year with the Rangers and is liked by new Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo.  Another possiblity in center field is former Brewer Mike Cameron.

Once the Cubs trade Milton Bradley, their plan is to find a center fielder and move Kosuke Fukudome back to right field.
Free agent Marlon Byrd is certain to draw their interest.
Rudy Jaramillo, the Cubs' new hitting coach, is a huge fan of Byrd's from their three seasons together with the Rangers, according to major-league sources. The Cubs also made a strong run at Byrd in trade discussions with Rangers before the 2008 season.
Byrd, 32, is seeking a multi-year contract after batting .283 for the Rangers last season with a career-high 20 homers and 89 RBIs.
Mike Cameron, 36, is another center fielder who could intrigue the Cubs. Cameron batted .250 with 24 homer and 70 RBIs for the Brewers last season, and his .795 OPS was nearly as high as Byrd's .808.
Both are right-handed hitters.

I like Byrd more than Cameron.  Cameron is near the end of his career, and I have always considered him a selfish player.  Byrd has shown steady improvement over the last few and is probably right around his peak as a ballplayer.  

Also on Rosenthals list, Grabow is near a deal for which Jim Hendry will probably vastly over pay...

The Cubs are making progress on a deal with left-handed reliever John Grabow, one source said tonight.
The deal could be for two years, the source said.

 I'm guessing this will be around $3 to $4 million a year.

There is still a lot of talk about Bradley going back to the Rangers...and the three way trade with the Blue Jays idea (which I'm guessing was more made up than true) has started to quiet down.  The Giants appear to be out, even though they would like to dump the salaries of Aaron Roland and Barry Zito.

These from Paul Sullivan:

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels confirmed he was looking for a middle-of-the-order bat, but said any interest in Bradley "depends on the specifics of the deal."

 and

 "A deal like that? For a player like that?" Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "No. Is that succinct enough? I don't know that addition by subtraction would work. Smarter people than us have tried that."

Has the Tribune company started to benefit from the sale of the Cubs?  They just paid off $170 million debts. Boy...if they had just sold the team earlier!

Oh, and any of you who wanted the Cubs to sign Ken Griffey Jr., first, you probably need your head examined, and second, he re-signed with the Mariners.

That's all for now...I'll add more news to this entry as the day goes on.