Inside the Cubs

Jim Hendry said he considers the just concluded general managers meetings at the O'Hare Hilton fruitful and said that the abbreviated format seemed to encourage even more dialogue between GMs than the usual spread-out, longer sets of meetings in the past.

But just how successful those meetings were won't be known until he finishes dumping Milton Bradley - presumably by the winter meetings in Indianapolis in less than four weeks - and knows how much of the $21 million left on that contract he has to eat, and what player he gets in return.

``We were real pleased with the meetings,'' said Hendry, who joined assistant GM Randy Bush in meeting with ``seven or eight'' teams Tuesday night just ahead of Wednesday morning's wrapup. ``We felt we got a little direction on the path we might want to go. It was productive.

``We'd like to make a few moves before Indy. Then it really clears up. We don't have a lot of quantity to add. We want to make a few adjustments.''

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry used to face a barrage of questions this time of year centering on all the big names he would be interested in adding during the offseason. This time, he's facing a steady stream of questions asking about the one name everyone knows he must subtract.

Until he's gone, Milton Bradley continues to be Problem No. 1 for the Cubs and Hendry.

Which brought this question to mind Monday during the first day of the general managers meetings at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport: Is there any scenario in which Bradley could return to the Cubs in 2010?

''He's on our roster and until he's not on our roster, that's how you have to look at it,'' Hendry said. ''A lot of people have had worse exits at the end of the year than that and they return.

''The goal is to do the best we can to put a good club on the field by spring training. Until people aren't here, as a general manager, I approach it like they are here. And that's what you deal with.''

The Cubs say that Ted Lilly's surgery last week doesn't change their minds about allowing Rich Harden to become a free agent without making an offer.

And it shouldn't.

Some critics of that sentiment have suggested the Cubs must try to retain Harden, but the team is right to let him go.

Harden's a good guy, and his talent is unquestioned.

But a history of injury problems and a thin free agent market for high-end pitchers almost guarantee Harden's ability to command a multi-year deal and suggest a strong possibility somebody will wind up overpaying for him.

Even in a season his balky shoulder didn't seem to be a problem until the final two weeks of the season, Harden was a pitcher who needed to be managed with extra rest between starts, when possible, and who averaged nearly 18 pitches an inning in 2009 -- making him a five-inning pitcher far too often.

Whether he rebounds to look at dominant as he did the first month the Cubs had him in 2008 (and for glimpses in '09), the risk is too great for a team looking at '11 and beyond for payroll flexibility (with contracts expiring) to make fundamental changes that extend and strengthen its competitive window.

Randy Wells is locked in among three healthy returning starters. Lilly may well be ready to pitch again at a high level by May. Jeff Samardzija may be ready to step into a starter's role next season. Tom Gorzelanny is a competitive candidate for the fifth starter job.

And lefty Sean Marshall is more than deserving of a full-fledged chance to start -- not to mention the fact he has a pretty decent track record as a starter-reliever swing man for this team the past two seasons, making him a capable stand-in for Lilly even if Lilly is out until the All-Star break.

Harden? At worst he'll create more instability in the rotation for a big-ticket price. At best, he's a dice roll not worth taking.

The groups trying to lure the Cubs out of Arizona and to the Naples, Fla., area for spring training are continuing to push, with a press conference scheduled today.

But no matter how strong their bid looks at the end of the day, a move to Southwest Florida for the Cubs would be foolish.

Watching the rain while pondering whether it's ironic or simply coincidence that the Cubs appear to be getting rained out in their first attempt to play a game in October this year.

Meanwhile, other random rain-delay thoughts include that T-shirt Ted Lilly was wearing yesterday touting the return of free agent teammate Reed Johnson: ``With Reed We Will Succeed.''

I've got a few other T-shirt ideas for these guys.

Keep him or trade him? Love him or hate him?

Call him your ace or call in a cavalry of physical and psychological therapists?

In other words, what do the Cubs do with Carlos Zambrano?

Lou Piniella said before the game that as he looks to next year he doesn't see much need to bolster the pitching staff.

And Ryan Dempster, last year's Game 1 playoff starter who's signed for three more years, along with Aaron Heilman and Carlos Marmol showed what he meant in a game they kept low-scoring until Jeff Baker had a chance to win it with a homer in the ninth.

What if the Cubs' Derrek Lee hadn't started slow the first five or six weeks of the season? He might have 40 homers and 120 RBIs and challenging Albert Pujols for the MVP award.

What if Milton Bradley was never signed by the Cubs? Considering they're 16-9 (.640) this season when he doesn't play, they might be on their way to a 104-win season.

And if Aramis Ramirez (14 homers, 61 RBIs in 76 games) hadn't been on the DL for two months? And if Tylver Colvin's 1-for-3-with-an-RBI debut means anything about his long-term big-league ability?

If, if, if. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

At least the Cubs have finally, clearly begun to lock their sights on making the most of next year and hitting the ground running toward actually contending again.

MILWAUKEE -- Unless a general manager puts together a World Series-winning team on his watch, he usually will be remembered most for the deals that went wrong. That means Jim Hendry faces a tall task in separating himself from the Milton Bradley signing.

When the Cubs identified a left-handed-hitting right fielder with pop as their biggest offseason need, Hendry had three free agents to consider. He showed mild interest in Raul Ibanez and no interest in Bobby Abreu. The man Hendry wanted all along was Bradley. Keep in mind, Bradley's former team, the Texas Rangers, got more out of him than any of the other five clubs he had played for, but Texas was willing to offer only a one-year deal.

Hendry swept in with a three-year, $30 million offer and Bradley was ready to slip on a Cubs cap. Bradley didn't even last a full season with the Cubs, and this will go down as one of the franchise's worst signings. It's certainly in a neck-and-neck race with the December 2000 signing of catcher/infielder Todd Hundley, who got a four-year, $23.5 million. At least Hundley lasted two seasons, though he hit a combined .199.

Hundley, who had his own run-ins with fans, was one of the many stains on Andy MacPhail's resume with the Cubs. Bradley belongs to Hendry, who at least gets credit for admitting he made a mistake by sending Bradley home two weeks before the end of the season.

''I don't think anybody's a miracle man where things work out all the time,'' manager Lou Piniella said Monday. ''In this business here, when things don't work, somebody's going to take some heat. It's unfortunate. This guys [Hendry] is the same guy who put together the team that won 97 ballgames and he did a hell of a job. When things don't work, well, you've got to point them at somebody. It's unfortunate in this business, but that's the way it works.''

Milton Bradley, we hardly knew ye.

Only 5 ½ months into the first of what was supposed to be three seasons for the Cubs worth $30 million, the oft-slumping, more-oft-distracting Bradley was suspended by the Cubs for the rest of the year over comments he made to the media in recent days, culminating with an interview with the Daily Herald Saturday in which he took shots at media, fans and even the organization.

The chances of him returning to the team next season reside somewhere between those of the team making the playoffs this year and Hack Wilson being named NLCS MVP next month.

With that in mind, we look back on the Life of Milty as a Cub, in quotes from the 40-RBI man himself:

Not surprisingly, given his reaction to adversity and even to basic media questions this season, Milton Bradley appears to want out of Chicago as much as many in the organization seem to want him gone.

The Daily Herald's Bruce Miles got Bradley aside in the clubhouse this weekend and asked, among other things, if he had enjoyed his first season in Chicago.

``Not really,'' Bradley told him. ``It's just not a positive environment. I need a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment. There's too many people everywhere in your face with a microphone asking the same questions repeatedly. Everything is just bashing you. You go out there and you play harder than anybody on the field and never get credit for it. It's just negativity.

Sam Fuld made another diving catch Monday night in the outfield (great play even if it turns out he trapped it) to end the fifth inning in a one-run game - raising again the question of whether this guy should get more playing time as the Cubs look toward next year.

And what about Andres Blanco - Mr. Spectacular almost every time he gets a start in the middle infield?

If the Cubs proved anything in their 2-0 win over Milwaukee Monday night - other than they still can't hit - it's how important fielding is to a team that expects to win.