1. Other than A-Ram, the Cubs have nobody of consequence locked up past this season. Rusch, Dempster and Perez are (at best) spare parts. Barrett is worth the investment, but hardly irreplacable. They're going to have a whole lot of flexibility next year to sign free agents, and I don't see any of the veterans on the roster who's going to have a surprise break out year that'll require big bucks to retain (Todd Walker could if he played, but I don't see him getting the chance).

2. If Greg Maddux is making $9M and Kerry Wood $11M, how much is Zambrano going to ask for in arbitration? If I were the Cubs management I'd try to avoid arbitration and lock him up for at least 3 years right now. The Cubs are going to have enough problems next year deciding whom to sign from their rotation - they might as well avoid having to deal with their most reliable starter. I wish I could say the same about Prior, but at this point in his career he has to prove that he can be counted on to give 200 quality IP on a regular basis. He may have still a higher ceiling than Zambrano, but so far he's spent a lot more time on the floor.

3. There are only 3 OFers on the roster, and one of them (Adam Greenberg) has literally seen only one pitch in his Major League career ... and considering that the pitch hit him in the head, I'm not too sure he actually even saw it. Everybody talks about Furcal, but the #1 priority has to be getting someone to play the outfield - otherwise we're gonna see Felix Pie come up in May and turn into the second coming of Corey Patterson.

4. Speaking of which ... I've been a Corey Patterson fan from the start, but I'll be shocked if he's still on the roster at the All Star Break.

5. It pains me to say it, but I don't expect that DLee is ever going to reproduce the magic that he had this season. I'd resist the temptation to extend his contract and wait until he shows that he can do it again. Yes, if Deracles goes 300/400/600 in 2006 it will cost more to sign him than it would now - but at least we'll know he's worth it. Better that than giving him a big extension now and having to eat it for years to come. We've been that route before and it sucks.

I would say that having Michael Barrett locked up through 2007 at $4M per year is a good situation.

Yeah, if you take a careful look at the original post, I kinda waffled on Barrett. I like the guy and I think that his $4M/year contract is probably the best value for dollar deal of the five multi-year contracts - including that of A-Ram. But I wouldn't break into a cold sweat if tomorrow morning he got up and announced that he's giving up baseball to try his luck as an opera singer. He's good enough, and worth the money ... but I just get the feeling that Hendry would find somebody else to take his place.

But yes, all things equal, it is good that he's under contract for another year. And now that I think of it, after Deracles and A-Ram, he and Walker are the only position players on the roster that are even close to being legitimate keepers at this point ... and apparently Cubs management isn't in agreement regarding Walker.

By the way, why no love for the Deracles nickname? I think it rocks.