Paul Sullivan On Cubs Hot Stove

Could the hiring of Gerald Perry as hitting coach signal an era of change in Chicago?  Thus far Jim Hendry has made a point of ignoring the free pass, but Perry is said to encourage a little patience.  Of course, Oakland’s walk mandate was organization-wide so we can’t give Perry all the credit.

Anyway, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has the word on the Cubs’ latest hot stove dealings.

– Final offer for Aramis Ramirez will probably come in Saturday night.

– The Cubs wouldn’t mind adding Dave Roberts as the new leadoff man.  He walks at about 10% of the time, which is nice. 

– They may also consider bringing Miguel Batista back to serve as the fifth starter.  Batista was last seen in Chicago as a 26 year-old starter with control issues.  The Cubs traded him in ’97 for Henry Rodriguez.  Now Batista is a 36 year-old starter with a tad better control.  You could do worse for a #5; he keeps the ball on the ground.

– Sullivan’s sources close to Carlos Lee say that the North Side is the slugger’s preferred destination – not Houston.  We had been hearing this talk in Chicago papers for a while but the Houston hype has drowned it out lately.

– The Cubs have interest in Jason Schmidt at four years or less.  I would hope that’d be the breaking point – five years would be truly absurd.