Coomer, DeShields, Gutierrez, Stairs, Van Poppel, Tapani, Weathers, White and Young on list

With questions looming regarding contraction and the free agency signing period beginning for baseball, the Cubs are attempting to go about business as usual.

"We've identified our needs, which are no secret -- the middle of the infield, leftfield, someone who can play first and third base and possibly continue to augment our pitching," said Vice President of Player Personnel Jim Hendry. "Now whether that comes from our own free agents or outside areas, all of that is yet to be determined. We certainly have nothing but high praise for the way our free agents played for us."

With Fred McGriff and Michael Tucker exercising their options to stay on the North Side, the Cubs have nine players from 2001 who have filed for free agency -- Ron Coomer, Delino DeSheilds, Ricky Gutierrez, Matt Stairs, Todd Van Poppel, Kevin Tapani, David Weathers, Rondell White, and Eric Young.

The hometown hero Coomer provides an option for the Cubs at first and third, giving Bill Mueller and McGriff a breather, and is likely to be courted by the Cubs for next season.

All indications are that the Cubs will not try to negotiate a deal with second baseman Eric Young, with Bobby Hill coming on strong in the Arizona Fall League after being hampered last summer with a groin strain, and with the possibility of resigning Delino DeShields at a lower cost.

"Hill played very well in the Fall League and we think he will come to camp physically 100 percent, quite possibly go into Spring Training with a legitimate chance to make the club," Hendry said of Hill, who was the Player of the Week in the final week of the Fall League.

Without an immediate in-house solution at shortstop, the Cubs will probably look to try to work out a deal with Ricky Gutierrez, who was second on the team in RBIs last year with 66.

Stairs, who hit a disappointing .250 and didn't provide much protection while hitting behind Sammy Sosa early in the season, will probably not return.

Van Poppel has been solid in two seasons with the Cubs, lowering his North Side ERA in 2002 from 3.75 to 2.52. Look for the club to resign the 29-year-old who was the overall No. 1 pick in 1990.

The Cubs declined to pick up their option on Tapani, making him a free agent and ensuring that if he chooses to work for a 13th year, he will do so in another uniform.

After acquiring Weathers from Milwaukee at the trading deadline, the right-handed reliever didn't quite live up to his Brew Crew statistics, giving up 10 earned runs in 28 1/3 innings.

"We're always trying to get better on the mound but we have some young people coming like Juan Cruz and Scott Chiasson and Carlos Zambrano who might fit some of the needs," Hendry said.

With so many left-handed hitters now on the roster, the Cubs would like to sign a right-handed hitting leftfielder. Rondell White just so happens to fit that description, but whether he and the Cubs will be able to agree on money may be another story. White has spent substantial time on the disabled list the past four seasons, but is impressive when he's on the field.

"Rondell White has been terrific when he's played. It's just been unfortunate that he hasn't been able to play more," Hendry said.

Hendry clarified reports that the club was not going to pursue any of the upper echelon free agents for the 2002 season.

"Andy (MacPhail) had a big job to do last year, mainly to overhaul the club and he made a lot of good decisions obviously -- we increased our win total by 23 games and really kind of got out of the hole," Hendry said. "I think there were a lot of people who didn't understand how good Billy Mueller was along with Flash Gordon and Jeff Fassero who pitched great out of the bullpen for us. Jason Bere and Julian Tavarez, who weren't considered at that time quality rotation-type signs turned out to be very good. We made a lot of good moves last off-season and had a lot more holes to fill then than we do now.

"I think that statement was more or less that there wouldn't be the $18-20 million per year type of guy signed."

If the Cubs need justification for not signing free agents with large price tags, one just needs to look at the past year, when the team improved their record by 23 games from the previous year.

"A year ago we went after Mike Hampton and we didn't get him," Hendry said. "If we had gotten him, there would have been no Bere, no Tavarez and probably no someone else. So we didn't get Mike Hampton, but Plan B ended up being pretty good."

Plus the key for building a winner that will compete annually starts with a good farm system, not necessarily a good free agent signing.

"You look at the Yankees, the Cardinals, the A's, the core of their club is home grown," Hendry said. "Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite -- they're all home-grown guys and until you get to that point where you've got a couple coming every year, you're not going to be able to augment the rest of it and win."

So the electorate has spoken.

Barry Bonds, with 73 home runs, an .863 slugging percentage and a .515 on-base average, has become the first player in baseball history to win the Most Valuable Player award four times. But I believe Sammy Sosa was more deserving, and I'm not just saying that because I got to watch him play every day while covering the Cubs.

Bonds received 30 of the 32 first-place votes from a panel of baseball writers. Sosa received the other two first-place votes, which came from Mike Kiley of the Sun-Times and yours truly.

Before you accuse me of being a homer — or, worse, a Homer Simpson — allow me to explain.

Bonds’ season might have been the greatest individual offensive season in baseball history, but Sosa had a better team offensive season. The game is about scoring runs, and Sosa beat Bonds in both RBIs and runs scored.

Sosa led baseball in runs scored, with 146, while Bonds had 129. Sosa also led baseball with 160 RBIs, one for every game he played and 23 more than Bonds. He also finished 94 in front of Ricky Gutierrez, who was second on the Cubs. That's the greatest differential in baseball history.

Sosa also had 37 intentional walks, the most ever for a right-handed hitter, and was at his best when the game was on the line (he batted .324 with runners in scoring position and went 10-for-15 with the bases loaded) and when the games mattered most (he hit .385 in August and .369 after Sept. 1).

I've had two MVP votes in the past, and both went to players (Texas' Juan Gonzalez in 1998 and the Mets' Mike Piazza in 2000) who led their teams to the postseason. Had Bonds led his team to the playoffs, he would have been a better choice than Sosa.

How Teddy Greenstein voted:
1) Sammy Sosa 2) Barry Bonds 3) Luis Gonzalez 4) Albert Pujols 5) Shawn Green 6) Lance Berkman 7) Chipper Jones 8) Randy Johnson 9) Jeff Bagwell 10) Todd Helton

Chicago opens against Giants, wraps up with D'backs

The Chicago Cubs today announced their 33-game spring training schedule for the 2002
Cactus League season. The Cubs' exhibition campaign -- which begins Thursday, Feb. 28, against the San Francisco Giants at Mesa's HoHoKam Park -- will conclude with a pair of contests against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark. All games are scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m. Arizona time unless otherwise noted.

Steve Smyth and Ben Christensen added; Kevin Orie signs Triple-A contract

The Chicago Cubs today announced that they have purchased the contracts of two pitchers from their minor league system -- left-hander Steve Smyth (pronounced Smythe) and right-hander Ben Christensen -- and added the two to their big league roster.

With the addition of the two pitchers, the Cubs' major league roster now stands at 37 players. Of that total, 20 are products of the Cubs' minor league system.

The Cubs today also announced that third baseman Kevin Orie has signed a Triple-A contract with the organization and will be invited to the club's major league spring training camp as a non-roster player.

Smyth, 23, was the Cubs' fourth-round selection in the 1999 draft out of the University of Southern California. This past season, the southpaw was a Southern League midseason and postseason all-star at West Tenn (AA) -- going 9-3 with a league-low 2.54 ERA in 18 starts. He also participated in the midseason Double-A all-star game.

Christensen, 23, was selected by the Cubs in the first round of the 1999 draft. He went 2-1 in three starts for West Tenn (AA) this year before undergoing season-ending right shoulder surgery May 10. In 2000, he combined to go 7-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 17 starts for Daytona (A) and West Tenn - and was selected to pitch in the Florida State League's midseason all-star game.

Orie, 29, was the Cubs' Opening Day starter at third base during the 1997-98 campaigns. He has spent three seasons in the majors with the Cubs (1997-98) and Florida (1998-99), batting .248 in 303 games with 22 homers and 111 RBI. He was dealt to the Marlins as part of a five-player July 1998 trade deadline deal involving Felix Heredia.

Orie spent the 2001 campaign with Philadelphia's Scranton/Wilkes Barre (AAA) affiliate -- where he earned International League postseason all-star honors after batting .293 in 134 games with 34 doubles, 13 homers and 45 RBI. He ranked second in the league in on-base percentage (.394) and walks (77) and had a .965 fielding percentage at third base.

The Cubs are raising ticket prices—again.

In a letter sent to season ticket-holders this week, the Cubs announced a price hike that will boost the cost of almost every seat at Wrigley Field.

Bleacher tickets will rise from $20 to $24, terrace and upper-deck boxes go from $23 to $26 and some club boxes will surge from $30 to $36.

The Cubs also raised prices after the 2000 season. Before then bleacher tickets cost $15 and club boxes went for $25. That's a 60 percent increase for the bleachers and a 44 percent increase for the club boxes over two seasons.

In the letter announcing the new prices, the Cubs said that despite drawing 2.8 million fans this past season, the team finished 13th out of 30 major-league teams in overall attendance. It also said that the team's average ticket price ranked 11th "despite our small seating capacity."

It certainly won't rank 11th next year.

"We have decided to rescale our ticket prices to more accurately reflect demand and proximity consistent with other stadiums," director of ticket operations Frank Maloney wrote in the letter.

The Cubs included maps and pricing plans of eight other ballparks, including Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Pacific Bell Park.

Most bleacher seats at Pac Bell sell for $10, but the Giants' new ballpark is inundated with advertising. Top box seats at Yankee Stadium go from $37 to $65, but bleacher tickets cost only $8.

Fenway Park, with baseball's smallest capacity of 33,991, charges $18 and $20 for bleacher seats. Wrigley Field holds 39,059.

The least expensive seats remain upper-deck reserved, which will increase to $12 from $10.

As was the case in previous years, the Cubs will offer half-price tickets on seven "value dates." Those are weekday (excluding Friday) afternoon games from April 9 to May 23.

The Cubs acquired infielder Ivanon Coffie (first name pronounced EE-vah-nahn) from Baltimore Friday for a player to be named.

Coffie, who plays third base and shortstop, hit .267 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 56 games for the Orioles' Triple-A team in Rochester.

He missed nearly three months after fracturing his right index finger in April.

Coffie, a 24-year-old left-handed hitter and native of Curacao, batted .213 during a 23-game stint in the majors in 2000.

Hee Seop Choi, David Kelton and Francis Beltran added to roster

The Chicago Cubs today announced that they purchased the contracts of three players from their minor league system -- infielders Hee Seop Choi and David Kelton and pitcher Francis Beltran -- and added the three to their major league roster.

With the addition of the three, the Cubs' major league roster now stands at 34 players. Of that total, 18 are products of the Cubs' minor league system.

The club also announced that outfielder Michael Tucker, who had a player option, will return to the Cubs in 2002.

Choi, a 21-year-old first baseman, was limited to just 77 games at Iowa (AAA) this past season due to injuries to his left hand and wrist. He finished the campaign with a .229 average, 13 homers and 45 RBI -- to go with a .995 fielding percentage. During his three-season professional career, the left-handed batter has 56 homers and 210 RBI in 288 minor league games.

A 1998 graduate of Kwang-Ju Jae IL High School in Kwang-Ju, Korea, Choi signed with the Cubs' organization as a non-drafted free agent in March 1999. He was a member of the Korean National Team that finished 2nd in the 1998 World Baseball Championships.

Kelton, a 21-year-old third baseman, was the Cubs' 2nd-round selection in the 1998 draft out of Troup County High School in La Grange, GA. The right-handed batter has earned league all-star honors in three of his four pro seasons.

This past year, Kelton played in 58 games for West Tenn (AA) and batted .313 with 12 homers and 45 RBI. He missed more than half the season due to a strained left wrist. Before suffering the injury, though, he had been selected to participate in the midseason Double-A and Southern League all-star games. He returned to the baseball field this fall, playing for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League.

Beltran, 21, has spent his five-year professional career in the Cubs' minor league system. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander is a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Beltran pitched for Daytona (A) in 2001, appearing in 21 games (18 starts) and going 6-9 with a 5.00 ERA. His starts, innings pitched (95.1) and strikeouts (72) totals were career highs.

Tucker, 30, was acquired by the Cubs last July 20 from Cincinnati in exchange for pitchers Chris Booker and Ben Shaffar. In 149 total games for the Cubs and the Reds, the left-handed batter hit .252 with 19 doubles, 8 triples, 12 homers, 61 RBI and 16 stolen bases. His triples total tied for 5th in the National League.

In 63 games for the Cubs, Tucker batted .263 with 7 triples, 5 homers and 31 RBI.

Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa spoke openly of his sorrow when terrorists attacked his adopted country on Sept. 11. On Monday he grieved for his homeland, the Dominican Republic, the destination of American Airlines Flight 587.

"I am deeply saddened by today's tragic plane crash in New York," said Sosa from his home in the Dominican Republic through a statement released by the Cubs. "Like the tragedy of September 11, it was a shock."

Monday's tragedy was especially difficult for the slugger given it is his 33rd birthday and he was born in San Pedro de Marcoris, Dominican Republic.

"Today is my birthday -- now I will associate tragedy with my birthday," said Sosa. "So many Dominicans as well as Americans lost their lives today."

Like so many other friends and families, Sosa is playing a very uncomfortable game, one of waiting.

"I keep finding out about people who knew people who were on that plane. My friend Juan Marichal was supposed to be on that plane but came in early yesterday," Sosa said. "We're still waiting for all the names to come out; families are waiting at the airport, it's such a tragedy.

"My country is devastated."