Trade talk in the Windy City

Since we're a little short on Brewers news on the brink of 2006, how 'bout some Chicago talk?

The White Sox have apparently made an offer for Miguel Tejada: the O's can get either Contreras, Uribe, and a prospect, or Brandon McCarthy, Uribe, Alex Woodson, and another minor leaguer.  Neither one would blow me away, and I seriously doubt the Orioles would go for either.

And in Wrigleyville, the Cubs may be talking about Barry Zito.  Rich Hill and Matt Murton?   Hill and Felix Pie?  I can see Billy Beane pulling the trigger on either of those deals, but I doubt the Cubs would trade two of their top prospects.  In fact, it would be sad, even for the fan of a division rival like me, to see the Cubs gut their system like that over the course of a single offseason.

Completely unrelated to Chicago: Happy 70th Birthday to Sandy Koufax!  One of the greatest pitchers of all time, and one of the classiest guys ever to play the game.  If you don't know much about him, you won't regret reading this biography by Jane Leavy.  It's very possibly the best baseball biography ever written, and second only to Larry Ritter's The Glory of Their Times among all books on the game.  While I'm recommending books, if you have a taste for fiction, I also highly recommend Leavy's novel Squeeze Play, about a woman reporter covering a baseball team, based heavily on Leavy's own experiences as a beat writer for the Washington Post.