Winter Meetings Wrap-Up: A whole bunch of nothing

Well, Jim Hendry came to the winter meetings, he saw what he had to do (trade Milton Bradley) and accomplished NOTHING!!!

There were several rumors that either had the Cubs completing a deal or that they were close, including one from today, but I'm beginning to wonder if the Cubs really ever were close.  I think that all these rumors of the Cubs being close to a deal were actually "leaks" from the Cubs to motivate other teams to up their offers.

If that was the case, it didn't work, as the one team who seemed the most interested in Bradley, the Tampa Rays, now appear to be backing off and are content with Pat Burrell, leaving the Cubs scrambling for a trade partner, according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat.

So, while Hendry was scrambling around trying to find someone to take Bradley off his hands, he had to watch while the Yankees traded for Curtis Granderson  (which didn't make Lou Piniella happy) and Rich Harden signed with Texas. 

A couple more tidbits from the meetings from ESPN's Bruce Levine, the Cubs and Sox appear to be battling for reliever J.J. Putz and Hendry had a meeting with agent Casey Close to discuss his client Ben Sheets.  However, before you get too excited, Sheets is said to be seeking around $12 million per year, according to Richard Durent of ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth.  Don't know why Hendry is chasing these expensive pitchers.  Does he really think he going to save that much on a Bradley trade?

Finally, despite the lack of a Bradley trade, the week wasn't a total loss, the Cubs selected Michael Parisi from the Cardinals in today's rule 5 draft.  Parisi provides the Cubs with another option at 5th starter or as a fill in while Ted Lilly recovers from surgery.  Parisi underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2008 and was only able to come back to make 5 starts this year.  However, he piched in the AFL and did fine with a 4.44 ERA and 15 K's in 26.1 IP.  He's a longshot to have any significant impact in 2010, but since he can start and pitch long relief, the Cubs could keep him on the roster (and avoid sending him back to the Cardinals).

So, after a week of work, all Hendry has to show for it is one minor leaguer pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery.  Hendry had better be careful, as this could become just like the Sammy Sosa trade situation, which dragged on until late January 2005, and handcuffed Hendry from making other moves.  If the Bradley situation goes on into January, the Cubs could very well be stuck with him.