NL Central

Phil Cavarretta, best known for winning in 1945 the National League MVP with the Chicago Cubs, has passed away.

Cavarretta was born and raised in Chicago. At age 17, he was signed by the Cubs as a amateur free agent in 1934. From that day on he built a relationship with the Cubs organization that lasted 20 years.

Two Milwaukee websites are reporting the Milwaukee Brewers have tentatively reached an agreement with the Kansas City Royals to acquire right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke. The trade is pending a physical by Greinke and could be announced on Monday.

Doug Melvin has already traded for Shaun Marcum, a solid pitcher, to bolster the Brewers starting staff. Melvin has said he plans to go get another starter.  In that case, one down, one to go.

While drastically improving the starting rotation is a huge step, that isn't the Brewers' only roadblock to competing with the Reds and Cardinals for the NL Central in 2011.

Let's examine 12 things that the Brewers must do in order to get where they need to go.

For one day, Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry was the smartest man in baseball.

Somewhere, Ron Santo is beaming. Kerry Wood, a longtime Chicago Cub who never looked right in anyone else's uniform, will reportedly come home to the North Side of Chicago.

Multiple sources, including Fred Mitchell and David Kaplan of the Chicago Tribune, report that Wood and the Cubs are finalizing a deal.

If true, this news has to warm the hearts of Cubs fans everywhere. Wood became a fan favorite nonpareil in the post-Ryne Sandberg era, and the team has done its public relations a world of good by reeling in Wood just weeks after cutting ties with Sandberg.

Congratulations goes out to Joey Votto once again this year.

After being named the NL MVP this year, by compiling a .324 average with 37 home runs and 113 RBI, he has now been crowned the 2010 Canadian Male Athlete of the Year. The pile of accolades continue to increase for the 27-year-old native of Toronto, Ontario Canada and he truly deserves all the praise coming his way.

While all of the big chips in free agency have fallen this season, a team looking to make a big splash will need to turn to the trade market, and there may be no more intriguing trade chip than Prince Fielder.

Whether he is traded in the offseason or at the deadline, it seems a foregone conclusion that Fielder is on his way out of Milwaukee with the Brewers unable to re-sign him.

So here are eight deals that make sense, not only for the team acquiring Fielder, but also for the Brewers, as they look to bolster their pitching and fill what will then be a hole at first base.

I am writing this post as I am watching She’s Out of My League. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much, but I find it surprisingly funny. There are definitely some good parts in there that have made me laugh.

Now on to another laughing matter. That’s the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

The Cubs organization will never use the term in front of Cubs fans for fear of backlash, but the Cubs are in a rebuilding process. 

Sure, if they can win while they do it all the better, which is why we saw Jim Hendry take a flier on a veteran like Carlos Pena instead of moving Tyler Colvin to first base. But since contending in 2011 seems unlikely, I have a suggestion for Hendry: 

Dear Bud Selig,

Baseball is America's Pastime.

It earned that title through hustle, tradition, and hard work.

No player embodies those points more than Pete Rose.

Nobody loved the game more than Rose. He played every game like he had been let out of jail for one day.

Baseball was his life.

People say love is a strong word, but in the case of Pete Rose it's not strong enough to describe his feeling toward baseball.