Cubs sign the corpse of Jim Edmonds
Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I thought it sounded kinda funny. Jim Edmonds, 37, was great four years ago. He was useful three years ago. Since then? Useless. But this isn't a terrible move for the Cubs because it's extremely low risk. He sucks? He wastes fifty at-bats, he's cut after three weeks and the Cubs are out about 1/12th of the major league minimum. (about $20 grand) He's good? Bully for Jim Hendry for plucking him off the scrap heap. It's not inconceivable that he'll be re-invigorated playing in front of the Wrigley faithful. It's happened before. (See Gary Gaetti)
The real concern is that he's cock-blocking Felix Pie. Pie does mostly look lost at the plate, and the only way his stroke can be found is by playing every day. The Cubs, having the best offense in the majors, can afford to bat him 8th and work out his troubles. He's the best defensive outfielder on the club, so he's certainly no liability there. And he's still got a lot of upside still at the plate (certainly more than Reed Johnson & Jim Edmonds). The Cubs are better off in the long term by having Pie be successful at the major-league level now, but I understand where Lou's coming from after watching some of Pie's wretched at-bats over the last 10 months. Lou wants to win now. He doesn't care about two years from now (when Edmonds is long retired and Johnson will be riding the pine on a different team.) Maybe Pie can get his head screwed on straight in AAA (like Rich Hill) and he'll come back with a vengeance.
This is a move that probably won't work but it doesn't cost much to try. If Edmonds has even a 20% chance of reverting to 2005 form, he's worth a look.