Jacque Jones was added Saturday to the roster of the Major League All-Star team, which will tour Japan from Nov. 2-8. He hit .285 with 27 home runs and 81 RBIs in his first season with the Cubs.

The trip will begin with a game Thursday between the MLB All-Stars and the Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo. The MLB team will then face the Nippon Professional Baseball All-Stars in a five-game series in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka from Friday through Nov. 8.

Congrats Jacque!

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Lou Piniella added three more coaches to his staff Friday, naming Mike Quade as third base coach, Matt Sinatro as first base coach, and Lester Strode as bullpen coach.

Quade and Strode have been in the Cubs’ system for some time. Quade, 49, also will serve as the outfield and baserunning instructor. He has been in the Cubs organization since 2003, and has compiled a 283-274 managerial record with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs for the past four seasons.

Strode, 48, has been part of the Cubs’ field staff for 18 years, including the last 11 as the Minor League pitching coordinator. Prior to that, he spent the 1994-95 campaigns with the Major League club as a pitching assistant.

Sinatro, 46, also will serve as the club’s catching instructor. This will be his 27th year in baseball and first Major League assignment since serving as Tampa Bay’s bullpen coach from 2003-05 under Piniella.

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Hendry continues to work on a new contract for third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who can file for free agency next month. Though both sides have indicated a desire to reach a deal, the longer the process stretches out, the more likely Ramirez will test the market.The Cubs also are expected to be major players in the bidding on Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Seibu Lions. Agent Scott Boras announced Tuesday that Matsuzaka, 26, has asked him to represent the right-hander in negotiations with major-league teams.

The Lions are expected to post Matsuzaka’s rights next month, giving all 30 major-league teams a chance to bid on the coveted pitcher. The Cubs, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to be among the highest bidders.

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New Cubs manager Lou Piniella continues to fill out his coaching staff, with an announcement expected possibly by today that Class AAA Iowa manager Mike Quade will replace Chris Speier as the team’s third-base coach.Speculation had centered on the possibility that Speier would return to the Cubs, just as pitching coach Larry Rothschild survived the purge of manager Dusty Baker’s staff. But sources confirmed on Tuesday that Speier will not return.

Speier has interviewed with the Arizona Diamondbacks about their third-base coaching vacancy. He served as the Diamondbacks’ third-base coach on then-manager Bob Brenly’s staff in 2001, when they won the World Series.

Quade, 49, joined the Iowa Cubs in 2003 after serving as a coach with the Oakland Athletics for three seasons. He filled in for Speier for three games on the Cubs’ staff in July, when Speier took a leave after being arrested on a DUI charge. Quade is a 1975 graduate of Prospect High School.

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Well, we can all stop about Alex Rodriguez coming to Chicago this off season as it just doesn’t look like it will happen.  I’m not sure how serious the rumors were, but yesterday A-Rod’s agent Scott Boras talked with Brian Cashman of the Yankees and they agreed that A-Rod would not be traded this off season.

So where do we go now?  Well Hendry has wanted to get Alfonso Soriano or Miguel Tejada for the past few years.  Is this the year that he finally lands one of them?  You can plug Soriano in at second base or Tejada at Short.

It will be an interesting off season and I can’t wait to see some moves being made.  Make sure to check back here at Chicago Cubs Blog for all the updated Cubs Rumors and News!

The New York Daily News is reporting that Alan Trammel will be named the Cubs bench coach within a few days.  The position was first offered too John McLaren who has been with Lou Piniella in the past but he went to Seattle to be the bench coach under Mike Hargrove.

This will be a nice fit and also Trammel can help the middle infielders out with turning double plays and just their defense in general.  Trammer was a great shortstop when he was playing with the Tigers in the 80’s and 90’s.

Cubs Blog

Cubs pitcher Mark Prior and wife Heather celebrated the birth of their first child, Amanda Grace, on Thursday. The baby checked in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces.  Congratulations to Heather and Mark on the new addition to their family

Lou Piniella has decided to keep Larry Rothschild as pitching coach.  This doesn’t suprise me one bit since Rothschild has been party of Piniella’s staffs in the past.  Hopefully Larry will turn these pitchers around and keep them injury free.

One thing that was nice to see in the papers today is that Rothschild is taking the blame for the way the pitchers performed last year.  They just didnt’ get the job done and part of the blame is on Rothschild along with the players.

In five years in Chicago, Rothschild has survived three managers, five closers and dozens of pitchers from Alfonseca to Zambrano. But he’s probably more synonymous with towel drills and simulated games than anything else, simply because Cubs pitchers have broken down often over the last few seasons.

Cubs Blog

Is Mark Prior ever going to be 100% again?  That is the question that Cubs fans have been asking the past few years.  Now the Cubs are reporting that Prior has visited two orthopedic specialists in the past few weeks.

Both specialists say that Prior has loosness in his shoulder and pretty much all his joints and that is what allows him to pitch the way he does.  They both recommended the only thing Prior can really do right now is stregthen the shoulder with excercies.

Surgery will be a last option for Prior, both Prior and the Cubs do not want to go with surgery option.  They told Prior to begin his spring training workouts before spring training to see how he responds since it usually takes his body a while to get going. 

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What great words that new Cubs manager Lou Piniella had to say today during his press conference. 

“Urgency is important,” said Piniella, who was introduced Tuesday as the team’s latest manager. “We’re going to win here, and that’s the end of the story.”

Piniella said that he was assured by General Manager Jim Hendry that the Cubs would be allowed to make the off season moves that they need to do get this team back into the playoffs and in the right direction towards the world series.  Earlier today, we had mentioned that Piniella would love to trade for Alex Rodriguez his longtime friend and ex-player so it will be interesting to see what happens regarding A-Rod.