Starlin Castro has received that call that every minor league ball player hopes for letting them know that they have been called up to the Major Leagues. The question I have to ask is this; Are the Cubs rushing Castro to the big leagues due to the slumps they have been going through? My answer is yes, they are in a win now mentality and will do pretty much anything to get back into contention.

Chad Tracy was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room for Starlin on the big league roster.

Castro has been lighting it up at the double-a level where has hit .376 with one home run and 20 RBI. Look for Ryan Theriot to move over to the 2nd base positon while Mike Fontenot and Jeff Baker will keep the bench warm.

Many of us Cubs fans expected Castro to get the call this year but this is a lot earlier than most of us though. I just hope he isn’t being rushed by the management just like they did with Felix Pie and Corey Patterson. Those couldn’t miss prospects didn’t turn out good for the Cubs. Let’s all hope Castro doesn’t fall into that mold.

@chicagocubsblog on Twitter

Milton Bradley’s time in Chicago if officialy over as he was traded to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Carlos Silva. Silva has a terrible contract just like Bradley, but hopefully the change of scenery for both players will be good. However, I don’t like this trade one bit.

Trading Bradley for Silva is not a win for the Cubs. Your team is worse off then it was in my opinion. You open up another position in the outfield and lose some of that pop especially from the left hand side of the plate. I agree that Bradley should have been traded, but not for Silva.

“We knew we had to move the player,” Hendry said Friday of Bradley. “In hindsight, obviously, it was an acquisition that I’m responsible for that obviously didn’t work out.”

Gee you really think so Jim? Maybe you should have worked a little harder at the Winter Meetings and got a decent deal done then. Silva has won five games in two seasons in Seattle. Wow what a winner we got coming to the Northside!

The best thing from this trade is probably the $9 million dollars that the Mariners are sending along with Silva. This will allow the Cubs to go after a centerfielder and move Kosuke Fukudome back to right field. I’d like to see the Cubs go after Jacoby Ellsbury who doesn’t have a position with the Red Sox now. Will it happen? I doubt it…

Jim Hendry has signed his first piece of the puzzle during the offseason as he has signed former Texas Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo to a three year deal. Jaramillo turned down a one year offer from the Rangers as he was hoping to secure a multi year deal and that is when the Cubs jumped in and took action right away.

Jaramillo is well known for his five step hitting approach and will look to bring that to the Cubs starting in spring training. Jaramillo has already worked with Cubs players Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley when they both spent time in Arlington with the Rangers.

“Rudy Jaramillo is widely regarded as the premiere hitting instructor in the game,” Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. “The addition of Rudy to our franchise is a strong statement from our new owners, the Ricketts family, and we thank them for allowing us to move quickly to fill this important role with the best in the business.”

This is a great hire for the Cubs in my opinion. Jaramillo is well known through baseball as being one of the best hitting instructers and he will have his hands full with the happy swinging Cubs. I think he will get the job done and we will see players like Soriano and Bradley have a higher batting percentage as well as on base percentage in the 2010 season.

Good evening Cubs fans. The Cubs had a very busy day today as they defeated the Houston Astros 12-3 in the final game of their four game series. The Cubs took three out of four games against the visiting stros and could find themselves in first place if the Cardinals lose to the Dodgers to night.

The offense was led by back-to-back home runs from Jake Fox and Milton Bradley. Kosuke Fukudome reached base all five times and had four rbi as did shortstop Ryan Theriot. All around it was a great day for the offense as they beat up on Astros pitching.

Kevin Hart got the win for the Cubs but then found out that he had been traded to to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hart, Jose Ascanio and minor leaguer Josh Harrison were sent to Pittsburgh in exchange for left handers John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny.

Jim Hendry was after a left hander to add to the bullpen as the only lefty out of the pen has been Sean Marshall. Grabow is 3-0 with a 3.42 ERA for last-place Pittsburgh, with 41 strikeouts and 28 walks in 47 1/3 innings. He has two blown saves and 16 holds.

Gorzelanny will report to Triple-A Iowa where he will go into the rotation.

Not a bad deal for the Cubs. They gave up decent players for decent players. It will be interesting to see if Hendry can swing a deal for a left handed hitting right fielder before the trade deadline. Who would you like added to the roster if Hendry can work something out?

- Cliff