Once again Jim Hendry made it a point that he did not want to go to salary arbitration with any player. He made sure that wouldn’t happen when he finalized contracts with relievers Michael Wuertz and Kevin Gregg before the Tuesday deadline.

Wuertz will earn $1.1 million while Gregg gets a nice raise and will earn $4.2 million.

The Cubs have not had to go to salary arbitration with a player since they did so with Mark Grace back in the 1993 season.

The Cubs have also invited a right handed pitcher for Japan to spring traning as a non-roster invitee. I’m not even going to think about this deal too much because I’m almost 100% sure he won’t make the team. Anyways, his name is Ken Kadokura and he has a career 76-82 record and 4.36 ERA in 302 games, including 172 starts, for the Chunichi Dragons, Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, Yokohama Bay Stars and Yomiuri Giants.