While it's not exactly a graveyard activity-wise today, there's certainly a lack of concrete doings in the Land of Cub. So, I can think of no better way to pass the time between happenings than to throw together a series of tangentially related ramblings of little to no substance.

• There are a couple items of interest in one of Bruce Miles pieces in the Daily Herald today. First, as is also reported in The People's Paper and the Corporate Stooge Gazette, Rafael Furcal should be coming to a decision on who gets to pay him gobs of cash within the next few days.

  All of the articles mention that the Cubs are front-runners, but the CSG story (oddly, written by David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution), is the most optimistic about the Cubs' chances, saying that their offer is significantly better than what the Braves have ponied up.

  There's no doubt bringing Furcal on board would be a major coup, and if the word comes before the Winter Meetings next week, it will make Jim Hendry's job a ton easier. I'm just thankful that, for the most part, this offseason is moving along at decent pace, because if I had to endure another winter like last year, with day after day of nothing compounded by nothing, I would undoubtedly pop.

• The other item of interest in Miles' piece is a quick mention that the Cubs are in the early stages of working on a deal for Dodgers' problem child, Milton Bradley.

  I'll admit to being torn on this. On the one hand, Bradley is a very talented man with power, patience, some speed, and very good defensive skills who is entering his baseball prime.

  On the other, he's had a number of injury issues in his career, and worse, is an obviously emotionally troubled individual, with a well documented history of troubling incidents both on and off the field. Suffice to say, when the ever patient and decent Mr. Weisman decides he's done dealing with you, you've crossed a line.

  I honestly don't have an opinion on this possibility right now - it's simply too fraught with complication for me to be clear headed about it - but it says something that I can't bring myself to be instantly enthusiastic at the prospect of a talent like Bradley's being available on the relative cheap.

• Last I checked, the Cubs still had 41 men on their 40-man roster, due to the official announcement yesterday of the Bobby Howry signing.

  I don't know what the rules are or what the club's prescribed timeframe for remedying this situation is, but the lack of action combined with the delay in announcing the deal with John Mabry (he still has yet to take a physical, as I understand it) makes me think something's afoot.

  Like I said, I have no idea what the rules governing this sort of thing state, but the odd delay implies that the Cubs are waiting for the completion of a trade of some sort that would ship out more men on the roster than it would return. That's pure speculation on my part - I have no inside information - but if no one is released by the end of the day, I'll start to think the idea has some traction.

You may or may not have noticed, but I've not gotten the next part of the Assuming the Position series in the can yet. Needless to say, I overestimated by capacity for writing while under the influence of feastables. However, I seem to be making actual progress this week, so I expect to get things going again next Tuesday. Thanks again, folks, for your patience.