I appreciated hearing Ryan Braun's side of the story. Personally, I believe he was truly innocent. Many others will disagree. I think it is useful to watch this no matter what side your opinion falls on. He's a little long winded about his handling of the process, but does give some compelling details about it.

The article includes this gem of a quote from Big Z:

"Unfortunately the last two years there was no mutual understanding on either side and many things happened."

I'm not exactly sure how to sensibly dissect that statement but many things did, indeed, happen and I'm pretty sure most of them weren't a result of Zambrano being misunderstood.

Looks like the Cubs top 20 will be up in the next day or two. I was surprised I didn't see a few more recognized BCBer's commenting on the organization or prospect list threads. The supplied link is to the preliminary prospect list discussion.

I'm not sure why the Appleton (WI) Post Crescent would be the first official source on this. Did I miss something in recent days or is this not the first mention of him being offered, and accepting, the job?

Your move, Hendry.

I didnt see this mentioned elsewhere. If you want to watch Diamond pitch a couple of innings, this is on MLB Network right now. Started at 6 pm cst.

Towards the bottom of this article on the possibility of the Cubs pressuring Mesa for a new spring training complex the author tosses out the following without citing any evidence of the claim:

"OK, so the blue-clad masses of Baby Bear fans in Arizona might not be made up of the brightest fans out there. In fact, a good deal might not even be able to name one starter from the Cubs' regular lineup. ("Does Ryne Sandberg count?" most would probably say.)"

Excellent journalism!