The Ellipses...

...and the Cubs announce a huge free agent signing. Henry Blanco (Hank White, as coined by Andy Dolan and purloined by ESPN 1000's Steve Rosenbloom this morning) is back for 2 more years at a cost of $2.5 million per year. Nice. Now, if they only could get rid of Michael Barrett.

...but this was tempered with the signing of Mark DeRosa and his ginourmous historical stats. Always nice when GM-Pro Tempore Jim Hendry gambles for three years on a guy no one else wanted for more than two (Jacque Jones?) and gives up a draft pick in the process.

...so the minute Rex Grossman realized that you can't throw two touchdown passes on a single play, the Bears won a game coming from behind. Not a coincidence.

...now that Mike Brown, the second best football player on the Bears defense, is out, the Bears have given up 100 yards to running backs in each game he's missed. Also not a coincidence.

...if you are a major league baseball player who is considered a marginal free agent, and Jim Hendry calls, given what we've seen with DeRosa and Jones, don't you just immediately take whatever Hendry is offering? You just know it's over market, right?

...then again, the DeRosa signing is fine for a team with a $130 million payroll. We Cubs fans can expect that knowing the Tribune Company is about to be sold for scrap, WGN TV will have a new owner, and the Cubs have held the line on ticket prices (due to slack in demand) which limits the available dollars for payroll.