CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs and outfielder Reed Johnson have agreed to a $1.15 million, one-year contract.

The 35-year-old batted .309 with five homers and 28 RBIs in 111 games for Chicago last season, his second stint with the team. He also played for the Cubs from 2008-09, batting .287 with 10 homers and 72 RBIs in 174 games.

Johnson is a career .283 hitter with 59 homers and 349 RBIs in 997 games over nine major league seasons with the Cubs, the Blue Jays and the Dodgers.

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Read More: Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs

A report earlier in December indicated that the Chicago Cubs were going to hire Bill Buckner to be the hitting coach of the Boise Hawks, which is the club’s single-A affiliate. On Friday the Cubs confirmed the hiring:

name alum Bill Buckner as the hitting coach for the 2012 season.

Buckner hasn’t coached in the majors in nearly 15 years, but he did have interest from other teams, as explained in the previous update on this story:

Buckner currently lives in Boise, Idaho, which partially explains the hire. The ESPN report adds that new Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine wanted to add Buckner to his Major League coaching staff, but Boston’s front office resisted the idea. Buckner has coached in the majors in the past, but not in a while. His most recent MLB coaching gig was as the Chicago White Sox hitting coach all the way back in 1997.

For more updates on Chicago sports, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more in-depth coverage of the Cubs, head over to Bleed Cubbie Blue. Also, check out MLB Daily Dish for Cubs rumors and transactions.

The Chicago Cubs new front office regime is in the midst of overhauling the team’s bullpen. The trade of lefty reliever Sean Marshall to Cincinnati last week was a blow to the Cubs relief staff. Marshall is set to become a free agent following the 2012 season. Chicago did well to acquire young starting pitcher Travis Wood along with two prospects in return for a player likely to depart as a free agent.

The loss of Marshall means that more responsibility will fall to James Russell, another lefty who pitched both as a starter and reliever in 2011. Russell struggled mightily in his five starts. He allowed 31 earned runs in 67 2/3 innings for the season but Russell allowed 18 of those earned runs in less than 20 innings as a starter. In 2012 Russell should be able to put his starting days behind him and focus on retiring left handed hitters.

Former Cubs manager Mike Quade was backed into a corner early in 2011. April injuries to starters Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner coupled with a lack of organizational pitching depth forced Quade to use Russell as a starter. It also resulted in an over reliance on past their prime pitchers like Ramon Ortiz and Rodrigo Lopez. The new front office led by Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have been working to improve the Cubs pitching depth in an attempt to avoid last season’s pitching disaster.

The addition of Wood gives Chicago a young starter who will likely be slotted into the back end of the rotation. Andrew Cashner seems to be over his injury woes of a season ago. The team has also added veterans like Andy Sonnanstine and Manny Corpas to the mix. Sonnanstine had his ups and downs over the course of his career with the Tampa Rays. The veteran right hander has an unimpressive 5.26 career ERA in 132 games, but he does have experience as both a starter and reliever. He has started 80 games in the Majors and could end up being a long reliever/spot starter for Chicago.

Corpas is an interesting addition. He pitched for five seasons for the Colorado Rockies before missing all of 2011 with an injury. Chicago signed the right-hander to a split contract that will pay him one rate for Major League service time and another rate for time spent in the minors. Corpas, like Sonnanstine, has struggled at times but has recorded 34 career saves. He could give Chicago a low-cost option at closer should the team deal Carlos Marmol as part of its rebuilding efforts. By the same token, Corpas could wash out and be cut in Spring Training. He’s a low risk/potentially high reward signing for the Cubs

In addition to the veterans mentioned above Chicago has added reliever Lendy Castillo through the Rule 5 draft and Casey Weathers in a deal with the Rockies. The team must also be encouraged by the Arizona Fall League performances of Cashner and Chris Carpenter, who was a highly regarded prospect before dealing with injuries and control problems. The Cubs have gone about re-stocking the bullpen for new manager Dale Sveum without committing long term contracts or big dollars to relievers. The rookie manager will have more options at his disposal than his predecessor, and he’ll probably need them.

* Information gathered from http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Dan Soderberg is a freelance writer and lifelong baseball fanatic. You can read some of Dan’s other work at http://mudville9.blogspot.com Follow Dan on Twitter @dan_soderberg

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Anytime someone talks about the Chicago Cubs, my first thoughts always float back to the many summers I spent at Wrigley Field watching the Cubs play. To me, the two have always gone together. One would not be the same without the other.

So, when the Ricketts family purchased the Cubs and talk began to circulate about the age of Wrigley Field and the need for a change, I was heartbroken. The Cubs just wouldn’t be the same without Wrigley Field and I know I am not the only fan to feel this way.

I live on the other side of the country now and have not been to Wrigley Field in quite a few years. I am sure that time has not been kind but the idea of demolishing it and starting from the ground up is just not an idea that sites well with me.

There are too many memories there. Memories of the “Bleacher Bums” back in the 80s and Harry Caray belting out “Take me out to the Ballgame.” There is too much history in the ivy to let it be taken away.

This is a ball park that is set in the heart of the city as well as in the hearts of the fans. This is a ball park that, despite its aging nature, still has fan’s willing to pay top dollar to come and watch their team win or lose.

While I understand the arguments that Wrigley Field does not provide the state-of-the-art facilities that other teams have, there are ways to remedy that without losing the history this ball park provides to the fans.

Keep the field, the bricks and the ivy and that amazing scoreboard that still operates manually. Keep the historic marquis sign. Leave the bleachers just the way they are so the “bums” home remains unchanged. Then, remodel the remaining ball park. Update the facilities and the clubhouses. Revamp the stadium seating and increase them. Create more space for more fans to come and see the games.

Add restaurants and state of the art food venders. Do all you can to increase the revenue capabilities of the ball park and help create a winning team but keep the qualities that make Wrigley Field the piece of history it is.

This can all be done while preserving the history and memories of the fans. Once the remodel is complete, replace the marquis sign out front and its game on. It was my first game at Wrigley Field that gave me my love of baseball and the Cubs and I hope it is around to the same for many more generations of fans.

Deborah Braconnier is a former athlete and softball player. She has followed the Chicago Cubs since she was a teenager and remembers watching Ryne Sandberg and team from the bleachers in Wrigley Field and having player’s posters all over her wall. Working now as a freelance writer, she brings her love of sports together with her writing. Follow her on Twitter @fwcdeborah.

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Read More: Matt Garza (P – CHC), Sean Marshall (P – CIN), Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs traded relief pitcher Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday for three players, and Theo Epstein says the club probably isn’t done making moves:

“I don’t think we are done,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said Friday after trading Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds. “I do think we still need to build more depth on the starting pitching front, both in the big leagues and minor leagues.

“But it doesn’t happen overnight. You have to make sacrifices. Just like moving Sean Marshall, who was certainly an asset for the 2012 club.”

It’s been widely speculated that starter Matt Garza could be a prime trade target. Epstein said Garza is “the type of pitcher you want to build around” while acknowledging that the Cubs are in a situation where they’re listening to offers for anyone on the roster.

For more updates on Chicago sports, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more in-depth coverage of the Cubs, head over to Bleed Cubbie Blue. Also, check out MLB Daily Dish for more MLB rumors and transactions.

You might be wondering why Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer would pursue a 29-year-old middle reliever who hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2010 and who has been mostly irrelevant since 2007.

The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a one-year contract with reliever Manuel Corpas. Corpas has a career ERA of 3.93. He was also a critical part of the Colorado Rockies’ National League pennant during the 2007 season. Corpas finished that season with 19 saves and a 2.08 ERA. He also had five saves and a 0.87 ERA during the postseason.

Since then, Corpas hasn’t finished any season with an ERA lower than 4.52. He hasn’t pitched in MLB since having Tommy John surgery after appearing in 56 games in 2010. The Texas Rangers signed Corpas to a minor-league contract in 2011. He never appeared in an organized game with them. Corpas also played winter ball in Panama.

The Cubs recently traded Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds. Marshall had progressed into one of MLB’s best left-handed relievers and setup specialists over the past couple of seasons. The Cubs traded Marshall because he was one of the few players who were currently on the roster who could net some decent prospects. The Cubs also have Kerry Wood or Jeff Samardzija as potential replacements for his setup role.

I’m not sure that this is supposed to be an answer to that departure. Corpas is just trying to make his way back into MLB following that surgery. He’d be a fantastic addition to the bullpen if he could rediscover what made him so good during his first two seasons. Of course, we’re talking about 2006 and 2007. It’s very unlikely that he’ll ever play like he did during that pennant run.

Who knows? Maybe Corpas will enjoy a resurgence and become an important component in the Cubs’ bullpen. Jose Lima had a couple decent years that almost nobody expected. There’s no risk in this signing and he has been good in the past. The worst scenario that could happen is that he never makes the 25-man roster and he’s released in 2013. He could also give the Cubs another reliable reliever at a cheap rate.

Joshua Huffman grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a Green Bay Packers and Chicago Cubs enthusiast. He immediately gained an admiration for Cubs fans after watching numerous games on WGN during the mid-90s. His favorite Cubs moment was Kerry Wood’s(notes) 1-hitter, 20K extravaganza that was only denied of a no-hitter by Kevin Orie’s defensive blunder. As a Packers and Cubs fan, he suffered through Steve Bartman and “4th & 26″ in a span of three months.

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