Cubs

Moves Baseball CUBS -- Exercised mutual option with OF Daryle Ward. Purchased contract of P Adam Harben from Rookie-level Mesa. Declined to exercise contract options on OF Cliff Floyd and former Orioles P Steve Trachsel. Football 49ERS -- Waived LB Hannibal Navies. Signed FB Zak Keasey from practice squad. JETS -- Signed WR Chris Davis from practice squad. Hockey RANGERS -- Lent D Darius Kasparaitis to SKA St. Petersburg of Russian Super League.

No matter what kind of player you think DeShawn Stevenson is, you have to admit the Washington Wizards guard is some kind of playa. According to the Web site Young, Black & Fabulous - for the record, Mr. Flip is none of those - Stevenson appears to be making the rounds of former Destiny's Child singers. He supposedly was engaged to LeToya Luckett, but now seems to be linked with Farrah Franklin. It's a convoluted tale, complete with what theybf.com terms "some extra steamy and graphic messages" left on myspace.

Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome and the Chicago Cubs reached a preliminary agreement yesterday on a four-year, $48 million contract. The deal is subject to a physical, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. The agreement could be finalized as early as today. Fukudome, who is expected to play right field, was considered one of the best outfielders in Japanese baseball. He had surgery on his right elbow in August but has 192 homers and a .305 batting average over nine seasons with the Chunichi Dragons.

Long before he was a top executive with two world championship rings and a gleaming resume, Andy MacPhail was a Baltimore kid with baseball in his dreams and eye black streaked above his cheeks. He was a 5-year-old who wouldn't take off his Orioles pajamas, an 8-year-old who constantly dragged around his Jackie Brandt two-tone bat and a pre-teen always searching for a game, even if it was against the bigger, older boys. MacPhail, named last week as the Orioles' new president of baseball operations, may have been baseball royalty - his father and grandfather are Hall of Famers - but you wouldn't have known it by looking at the 1960s version.

On the Orioles' starting pitching I wouldn't be surprised if [Daniel] Cabrera won 15-plus, nor would I be surprised if he spent some time in [Triple-A] Norfolk. I don't think [Hayden] Penn will see much of a shot in Baltimore and could see him dealt at the break to a team like the Cubs or Reds. If [Kris] Benson and [Jaret] Wright have decent years (I think they will), the O's starters could be solid. Not spectacular, but solid.

Moves Baseball CARDINALS -- Placed OF Preston Wilson on 15-day DL with inflammation in right knee. Purchased contract of OF Ryan Ludwick and P Brian Falkenborg from Triple-A Memphis. Optioned P Dennis Dove to Memphis. CUBS -- Recalled P Angel Guzman from Triple-A Iowa. Optioned IF Ronny Cedeno to Iowa. DODGERS -- Placed IF-OF Marlon Anderson on 15-day DL, retroactive to Saturday, with sore right elbow. Recalled IF Andy LaRoche for Triple-A Las Vegas. MARINERS -- Suspended P Julio Mateo for 10 games without pay for missing Saturday's game without permission.

"I don't know him, but the guy basically, he's a winner. He's a character. He has obviously got the resources." Lou Piniella Chicago Cubs manager, on Mark Cuban's interest in buying the club.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- For the second consecutive winter meetings, the Orioles are involved in serious trade talks involving second baseman Brian Roberts. This time, it's the Chicago Cubs, a frequent trade partner of the Orioles and a team that needs a left-handed hitter, who are aggressively pursuing Roberts, according to several team sources. As of last night, no deal appeared imminent and one club source said he believed the winter meetings would end this morning without the Orioles having dealt any of their players, including Roberts, shortstop Miguel Tejada or ace left-hander Erik Bedard.

Quote: "It looks like somebody cut up the drapes and made shirts out of them."-- Reds manager Jack McKeon, on the Astros' Turn Back the Clock rainbow jerseysIt's a fact: The Cubs have been out-homered at home 49-33.Who's hot: The Reds' Barry Larkin is hitting .416 (37-for-89) in June.Who's not: The Cubs' Steve Trachsel, who is 0-6 with an 8.47 ERA in eight starts since May 15, leads the majors in losses with 10.On deck: Both the Marlins and the Expos are in a stretch that has them scheduled to play 20 straight games without a day off.Pub Date: 6/27/99

Quote: "George [Steinbrenner] offered him $7 million? I'd better go back in there. The good thing about him turning it down is that money's still available." -- Yankees manager Joe Torre on reports that YankeeNets, the new merged entity of the Yankees and NBA's New Jersey Nets, had offered Phil Jackson $7 million a year to coach the Nets and were rejectedIt's a fact: Mickey Callaway is the 19th pitcher Tampa Bay has used this season and the 10th starter.Who's hot: The White Sox's Magglio Ordonez is 6-for-8 in the two games against the Cubs.

CHICAGO - -Hall of Famers don't ride buses. They don't carry their own bags and they don't look forward to post-game meals from restaurants like Shoney's and Arby's. They don't do those things often, anyway. But Ryne Sandberg has. He has managed in the Cubs' farm system for three years, including a trip to the championship series of the Double-A Southern League this season, and has positioned himself to become the first Hall of Fame player in more than 30 years to get a chance to manage in the major leagues.

The Chicago Cubs and Baltimore apparel maker Under Armour will continue their marketing partnership after the baseball franchise dropped its lawsuit involving a multimillion-dollar sponsorship agreement. Under Armour announced Tuesday that it will remain the only advertiser on the Wrigley Field outfield wall. Two years ago, Under Armour became the first sponsor to place advertisements on two 7-foot-by-12-foot doors set into the ballpark's ivy-covered left- and right-field walls. In January, the Cubs accused Under Armour of reneging on a promised $10.8 million, five-year sponsorship agreement after its profits declined.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -All Rick Kranitz needed to see were three pitches from Rich Hill before he picked up the bullpen phone to call Chicago Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild. "I saw a couple of pitches, and I said, 'Whoa.' I called down to the dugout and said, 'Hey, Larry, you might want to come down and see this, because this is unbelievable,' " said Kranitz, then the Cubs' Triple-A pitching coach. "After the game, Larry came over and watched him. And he was like, 'Oh my gosh, we don't have a guy that throws that kind of breaking ball on our team right now.' " Hill, a fourth-round draft pick out of the University of Michigan a couple of years earlier, had been summoned to the major league club that day to serve as an emergency backup for a spring training game.

The Orioles added an option for their crowded and unproven 2009 rotation by acquiring left-hander Rich Hill yesterday in another deal with their frequent trade partner, the Chicago Cubs. Hill, 28, was considered one of baseball's best young pitchers a year ago, but he has declined sharply since the beginning of 2008. He was demoted after five starts because of an inability to throw strikes, and the trend continued in the minors and in the Venezuelan League this offseason. "I've seen him with control issues, and I've seen him overcome them," said Orioles president Andy MacPhail, who ran the Cubs when they selected the University of Michigan pitcher in the fourth round of the 2002 amateur draft.

The Orioles and Chicago Cubs are again involved in trade talks, this time about Cubs left-handed starting pitcher Rich Hill. According to industry sources, the teams have had talks about Hill, a one-time top prospect who is struggling to regain his command. One industry source said it's a "strong possibility" that Hill will wind up with the Orioles, perhaps as early as next week. The Orioles will likely give up a player to be named, who could be contingent on Hill's success in Baltimore.

The Chicago Cubs baseball franchise sued Baltimore-based Under Armour Inc. yesterday, contending that the sports apparel maker reneged on a promised $10.8 million, five-year sponsorship agreement after its profits declined. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the ballclub said the garment maker agreed to the deal and is still using Cubs players and the team's stadium, Wrigley Field, in advertisements for its products. Under Armour told the Cubs in a Dec. 12 letter that it would not sponsor them for the next season and "would not meet any of its obligations under the agreement," according to the team's complaint, which seeks full payment of the contract price.

When the Orioles were in extensive trade talks with the Chicago Cubs last year about Brian Roberts, they wanted young outfielder Felix Pie and were told that he was unavailable. Yesterday, with the Cubs running out of both patience and opportunity for their one-time top prospect, they sent him to the Orioles for starting pitcher Garrett Olson and Single-A pitcher Henry Williamson. The trade was Orioles president Andy MacPhail's latest attempt to make the team's roster younger and more athletic, and add to the organization's young position-player depth, which has been lacking for years.

The Chicago Cubs traded second baseman Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians yesterday. Some of you are asking if this means that the on-again, off-again trade talks involving Brian Roberts and the Cubs might be on again. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog)

As we learned in the first round, the Los Angeles Dodgers are no longer the team that appeared destined to miss the playoffs in August and scraped in with an 84-78 record. They're a versatile outfit with dangerous bats up and down the lineup and a stingy starter in every rotation slot. Their matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies is no easy call, but I'll take the team that's hitting and pitching better than at any point this season. Not only do the Dodgers boast a nuclear-hot Manny Ramirez in the three hole, they have their chief table-setter, Rafael Furcal, back at the top of the lineup.

It has been 63 years since local tavern owner William Sianis and his pet billy goat were asked to leave Wrigley Field during the last World Series to grace its Friendly Confines, but the legend it spawned refuses to die. The "Curse of the Billy Goat" is as much a part of Chicago Cubs history as Tinker to Evers to Chance, the double-play combination that played such a large part in the most recent Cubs world championship, which - at last count - was...