From the "Great Moments In Civic Art" department, the Fonzie statue in Milwaukee is getting some company:

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Brewers are erecting a statue of baseball commissioner Bud Selig outside Miller Park and will unveil it on Aug. 24.

Selig headed a group that bought the Seattle Pilots in bankruptcy court in 1970, moved the franchise to Milwaukee and renamed it the Brewers. He became acting commissioner in 1992 and took the job full-time six years later, turning control of the team over to his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb. The Selig family sold the team to a group headed by Mark Attanasio in 2005.

"The Brewers and Miller Park are in this city because of the commissioner's vision and dedicated efforts," Attanasio said Monday.

Well, Selig and the taxpayers in the five-county region around Milwaukee. But mostly the taxpayers in the five-county region around Milwaukee.

Lou Piniella is talking some sense about Mark McGwire, though he's probably wrong because he's giving fans and especially sportswriters the benefit of the doubt:

Piniella said he does not feel McGwire’s presence on the road will make it difficult for the Cardinals to concentrate on playing baseball.

“I don’t think it will be a distraction,” he said. “It would have been a distraction if he did not have his press conference. That would have been the topic all year long. Now that it’s old news, maybe when he shows up for spring training, the first week or so that topic will be revisited. But hopefully, they’ll leave him alone and let him do his job.”

I'm sure that with each new city fans and sportswriters will say: He's answered questions to my satisfaction. Or I've been made to feel complete because somebody else has booed him. Right.

Phil Rogers is skeptical about the Diamondbacks signing Mark Reynolds to a longterm deal:

Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds is discussing a lucrative, long-term contract after shattering the single-season record with 223 strikeouts last season. Joe DiMaggio had 369 strikeouts in 13 seasons. …

While I agree with Rogers that it would seem prudent to not latch onto Reynolds too tightly, it's rather incomplete to only mention his strikeouts. He did hit 44 home runs and 30 doubles to go with his .349 OBP and .543 SLG last season as a 25-year-old.

Plus, DiMaggio isn't available to play third for the Diamondbacks.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a difficult week for Cubs bloggers. There has been name-calling. Anger. Bemusement. More name-calling. Confusion. And, finally, apologizing.

For those of you who do not wish to read all of the stories to get caught up or if you just can't bear to relive it all word by word, we now present you with a dramatization that neatly sums up the week that was among Cubs blogs:

(click "read more" for full article)

Like Geovany Soto, there will be less of Carlos Zambrano reporting to spring training (which he already has more than two weeks early, by the way):

"He looks absolutely wonderful, and I think you'll see a heck of a better performance from him just because of that," Piniella said. "The mental part of it? He's mentally strong. He fights himself at times. He needs to harness that a little bit. But you want competitors on the mound, and Carlos certainly competes."

(click "read more" for full article)

Tony La Russa suggests he wouldn't be a good fit as the manager of the Cubs:

"You've got a double-headed whammy there. I have a lot of friends and fans that I'm close to with the White Sox. And you know White Sox and Cubs, they don't mix. I've got friends and fans that I'm close to in St. Louis, and the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cubs don't mix. So I think if there is one place that I don't fit, just because of my past, it would be the Chicago Cubs."

(click "read more" for full article)

And then there was one:

The Chicago Cubs and agents for Carlos Marmol have agreed on a one-year contact worth $2.125 million for the 2010 season.

The amount agreed upon is the midway point between the arbitration figures the two sides had filed.

The only arbitration case remaining for the Cubs is shortstop Ryan Theriot. According to sources, Theriot and the Cubs will go through the process of arbitration. That trial will take place between Feb. 8-20 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

As a reminder, this is why the Cubs should go to arbitration with Theriot.

The Cubs were among the eight teams that did too little to improve this offseason, according to Jon Heyman, though he says they are still a good team:

It's never going to be a great winter when the big goal is to undo the biggest move of the winter before. They did finally get rid of Milton Bradley but had to take Carlos Silva, poster of an impossibly bad 8.60 ERA last year and one of the worst pitchers in baseball since signing for $48 million over four years, in return from Seattle. Marlon Byrd's acquisition allows them to move Kosuke Fukudome to right field, where he's excellent, although Byrd isn't exactly a Gold Glover in center.

John Grabow was overpaid at $7.5 mil for two years, and Xavier Nady seems similarly fortunate to get $3.3 million (plus $2 million in incentives) given that he didn't play after April last year and needed a second Tommy John surgery. But the bigger issues were beyond their control. Ted Lilly's injury could be a big blow, and Alfonso Soriano proved to be even more untradeable than Castillo. No matter, they remain very talented and still have an excellent shot to get back to the playoffs.

If you say so, Jon.

Remind me to set the VCR for these:

Fox will air two of its national Saturday major-league baseball broadcasts in prime time this season, and one will be the Cubs-White Sox game at 6:10 p.m. June 26 at U.S. Cellular Field. 

It's the first time in the network's 15 years of televising the package that it will show two regular-season night games. They will be the first such prime-time games since 2004. 

The May 22 prime-time broadcast will feature another Cubs' road game, against the Rangers at 6:10 p.m., as well as Yankees vs. Mets, Red Sox vs. Phillies and Tigers vs. Dodgers. The June 26 choices, in addition to Cubs-White Sox, are Yankees vs. Dodgers and Red Sox vs. Giants.

On the East Coast, actually, this just means I'll get the Phillies game in May and the Yankees game in June. So, actually, these are just two more games the blackout rules will prevent me from seeing.