News and notes regarding Carlos Lee’s desire to be a Cub, Aramis Ramirez and his contract situation, and which Cubs are likely to be moved before the end of the season.

Something I found over at MLBTraderumors.com is that Carlos Lee and his agent have indicated that Carlos Lee has said that the team at the top of his off season list is none other than the Chicago Cubs. Lee owns a home in Chicago and would apparently enjoy returning to the Windy City.

Rumor has it that the Brewers offered a 4yr/48 million dollar deal and Lee turned it down immediately. As a result the Brewers dealt Lee, minor league outfielder Nelson Cruz and a PTBNL to the Rangers in exchange for Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix and Francisco Cordero. Cordero and Lee are free agents following the ‘06 season, Mench is a free agent following the ‘08 season and Nix is one after the ‘09 season. Cruz is currently hitting .302/.379/.523 with 17 steals in AAA this year.

The Rangers are in need of pitching, and after 2006 would be best suited to spend money on pitching rather than improve on the impressive offense they’ve already got. It would seem logical to think that Lee was added for the stretch run this season and the Rangers might be expecting Cruz to step into the mix in ‘07 as a cheap option in the outfield so as to spend the money elsewhere.

Aramis Ramirez has said that he wants to remain a Cub despite his contract option that would allow him to test the free agent waters following the 2006 season. In a perfect world the Cubs take him at his word, but that is not the case. The free agent market following 2006 is headed by Aubrey Huff and given the bloated contracts given out in recent years (Beltran and Furcal come to mind) it would appear that Ramirez could easily improve his financial situation. Obviously the Cubs could work this out and get Ramirez to a new deal for a better payday following the season and perhaps get it worked out now, but that seems unlikely.

Given all of the variables it would appear that it’d be in the Cubs’ best interest to deal him for a nice bounty from a team looking to improve at 3B and/or add a big bat for the playoffs. Possible suitors (teams looking to make the playoffs with a need for an upgrade at 3B) would include the Angels, Padres, Giants and Twins. Of these the Angels have already reportedly made an offer of Kendry Morales. If the Cubs are going to take the chance of moving Ramirez it will take more than that.

Greg Maddux probably pitched his last game in a Cubs uniform Saturday night, getting the win at Wrigley. Rumors have him going to several teams, including but not limited to the Brewers, Padres, Dodgers, and Mets. Of these, for some reason, the Mets seem most logical. With Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux the Mets would have a great story and a pretty good pair of finesse pitchers. Add Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez to the mix and they’ve got a pretty good playoff rotation. It appears that the Mets would refuse to give up any top prospects to get Maddux, but the Cubs should look to get something decent in return given the Mets’ need for another starter.

Other Cubs players that could be moved before Monday include Neifi Perez, Todd Walker, Rich Hill, Jacque Jones and Juan Pierre.