More additions, but not the ones you were expecting

The Cubs may not have traded for Brian Roberts... yet... but they've added a pair of veteran pitchers via free agency without sacrificing the farm system.

The Cubs' last 20-game winner is coming back. Jon Lieber turns 38 in the opening week of the season, so don't expect the same pitcher who went 20-6 seven years ago. He was 3-6 in a dozen starts in an injury-shortened 2007 season for the Phillies, but he's only two years removed from a 17-win season. He joins Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Hill and Jason Marquis among Cub starters even before we talk about Ryan Dempster moving to the rotation or Sean Marshall, Sean Gallagher, Angel Guzman and whomever else is battling to emerge from the minors.

Shingo Takatsu was signed to a minor-league deal and will get a look-see in spring training. At 39, he would be the oldest Cub in Mesa. The right-hander put up one solid Major League season, closing out 45 games for the White Sox in 2004 after a lengthy career in Japan. Putting up a 2.31 ERA in '04 followed by a 5.20 ERA in '05 before returning to Japan it's a coin toss whether he'll be effective, but "Mr. Zero" would be one more veteran in a well-stocked bullpen late in the game (over 300 career saves between the two continents) if he's still got it. If he makes the club, the Cubs would have four players who speak at least some Japanese, joining Alfonso Soriano, who played there as a teenager; Derrek Lee, whose father and uncle played there while he was growing up; and of course, Kosuke Fukudome.

In any case, more typical Jim Hendry moves, stockpiling enough Major League talent to fill whatever unexpected gaps might turn up. I'm under the impression that after getting burned when Derrek Lee was hurt two years ago, he doesn't want to ever be left in the lurch again in what may continue to be baseball's easiest division to win.