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After the Cubs finally broke their crippling eight-game losing streak Tuesday, they made a slight overhaul to their bench and how it's going to be used. Aaron Miles is headed to the disabled list, while Bobby Scales and Neal Cotts (mercifully) have been optioned to the minors. In their place, the Cubs have recalled Jake Fox, Andres Blanco and Jason Waddell.

Waddell will replace Cotts as the lone left-hander in the bullpen, but the big news here lies in the call of Fox and a possible infield shuffle.

In light of the recent offensive woes of the entire team -- namely Mike Fontenot, though -- Cubs manager Lou Piniella admitted it's a possibility to move Alfonso Soriano to second base. He did say it was a "last resort," but possible. You might recall Soriano played the majority of his early career at second, however, he's only played there for two innings since his move to the National League in 2006.

Moving Soriano to second base would give a huge boost to the Cubs' offense -- which just scored a meek two runs in a three-game series at St. Louis -- by enabling Micah Hoffpauir everyday at-bats in left field. Fontenot, along with Bobby Scales and Aaron Miles, would still be able to accrue at-bats at third base until Aramis Ramirez is healed.

UPDATE: The Cubs ended up trading Gathright for Freel straight up, after our original post, which appears below.

Whether it's Steve Trachsel, Corey Patterson, Felix Pie or Rich Hill, the Cubs and Orioles seem to really enjoy talking trades with each other. It makes a bit of sense, considering Jim Hendry and Andy MacPhail worked together as members of the Cubs front office for several years, because they probably feel very comfortable with each other and like many of the same players. The most recent rumor is utility player Ryan Freel.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Cubs are interested in the services of Freel, who was acquired in the offseason by the Orioles. Freel is a bit frustrated with sitting on the bench for the O's, and he's still owed over $3 million this season.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The White Sox visited the White House, and apparently the visit was without much drama. You had to wonder if a team led by Ozzie Guillen and including A.J. Pierzynski could get through such a public event without sparking some sort of controversy.

In fact, it was quite a friendly visit the team had with President Obama, a die-hard Sox fan. White Sox reliever Octavio Dotel even got a hug from the First Fan.

"Just to be close to him and have that chance ... I saw the opportunity to ask for a hug. He said, 'Of course.' That was really nice of him. He knows a lot about us. He noticed that we've been playing well lately. He's a big fan. I can tell he really enjoyed [the visit].''

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team who just can't buy a break. They can't get any big names to sign with them (Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett), they are getting majorly outspent by the two big boys in the division, and the Rays skyrocketed past them last season due to an impressive franchise turnaround. I've seen people tout these guys as the "2009 version of the Rays." My reply? You have got to be kidding me. There's not near enough here for a run at .500, much less the World Series.

Our MLB editor files dispatches from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.

Though it had been widely reported for the better part 24 hours, the Orioles officially announced the trade of catcher Ramon Hernandez to the Reds Tuesday. Hernandez is, more or less, your average starting major league backstop -- nothing to scoff at these days.

But he had to go for one very good, very big reason: Matt Wieters.

Wieters is nothing less than Baseball America's 2008 Minor League Player of the Year, an excellent catcher and an even more outstanding hitter.

Orioles president Andy MacPhail,pictured, said the Hernandez deal was almost entirely about clearing a spot for Wieters to play regularly. "It had been our goal to introduce Matt on to the major league scene in the '09 season," he said. "As a franchise we realized our future was probably with [him]."

Ya think? Wieters posted an absurd .355/.460/.625 line across two levels in his first full season as a professional this year. And for the privilege of opening a spot in the majors for a weapon like Wieters, MacPhail also got three players, including Ryan Freel, who is injury-prone but also versatile, particularly as they look for a platoon mate for left fielder Luke Scott, and prospect Brandon Waring, who has real pop (40 home runs in 188 games as a pro).

MacPhail was careful to temper expectations, saying that Wieters was not guaranteed to be the Opening Day catcher and that the Orioles would probably add a veteran backstop later this winter. But Matt Wieters is coming -- and soon.

Clearly, reports that the Reds were going to open the winter meetings with a splash by trading for Jermaine Dye were premature. Still, Walt Jocketty has been active this week and on the second day of the activity in Vegas it looks like he has pulled the trigger on a trade, even if it's not the deal everyone was talking about two days ago. Instead, they've sent resident crazy-person Ryan Freel to Baltimore in exchange for Ramon Hernandez.

Lest you think this rumor is just more smoke coming out of Vegas, Ken Rosenthal's got it confirmed while Walt Jocketty told Cincinnati reporters, "I'll tell you all about it later," when asked about the move. According to John Fay, it looks like the only thing holding this up is the approval of the commissioner's office because it involves more than $1 million.

Looking at this quickly from both team's perspectives, the Reds are picking up a catcher that they hope is going to have a little more pop that Paul Bako and Javier Valentin did last year, though Hernandez has been pretty bad the last two years with the O's. Baltimore, meanwhile, has no use for Hernandez because the best prospect in baseball right now, Matt Wieters, is probably ready for prime time after obliterating just about every level of pitching he saw last year. In Freel they pick up a utility guy who's aging, but who can probably be useful at getting on base if he's healthy. Of course, he hasn't really been healthy in two years, so that's a big question mark.

Two full days of rumors and we get Ramon Hernandez for Ryan Freel. Yep, this is what the winter meetings is all about.

Ryan Freel has become a bit player for the Reds, seeing most of his time as a defensive replacement or pinch hitter. Why is this? Apparently because of a conversation he allegedly had with Dusty Baker in which he said he wasn't comfortable playing every day. Trouble is, Freel doesn't recall ever having this conversation. From John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

"It would have stunned a lot of people if they heard what was said about me. Apparently, I said I couldn't play every day to the manager. Apparently, I told him that this offseason. That would have never come out of mouth."

[...] "I talked to Wayne (Krivsky) to tell him I didn't say that," Freel said. "I would never in a million years say that. They gave me a two-year ($7 million) deal. I don't think it was to do this. It's frustrating. I can't explain it. There's a lot going on. It's a shame that I had to address it like this. I didn't want to get the media involved."

Fortunately somebody had the decency to remind Baker that Corey Patterson isn't very good at the game of baseball, but in the meantime Jerry Hairston has been recalled from the minors and taken a lot of the at-bats Freel would normally get, playing anywhere and everywhere on the field. Making matters worse (for Freel, not the Reds) is that Hairston is actually hitting right now (.364 heading into tonight's game), which means Freel will likely continue to be snubbed for the time being.

When you've got the best prospect in baseball, as the Reds have in centerfield raker Jay Bruce, and he's consistently beaten all scouts' expectations to the point where he is considered, almost unequivocally, to be the best prospect in baseball, and he's, you know, THE BEST FREAKING PROSPECT IN BASEBALL, what do you do? Do you:

A.) Put him in the five hole and let him crank 25 home runs at nearly no cost to your team.
B.) Sign Corey Patterson to his position and send him back to the minors.

If you're anyone but the Reds, you choose option A. If you're the team that hired Dusty Baker in the offseason, you choose option B, at which point you might as well just built a giant picture of a middle finger on the outside of the Great American Ballpark.

This is baffling enough on its own, considering Ryan Freel is a negligible contributer and Corey Patterson can't stop (won't stop) waving his bat everywhere, but it's even more so considering the Reds traded Josh Hamilton over the winter to open this spot up for Bruce. Why, Dusty? Why?

Poor, poor, Felix Pie. As if having to suffer from a twisted testicle isn't painful enough, and I'm truly grateful I've never had to experience it, now Pie has going to be out for three to five days because he had to undergo surgery on it today.

Pie is suffering from what's called testicular torsion, or, in layman's terms, a twisted testicle. It happened early in camp, but Pie had the problem reduced manually, sources said, and was able to continue playing. He was scheduled to have the corrective surgery on the Cubs off-day next Monday, but when Pie reported to camp with soreness Monday, the Cubs decided to get the procedure done today.

I'm not sure if I want to know what having "the problem reduced manually" consists of or not, but whatever it was, maybe Felix enjoyed it. He deserves a chance to enjoy something, right? The poor kid has had to go through a lot lately. First his ball gets twisted up, and now he's got doctors going at his boys with a scalpel.

I cringe just typing it.

Then to top it all off, he's got to deal with hearing rumors about the Cubs pursuing every center fielder who might be available: Coco Crisp, Marlon Byrd, Reggie Willits, and Ryan Freel have all been mentioned as players the Cubs are looking at.

Needless to say, I don't think this has been the best few weeks of Felix Pie's life.

Previously at FanHouse:
Felix Pie Suffers Tragic Twister Accident