It’s Christmas, so ‘tis the season for hacky column ideas. Should I try to write a spoof of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by dropping in some real zingers about the Cubs not having any money to make any significant moves? How about a real chucklefest where I do the Twelve Days of Christmas and try to work in something clever about newly re-signed radio voice Pat Hughes’ fifth inning breaks? “Five can-dles-lit!” No, that would be awful.



Instead, even though the offseason has been slow again this year, let’s look at the early Christmas gifts that some teams have given their fans so far.



The biggest moves the Cubs have made were to trade Tommy La Stella (and presumably Jed Hoyer’s spare khakis) to the Angels, sign utility man Daniel Descalso (which my phone’s autocorrect kept trying to make Daniel Desk Also), and most recently, sign the most depressing Marvel superhero,...