That didn't take long. Any last doubt about the Cubs' intentions involving their future with arbitration-eligible pitcher Chris Volstad were eliminated today when the Kansas City Royals claimed the right-hander off waivers.
Thus ended the brief chapter in Cubs history of the player who might have best defined their 101-loss season.
A former first-round draft pick who underachieved with his hometown Florida Marlins was the return the Cubs got on their attitude-dump trade of Carlos Zambrano last winter.
By the time he got his first win as a Cub on Aug. 26, he had been demoted twice and was threatening the major league record for consecutive starts without a win.
His streak reached 24, including 13 with the Cubs before he pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings to beat the Colorado Rockies at home in that late-August start.
He finished 3-12 with a 6.31 ERA and only five ``quality starts'' this season.
He made $2.7 million this season.
In other moves today, the Cubs outrighted the following players off the 40-man roster and assigned them to Class AAA Iowa: utility man Joe Mather, Justin Germano and Blake Parker.
Pitcher Manny Corpas also was outrighted off the roster but refused his AAA assignment and elected free agency.
They joined four others outrighted to AAA earlier this week: infielder Adrian Cardenas and pitches Miguel Socolovich, Jason Berken and Marcos Mateo.
Additionaly, catcher Anthony Recker, acquired from Oakland in August, was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets this week.
The Cubs also announced the promotion of Vijay Tekchandani from community affairs and projects coordinator to traveling secretary, replacing respected longtime traveling secretary Jimmy Bank.
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