Well, after a postseason Cubs fans would all care to forget and a rather forgettable offseason, Friday marks the four most glorious words a baseball fan can hear in the month of February: pitchers and catchers report. Other four-word February phrases like "I love you too" and "the Pro Bowl happened?" simply don't measure up.

And it's all the more glorious if you bleed Cubbie blue. Those words mean hope, and as Cubs fans, there isn't much else.

An outlook of the season will follow in the coming weeks prior to spring training, but for now, the offseason can pretty much be summed up, which can also be done in four words: "we didn't get Peavy."

Instead of Peavy, we loaded up on pitching in the hopes of having a spring training contest for the fifth starter, knowing we can relegate the losers to the bullpen.

Let's start with Aaron Heilman, my least favorite of the Cubs' offseason "scooches." (Calling them "moves" would indicate some sort of deliberate strategy was involved.)

Heilman comes off his worst season in a few years with the New York Mets where he went 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA. He has been in a relief role the last three seasons where his most glaring statistic was that he converted 4 of 19 save opportunities. While the Cubs would probably use him in early or middle relief if he was placed in the bullpen, it appears as if he's not too good at holding leads. New York Mets fans can attest to that--he gave up the home run that sent the St. Louis Cardinals to the 2006 World Series.

Another possibility is that Heilman wins the fifth starting job. This is where concerns of him not having started more than 13 games a season in his career and having issues with his elbow come in. There's always the chance that he could improve, but he could end up no more serviceable than Jason Marquis. The only thing Heilman has on Marquis is that he will at least tolerate working in the pen. I suppose letting him compete isn't horrible, but considering it cost a recent Cubs acquisition in Garret Olson, a young left-handed experiment, it puts a bit more pressure on the left-hander situation with Neal Cotts and Sean Marshall who will also compete for a starting job.

The other Cubs transactions don't warrant much discussion. I'm not particularly happy about loading ex-Cardinals onto the roster like Miles and left fielder So Taguchi who was clearly added with no purpose other than to give Fukudome someone to talk to. Miles will at least be a decent way to spell Mike Fontenot at second without DeRosa and Ronny Cedeno, the latter of whom I obviously care nothing about. I guess Oakland is where all failed Cubs projects go. Michael Wuertz is there too. Oh, and Baltimore, where they sent Rich Hill. I think we know who buys lunch when Jim Hendry goes out with Billy Beane and Andy MacPhail, or at least who bought the lap dances this year in Vegas.

Also, not surprised to see Paul Bako signing back with the Cubs. When Blanco was let go, there was no way a young Geovany Soto would be spelled with the equally inexperienced Koyie Hill. Since Bako was still on the free agent list and knows the organization well enough--easy decision.

I think we can officially say that we'll always remember this offseason as "that time we didn't get Jake Peavy," much like in the 05-06 offseason that is always remembered as "that time we didn't get Rafael Furcal."

I have to give Hendry credit though. Amidst an ownership change and other money issues, he still did something to shake up the picture for the 2009 season instead of hoping things might change with the existing players on the roster. As meaningless as the scooches are, I can at least be glad I'm done reading about how Rich Hill walked six guys in Venezuela on Cubs.com or having to make puns like "he's the Wuertzst."