Cubs: Two Unsurprising Things

1) According to SI columnist Jon Heyman Aramis is looking to leave the Cubs after this year.

Aramis Ramirez is telling friends that he plans to exercise an option to opt out of his contract with the Cubs, which would allow him to join Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee as the top positional free agents this winter. Ramirez, who has 31 home runs, 89 RBIs and a .287 batting average, is also telling people he'd love to go to New York, although for now the Yankees are saying there is no consideration being given to trading Alex Rodriguez, who's in a much-analyzed, inexplicable funk.

Wherever Ramirez goes, he should be able to top the $11 million annually he is slated to make. He's having a big finish, and it would make little sense not to capitalize on that even if it means he stays with the Cubs at an increased salary. The Astros, Rangers, Angels, Dodgers, Red Sox and Tigers could be among favored players for Ramirez. But, of course, the Cubs won't let him leave easily.

2) According to Paul Sullivan the Cubs believe Aramis is going to stay and not opt out of his contract.

So let's add this to the list of things the Cubs believe is going to happen but no one else that has an even casual interest in the Cubs believe is going to happen.

The only question is do I slot that in list? Above "Wade Miller, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are going to be ready to go early enough in the season that we don't need to add more arms in the off season" or below "overpaying Neifi Perez and Glendon Rusch with multiyear, multimillion dollar contracts because they are key components to the team's playoff chances"?

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