The Cubs have signed 27-year old outfielder Joey Gathright to a 1-year contract. He played in 105 games for the Royals last season and he was 71 for 279 (.254 avg, .583 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 0 homers, 22 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. Gathright has now played in 408 games in his major league career and he is 301 for 1,145 (.263 avg, .632 OPS) with 168 runs scored, 1 homer, 96 RBIs and 78 stolen bases. Signing Gathright was a good move as he’s one of the fastest players in all of baseball.

The Cubs have brought in 24-year old righty reliever David Patton in the Rule 5 Draft. He pitched in 50 games (0 starts) in A-ball last season and he was 4-5 with 4 saves, a 3.54 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. Patton does have good stuff as evidenced by the fact that he whiffed 87 batters in only 73.2 innings pitched last season. Patton will have a uphill battle making the Cubs’ bullpen out of spring training.

The Cubs have signed 33-year old lefty hitting catcher Mark Johnson to a minor league contract. Johnson played in 10 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 5 for 17 (.294 avg, .627 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. He has now played in 332 games in his major league career and he is 204 for 934 (.218 avg, .632 OPS) with 115 runs scored, 16 homers and 83 RBIs. Johnson will likely compete to be Geovany Soto’s backup in 2009.

The Cubs have re-signed 38-year old righty reliever Chad Fox to a minor league deal. Fox pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the Cubs last season and he was 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Fox has now appeared in 217 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 10-12 with 6 saves, a 3.60 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. He has always had good stuff but he just can’t stay healthy. It will be interesting to see if Fox contributes anything to the Cubs in 2009.