Pitcher Jon Lieber returns to Cubs with one-year deal

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry swore Wednesday that he wasn't having Y2K flashbacks or that he signed pitcher Jon Lieber because he couldn't find Kevin Tapani's phone number.

But Hendry continued old home week by bringing back former Cubs righty Lieber with a one-year contract worth $3.5 million plus incentives that could make the deal worth about $7 million based on how many starts Lieber makes and how many innings he pitches.

During the past year, Hendry traded for former Cub Steve Trachsel and signed short-time Cub Chad Fox to a minor-league deal.

Now Lieber. Hendry says this is a signing with a purpose behind it.

"I think it makes a lot of sense," Hendry said at the kickoff of the Cubs' annual caravan. "We're trying to get as much volume as we can depth-wise into the rotation to make it as competitive as we can in (spring training) camp. As we went into the last camp, you like to have seven or eight starters available.

"We're going to go to camp with seven or eight legit candidates for the rotation."

Lieber, who turns 38 on April 2, figures to nail down the fourth spot behind Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. That leaves a logjam of Jason Marquis, former closer Ryan Dempster, Sean Marshall, Kevin Hart and possibly Sean Gallagher to fight it out.

However, it's possible Dempster could wind up back in the bullpen if the Cubs don't like what they see in spring training. Manager Lou Piniella looked to have his fill of Marquis by the end of the season and did not use him in the National League division series against Arizona and had no plans to do so.

The Cubs could trade Marquis, but he has two years and $16.25 million left on the back-loaded three year he signed last winter. The names of Marshall and Gallagher also have been floated in trade talks.

All of that seemed not to matter to the low-key Lieber, who pitched for the Cubs from 1999-2002, leading the NL in innings in 2000 and winning 20 games in 2001, making him the most recent 20-game winner for the Cubs.

"Chicago's always been special to me, even going through the arm surgery and not being able to come back," he said. "It was always in the back of my mind that if there was ever a chance to come back, to be a part of this organization again, I was going to try my best to make it happen."

Reconstructive elbow surgery ended Lieber's 2002 season early. Last year with the Phillies, he needed surgery to repair a ruptured tendon on the bottom of his right foot after he went 3-6 with a 4.73 ERA in 14 games, 12 starts. He proclaimed himself healthy and ready to go after a fall and winter of rehab.

The Cubs acquired Lieber from the Pirates after the 1998 season in a trade for outfielder-infielder Brant Brown. Lieber missed the 2003 season before pitching for the Yankees in 2004 and the Phillies from 2005-07.

For his career, he is 129-121 with a 4.28 ERA and only 414 walks in 2,151ˆº innings pitched. The Cubs like the way the sinker-slider pitcher worked in Wrigley Field during his first go-around in Chicago. Lieber enjoys a career mark of 28-18 with a 3.62 at Wrigley. He also owns a groundball-to-flyball ratio of 1.43-to-1 for his career.

"He's a winner; he's a strike thrower," Hendry said. "He's got a great winning percentage at Wrigley Field. He throws a lot of groundballs and gets right-handed hitters out."