Paul Bako re-connects Cubs to Dusty Baker Era, again

Buried under all the news of the acquisition of Jake Peav..er..Aaron Heilman is the news of the likely return of Paul Bako to be the Cubs' No. 2 catcher.

To that a say, "yack!"

Rumors have Bako signing a one-year, $750,000 deal to return to Chicago.

This is coming off the heels of Henry Blanco, one of baseball's best reserve backstops, signing a similar deal with the San Diego Padres. So let's look at the seven stages of front office stupidity as played out by the Cubs.

1. Decline $2.5 million option on Henry Blanco, team expects to re-sign him at a lower price.
2. NL ROY Geovany Soto says Blanco was his mentor, expects him to re-sign with team.
3. Cubs say they have no money.
4. Re-sign P Ryan Dempster to a four-year, $48 million deal. Sign OF Milton Bradley to a three-year, $30 million deal after dealing P Jason Marquis and the versatile Mark DeRosa.
5. Blanco signs one-year deal worth $750,000.
6. Cubs without back-up catcher.
7. Bako nears deal to return to Chicago.

Here is the one stage all Cubs fans are probably going through. We'll just call it the "OhmyGodIcan'tbelievetheybroughtbackthatsackofcrap!" phase.

Don't believe he sucks, Baseball-Reference.com presents to you all the evidence you will ever need.

Bako hasn't played two years with the same team since ... well spending the 2003-04 seasons with the Cubs. That just tells me that the Dodgers, Royals, Orioles and Reds figured one year of his .200ish average, .300ish on-base percentage and his ugly mug scaring away the 10s at the bar was one more than necessary.

Then there's the whole Jake Peavy issue, and depending on which news source you trust more, he might be coming eventually or he isn't coming at all.

The problem is both stories use the same quotes from front office big-wig Randy Bush.

From the mlb.com story that says there's still a chance, headlined "Cubs won't rule out adding more arms":

"You certainly can't close your eyes and you can never say, 'Oh, we're done.' ... You have to keep your eyes and ears open and continue to work hard right up to Opening Day. And if there's a way to make the club better, we're going to do it."

Right now, there's an imagine in my mind of Cubs fans outside of a big store gigantic display window staring at a shiny new Jake Peavy just waiting to be bought.

Then Randy Bush pullying you away from the window so you can go visit crusty old grandpa.

"We've had no talks about Jake Peavy since they were well-documented during the Winter Meetings. So there's nothing to add about that. No talks."

So consider me the first person to doubt the Cubs' ability to defend their back-to-back NL Central crowns.

Because I'm not sure how replacing Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa and Hank White with Kevin Gregg, Aaron Miles and Paul Bako is making a 97-win team better.