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There have been a few things about the Cubs this year I have wondered about. How much Maalox does Pinella chug in a game? Why is Jacque Jones still with the team? What went on in the infield last night? What is happening with Zambrano’s (who pitch hit yesterday) contract?What do you do with 10,000 Michael Barret bobbleheads?

I have found all the answers for you, except the Maalox.

From Buster Onley’s Insider Blog:

Mike Fontenot made an error in the top of the first, so in the second inning, Piniella switched his second baseman and shortstop — Mark DeRosa moved to short , and Fontenot switch to second. Not sure what this really accomplished, big picture, other than to possibly make Fontenot wonder if Piniella has confidence in him. The lineup card comes out and after one inning — one inning — the kid is yanked out of his position. Eric Young was on Baseball Tonight on Saturday and said flatly that if he was the player involved, this kind of move would have embarrassed him, and make other players wonder about Piniella’s decision-making.

About the heads that bobble.

“We have a lot of interns working right now on painting them to look like Fontenot.”

- Cubs promotion marketing director Jay Blunk, joking about how the 10,000 bobblehead dolls of since-traded Michael Barrett being given out today will be made to look like 5-9 shortstop Mike Fontenot, the new Wrigley fan favorite who’s hitting over .400.

So what is happening with Z man and Jones? Seems as though Bud Selig is pulling the strings. Some of you may remember that Selig was the owner of the Brewers before he became commish and let’s just simply say those results were not good. They were not even mediocre.

According to various baseball sources, it was Bud Selig who kiboshed that trade of Jacque Jones from the Cubs to the Marlins last week - and not a matter of the Cubs simply having second thoughts. Seems Selig deemed the money the Cubs were to absorb on Jones’ contract as excessive. Apparently, the pending sale of the Cubs has prompted a “no more debt” edict from Selig, which may explain why there have been no further contract talks with free agent-to-be Carlos Zambrano. The fact that John Canning Jr., the billionaire CEO of Madison Dearborn Properties and a close friend of Selig’s (with an 11% stake in the Brewers) has emerged as the potential frontrunner in the Cubs’ ownership sweepstakes may also explain why the commissioner doesn’t want any more onerous contracts at Wrigley in the aftermath of the Tribune Co.’s wild spending spree last winter.

Bud’s office has final approval on trades that have more than 1mm cash changing hands, though usually there is an announcement if the trade is declined. This is all being done behind closed doors, making us again question what is going on in MLB. Come clean Bud. Don’t continue your scumbaggery.