Cubs Select Parisi in Rule 5 Draft, Lose Sierra

The Cubs selected RHP Mike Parisi from the St Loiuis Cardinals AAA Memphis club in the Major League Phase of today's Rule 5 Draft.  The Cubs lost no players in the Major League Phase, but RHP Miguel Sierra was selected off the AA Tennessee Smokies Reserve List by the Tampa Bay Rays in AAA phase.  The 26-year old 6'3 215 Parisi was selected by the Cardinals in the 7th round of the 2004 Rule 4 Draft out of Manhattan College, and received a $60,000 bonus. The native New Yorker moved steadily up through the Cards system, and was added to the Redbirds 40-man roster post-2007. He was a rotation starter at AAA Mamphis in both 2007 and 2008, and went 8-2 with a 3.86 ERA and 1.35 WHIP (82 hits allowed and 33/58 BB/K in 84 IP) for Memphis in '08. He had three ineffective stints (two starts) in the big leagues with the Cardinals in 2008 (8.22 ERA and 2.28 WHIP in 12 games, 37 hits allowed and 15/13 BB/K in 23 IP) b...