Not to be mean but I think Sean Marshall is a cheaper answer for us.Well Kevin Gregg was a wasted trade and a bust. Rich Harden maybe might take a discount and we can resign him or we will need the Shark or Jeff Stevens to grow up quickly.

Harden is gone. Don't waste your time even thinking about it. They have no room to add another pitcher making $8-10M.

And b/c of that they won't even offer him arby since they'll be afraid he would accept. See Kerry Wood from last winter.

He gone.

I HATE multi year contracts for middling middle relievers. Grabow pitched honorably for the Cubs, but come on man! He'll be 31 with 3 years experience and made $2.3M last year. He has a career 1.44 WHIP and 4.00 ERA. So give him a raise up to $3.5M and multi years!

What do think the vesting option will be...30 innings pitched or 40 appearances would be about par for Jimbo's tough negotiating!

Agreed, jc363. I don't see what he's done to justify making 7.5M for 2 years....he should be getting half that. I like Grabow and all, but this would be overpaying yet again. I would rather see Sean Marshall as our main lefty out of the pen.

A few thoughts.....

* I'd give Grabow a one year deal with a mutual option for year two. Take it or leave it.

* Kevin Gregg? Bye Bitch!

* Rich Harden. Offer him arbitration and get the two draft picks. The guy will sign as a FA somewhere.

The Cubs signing Grabow for more than a one year deal and a club option for the second is a total mistake.
He has bone chips and a strong history of walking people.
Given the so-called budget crunch...Let's save that money...we have Gorzelanny/Marshall/Gaub and Papelbon as lefties that could vie for that spot.

boy oh boy (words of Ron Santo), Hendry can make us all speechless at times, can't he?!?

1 yr and $2.5 million would be too much for me with Grabow. Dude has bone chips already in his elbow, has a 4.03 career ERA with a 1.437 WHIP(which is worse than Marmol's career 1.284 WHIP-who you think might be pretty bad, or Gregg's 1.311 WHIP, or Rick Ankiel's 1.355 WHIP, or Zambrano's 1.296 WHIP-which you'd think with all his walks would be higher, or Dontrelle Willis' 1.396 WHIP, or Barry Zito's 1.301 WHIP) All of the guys I just mentioned are known for high walk and hit totals, and yet Grabow beats them all with his garbage.

Levels of acceptability for relievers would fall under 1.400, preferably in the 1.2's range. Just for further information about how the WHIP affects performance, consider the following:

Samardzija: 1.760 WHIP (7.53 ERA)
Stevens: 1.737 WHIP (7.11 ERA)
Patton: 1.807 WHIP (6.83 ERA)
Cotts: 2.091 WHIP (7.36 ERA)

In most cases, if you have a WHIP in the 1.400+ range, you'll have an ERA in the 4.00+ range. It seems to incrementally go up from there. For instance, in the 1.300-1.400 WHIP range, it seems you can expect an ERA in the 3 ERA range. If you're lower than 1.300, then you can almost bank on an ERA below 3. The exceptions that I've found seem to be from strikeout pitchers like Marmol or Ascanio (1.761 WHIP with 3.52 ERA for us). Of course, I'm taking my sampling mostly from the Cubs roster, but at first glance across the league, it seems to be true across the board.

Grabow almost certainly will end up with an ERA in subsequent years above 4+. Would you give $3-4 million/year for that?!? Yeah, maybe as a starter, but not in a position like the pen that can really hurt you.

Honestly, this is such a Jim Hendry move, it's not even funny. This is the type of move that would get you fired from other team's GM posts. If anyone wonders next year why Grabow sucks, and "how could Hendry possibly have given him that much yrs/money?!?" then you need look no further than moves that netted us: Soriano, Jacque Jones, Floyd, Marquis, Bradley, Harden, Miles, Heilman, Gregg, Eyre (career 4.23 ERA, 1.518 WHIP), Gorzelanny, etc.

If it wasn't inconsistent career stats, it was an injury-plagued past (Floyd, Bradley, Harden).

There are two things that are abundantly clear about Hendry:
1)not even close to being creative in FA and trades alike
2)absolutely does not believe in statistics as a solid indicator of future success/failure, and/or medical records too. Or, maybe he does believe, but chooses to ignore them, going on a hunch. Either way, he's struck out about every FA move he's ever made, and nearly every trade he's ever made. How is it possible this do$#%bag even still has a job?!?

I read somewhere that Ricketts wants the Cubs to be in the top 3 teams in payroll. Did anyone else see this? I also never heard an exact number he said the payroll will be during any of his interviews. I recall him saying there will be some increase or slight increase on the Score interview. I still have that gut feeling that Hendry will be able to do whatever he wants this year, and he might have a blank check to win the world series this year, hence the increased ticket prices as I am sure concessions, etc will go up as well.

Neil, if they sign Grabow...where do you see Gaub/Papelbon/Gozelanny/and this kid Sasser in AA? All lefties.

My personal opinion is that Gaub and Papelbon should be about ready for a shot in the bigs...but if the Cubs hold onto Gorzelanny,Marshall, and Grabow...they will be blocked.

Sasser...I need to research but his numbers are excellent with split time between Dayton and Tennessee.
I would assume he strts in AA next season...but could move up quickly.

$150 ???...With that figure...JH might just get a 10 mil flyer on a bat if he
does some good housekeeping.

Neil,
You thnk the cubs would entertain bringing back Dero ?

Trib is reporting the possible deal for Bradley with the Rays would be Burrell and Iwamura...their former leadoff second baseman. He was hurt most of last season.

mlbtraderumors.com on the possible Grabow
signing: "I don't understand the infatuation with Grabow...if you're tight on payroll there's better ways to spend 3-4 million dollars"

Once again, It's hard to understand Hendry's thinking.

If the acquire Burrell, obviously this is just a pit stop for him. You cannot think for a minute our outfield will include Soriano in LF and Burrell in RF. Hell, Carl Lewis couldnt cover that much ground to make up for them. Not to mention Burrell has a grand total of ONE game in RF during his career.

Should be much easier to trade Burrell. Has a nice steady career track record prior to leaving the Phillies and the National League. Teams will easily take a flier on his year simply being an off year...especially if he returns to a NL team. He seems pretty steady for a 30 double 30 homerun 90-100 RBI and 100 Walk season outside of last year.

But, with no place for him....he's definitely being shipped elsewhere.

Not thrilled with Akinori Iwamura coming. His first yera in Tampa he was a third baseman. Last year he shifted to second. He was back at second this year but missed most of the year with injury. He's average .280 in 2 and a half seasons with average speed. I'd much rather have Baker at second base than Iwamura. Might be a decent utility guy or make decent trade bait like Burrell.

I understand that....Hendry has let the team and fans down. My hope is that with the new owner he works harder knowing at the end of this year he very well could be replaced. I truly believe Mr. Ricketts clearly put everyone on notice about being held accountable not wanting to seem like the overbearing owner coming in and throwing everyone out and causing pure turmoil. I do think he took the right approach and I do think that Hendry will be out on his ass with any more bonehead deals.

I think it was easier to hide Viscaino than it would be to hide Burrell. Burrell is an everyday player who would be without a spot. So, I really feel that he would be turned around rather quickly and shouldnt be too difficult to trade away for a couple of prospects hopefully.