Cubs Sign Grabow (2 years, $7.5 Million)

[davearm2]

Please tell me you're joking, davearm.

Joking about what?

 

Now I'm not trying to knock the progress Huntington's made, but going dumpster-diving for relievers to plug into the 25-man doesn't exactly bolster his case for GM immortality like some here make it seem.

 

When the Pirates most optimistic goal for this season is to go 500, it's a very smart strategy.

So then you agree with me: I suppose that works if your expectations are at Pirate levels.

[SouthSideRyan]

Please tell me you're joking, davearm.

Joking about what?

 

Now I'm not trying to knock the progress Huntington's made, but going dumpster-diving for relievers to plug into the 25-man doesn't exactly bolster his case for GM immortality like some here make it seem.

 

When the Pirates most optimistic goal for this season is to go 500, it's a very smart strategy.

So then you agree with me: I suppose that works if your expectations are at Pirate levels.

 

When you have an anemic payroll, it's really dumb to spend your precious few dollars on a guy who'll pitch 70 innings a year.

[Guest]

Please tell me you're joking, davearm.

Joking about what?

 

Now I'm not trying to knock the progress Huntington's made, but going dumpster-diving for relievers to plug into the 25-man doesn't exactly bolster his case for GM immortality like some here make it seem.

 

The dumpster diving is on the owner, not the GM. Can't really expect a GM with a tiny budget to do much else other than dumpster dive, although our very own GM was enamored enough with one of Huntington's dumpster boys enough to trade for him and sign him to a 2 year contract. And then there's Gorzellany who was in the Pirates bullpen also.

 

And out of curiosity, how much better of a bullpen did Hendry have than the Pirates dumpster divers this past year?

[Rob]

Given the high variability of most relievers, I would absolutely rather have the Cubs dumpster diving for a close to league-minimum paid bullpen (with the probable exception of closer) if it allowed to them to allocate those financial resources elsewhere. This is especially true for our farm system, which has proven time and time again that it can spit out some decent pitchers to slot into that bullpen.

 

It's not just a Pirates thing.

 

Smart GMs don't break the bank on their bullpen.

[davearm2]

Given the high variability of most relievers, I would absolutely rather have the Cubs dumpster diving for a close to league-minimum paid bullpen (with the probable exception of closer) if it allowed to them to allocate those financial resources elsewhere. This is especially true for our farm system, which has proven time and time again that it can spit out some decent pitchers to slot into that bullpen.

 

It's not just a Pirates thing.

 

Smart GMs don't break the bank on their bullpen.

Not sure what the logic would be behind spending on a closer, but not on guys that pitch in higher-leverage situations in the 7th and 8th.

[Rob]

Given the high variability of most relievers, I would absolutely rather have the Cubs dumpster diving for a close to league-minimum paid bullpen (with the probable exception of closer) if it allowed to them to allocate those financial resources elsewhere. This is especially true for our farm system, which has proven time and time again that it can spit out some decent pitchers to slot into that bullpen.

 

It's not just a Pirates thing.

 

Smart GMs don't break the bank on their bullpen.

Not sure what the logic would be behind spending on a closer, but not on guys that pitch in higher-leverage situations in the 7th and 8th.

 

you're confusing the issues.

 

Are there occasionally higher leverage situations inthe 7th and 8th inning that should have us reevaluating current usage patterns for closers? Yes.

 

But the vast majority of closers still have significantly higher leverage than any other relievers.

[A New Era]

Well I've been away for awhile. And I see Hendry is doing the same stupid things. I've had it with Hendry. I don't expect much from the Cubs next year and for many more until alot of these backloaded craptastic contracts Hendry gave away expire.

 

This isn't exciting. I want to be excited about Cubs baseball. And I can't, because we have a stupid GM that doesn't even have a plan. And does not know how to spend money wisely (boy is that the understatement of the century). I hope the Cubs suck ass next year and Hendry gets the boot. This team needs to start focusing on the farm and stop paying mediocre players to large contracts.

 

I'm so sick of this.

[NCCubFan]

Yep, re-signing Grabow sure turned out to be a good move. Give Hendry a lifetime contract extension for his brilliance.

[erik316wttn]

Let me be among the first to give Jim Hendry a standing ovation for this brilliant move.

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

[17 Seconds]

but his era is usually good

[SouthSideRyan]

Good signing.

 

John Grabow in the pen has been a very bad decsion so far...

[inari]

Good signing.

 

John Grabow in the pen has been a very bad decsion so far...

 

In a year or two we'll be hearing Peoriaman tell us that he was the only one that thought signing Grabow was a bad idea.

[CUBZ99]

it's way too much money, but he IS better than Marshall

 

Oh the good times. :thumbsup:

[Derwood]

it's way too much money, but he IS better than Marshall

 

Oh the good times. :thumbsup:

 

curse you

[ctcf]

it's way too much money, but he IS better than Marshall

 

Oh the good times. :thumbsup:

 

curse you

 

Ouch.

[Jake]

Wow, interesting turn of the conversation here. I need to go back and read some more.

 

I have an interesting question for you guys:

 

Do you think hendry would have signed grabow for this much money if he hadn't traded for him ?

 

A lot of us are lamenting the trade because hart can't hit the broadside of a barn, and ascaino (sp?) seems done.

 

So, it seems we got nothing for the deal. OTOH, we probably weren't going to re-sign grabow, and gorzo wore out his welcome, so that was addition by subtraction. And we have Josh Harrison, too.

[Jake]

I went back a couple of pages, interesting read. As we now know, Hunting let Capps go for nothing.

 

The only two holdovers in our Penn right now are Hanrahan and Meek. Hanrahan put up some good numbers for us the last two or three months of the season, Meek is young.

 

The good money went to Dotel, who's the closer. How he does is a crap shoot. 1.something million to Donnelly seems like good money. Those 4 are the back end of the pen. Not bad.

 

The other three guys (Carasco, Lopex & Traschner) are what they are.

 

I think the Pirates desire to keep Grabow was not that high, so getting anything for him was a bonus.

 

The experiment that was Hayden Penn was put out of it's misery yesterday. Quite honestly, it should never have gotten out of spring training. He was DFA'd with a 30+ ERA. No, that's not a typo. (He was kept around while Hanrahan was on the DL. There were better choices.)

 

Save for Penn, many consider our bullpen improved. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

[Andy]

I have an interesting question for you guys:

 

Do you think hendry would have signed grabow for this much money if he hadn't traded for him ?

Absolutely not. Hendry loves to hold on to guys he thinks he's 'discovered' after they've toiled in obscurity elsewhere (see: Perez, Neifi; Rusch, Glendon; Patton, David).

[grassbass]

I have an interesting question for you guys:

 

Do you think hendry would have signed grabow for this much money if he hadn't traded for him ?

Absolutely not. Hendry loves to hold on to guys he thinks he's 'discovered' after they've toiled in obscurity elsewhere (see: Perez, Neifi; Rusch, Glendon; Patton, David).

 

He also has a history of spending on free agent bullpen arms. I think it's certainly possible that he would have tried to sign Grabow at a similar price if he had been a free agent.

[Lefty]

Just looked at his stats. Brutal.

 

I feel the Cubs need to lose to insure that Hendry goes. I'm willing to take a chance that the successor won't be worse.

[Sammy Sofa]

So you're suggesting that they take out a life insurance policy on Hendry and then have him killed? Brutal.

[Rob]

In fairness to Grabow, he's sporting a nasty .409 BABIP and a below average strand rate.

 

But I still want to put a tire iron to the back of his head until he's a big, gooey mess.

[Wheelimus]

So you're suggesting that they take out a life insurance policy on Hendry and then have him killed? Brutal.

 

I don't really need the life insurance money if we have to pretend like he died of natural causes with a straight face. I'll settle for just abducting him and dropping him in the middle of Syberia.

 

Of course, he'd probably just wind up the head of some Russian oil company. Giving out overly long bloated contracts of course! :-))