From Keith Law's take:http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/law_keith/id/7384097/mlb-cincinnati-reds-acquire-sean-marshall-chicago-cubs-win-now-move
The time will come for big free agent signings. That time will be when we're good and need to be great. That time is not now. Non contenders paying crazy amounts for 'worthless' wins that don't put you in contention are the teams that continue to be just good enough to be expensive failures.
I know this will add little to the discussion as a whole, but I think this marks the first major fail of the new ownership. The Cubs have little to no shot at anything this year and are wasting arbitration and potentially jeopardizing development for NO GOOD REASON. This is a terrible bit of management for an organization that has floundered epically for 100 years.