I don't know about that. The Cubs have a very low committment 2-3 years down the road. They shouldn't be guaranteeing anything to Perez, Rusch or Jones beyond this year. And he went a bit long on the middle relief. But he has much bigger faults than "saddling the payroll" with bad contracts. You mean like saddling the 25 man roster with mediocre talent, thinning a farm system that he had previously worked so hard to build, etc.? Is the thinning out of the farm system because of injuries is his fault? Ramirez, Nomar, Lee,Pierre,Murton, Williams,Barett, is a pretty nice return on that farm system along with Cedeno,Prior,Wood,Wuertz,Ohman among others are a core from the farm to build on.