Overpaying for middle relief.
According to ESPNChicago's Bruce Levine, the Cubs are prepared to re-sign left-handed relief pitcher John Grabow to a two-year deal worth $7.5 million. That works out to be $3.75 million per year, which proves to be a hefty price for a 30-year-old LOOGY. While my building a champion blog suggested the Cubs should bring back Grabow, I'm not sure a team that is looking to be smarter with its money has the ability to throw nearly $8 million on a lefty specialist.
Personally, I prefer younger, cheaper, more hard-throwing bullpens over a bullpen predicated on match-ups. Strikeout pitchers at the end of a ball game are worth their weight in gold -- no matter whether they throw lefty or righty.
If the Cubs really wanted to spend big bucks on a LOOGY, I would have preferred they went after Billy Wagner. But hey, there's plenty of offseason left to throw money around like a drunken sailor if Jim Hendry really prefers outbidding himself for one particular lefty reliever in a market full of lefty relievers.
Hendry said he wanted to get a Grabow deal done soon, and it looks like he's done it. If he was only so adamant on bringing in Roy Halladay...
