Rush of Cubs News

Well the Cubs have come to terms with Barrett, Patterson, and Farnsworth to avoid arbitration.

The Cubs signed catcher Michael Barrett to a three-year, $12 million contract on Tuesday, avoiding arbitration and preventing Barrett from becoming a free agent next winter.

Hmmm, I guess I am fine with that. Barrett held up, and hit better than I ever expected last season. I am still not entirely convinced he can do it consistently year after year. I am afraid he will revert to his .250, sub .300 OBP days, which then makes $4 million a year look like a big waste. Hopefully he is the type of player that thrives on playing everyday.

Patterson signed for $2.8 million, a $2.36 million raise from 2004, while Farnsworth signed for $1.975 million, a $575,000 raise.

I am still in the belief that at Patterson's rate of drawing more walks, by the time he reaches the age of 27 he will be in a respectable area of about 70-80 walks a season. One thing I don't see changing is his strikeout rate. It is really tough for a guy who strikes out 160 times a year to be anything less than a 140 strikeout a year guy for the rest of his career.

Patterson is still very young at age 25, the good thing is he is showing signs of improving from the start of the year till the end. I would be more worried if I saw no improvement. I know alot of Cubs fans are impatient that he hasn't developed into a superstar yet, and are willing to pull the plug on him now. But I am willing to continue living with the growing pains of Patterson.

As for Farnsworth. I loath him. Anything more than a basket of used baseball's for him is too much. Everyone says he can throw 100 MPH, he has trade value. If he had a brain to go along with that talent he would have trade value. He falls into the category of talented/never able to put it all together.

In arbitration figures filed Tuesday, Zambrano asked for a $3.52 million raise to $4 million, while the Cubs offered $3.3 million. Ramirez, who made $6 million in '04, asked for $10.25 million, while the Cubs offered $8 million.

No problems with any of that. But notice where Alou's salary is now going. Hence why the Cubs have no interest in any OF free agents. They won't go above the magical $100 million dollar barrier.

And in a pick up I actually like the Cubs signed Scott Williamson to a minor league deal.

Hendry also took a minor gamble Tuesday on reliever Scott Williamson, signing the 28-year-old right-hander to a minor-league deal for the minimum salary of $316,000, or $500,000 if he's called up.

The reason I like this is because Williamson has actually been good in several season's and is age 28. Unlike Dempster and Rusch who had 1 questionable good season at best and never really repeated it since. I have wanted Williamson before he was traded to Boston in 2003. Whether he has the mental makeup to be a closer, I guess that jury is still out, because he has had his chances and never really locked it down as his own job.

He is coming off his second major surgery, at the very best he will probably pitch sometime after the all-star break. But you really need an additional year of further training to even resemble what you once were. The way I see it, a deal for the 2006 season at best.

On the flip side this deal stinks of classic Cubs. Another rehab project with no idea if he will ever be good. I still don't understand the Cubs fetish with rehab projects. Since when did we become the "ER" for MLB? Sure it is no risk, but is signing players who had major injuries your idea of a franchise looking for the best option? Or does it look like a junk dealer trying to fix up an old gremlin in the hopes of getting him to and from work till another broken down option springs up that looks like it might be salvageable?

It is the type of deal Hendry is famous for that makes him look like a super GM. If the player fails, it wasn't ment to be, it's not Jim Hendry's fault. If the player turns into something useful then Hendry gets all the praise of being a great GM. If 90% of your deals are like this then it is really easy to come off looking like a great GM. The problem is these type of signings rarely solve the problem and hardly ever solve the problem for any length of time. They are simply stop gap measures to get the team through the year. Which is typical losing Cubs baseball style.

I still like the Williamson pick-up regardless, so I guess I should stop bitching.