Jim Hendry overspends again (John Grabow)
November 19th, 2009 | by Mark |According to Paul Sullivan, the Cubs agreed to a 2 year deal with lefty reliever John Grabow. Gordon Wittenmyer says the deal is worth at least $7 million, which Dave Cameron at Fangraphs calls “a waste of cash”.
I COULDN’T AGREE MORE.
Back on November 10th, I said that Grabow was a decent reliever but that the Cubs should not overspend on him, suggesting around $1.5 million per year. Perhaps that was a bit low, considering Grabow made $2.3 million in 2009, but I don’t think he’s worth $3.5 million per year.
Hendry would have been better off waiting out the market and signing a lefty around the time spring training opens or going with an internal option (John Gaub, perhaps).
Spending $3.5 million on a middle reliever is a waste, even if the Cubs, as Wittenmyer suggests, consider Grabow a late inning reliever and possibly a closer, should Marmol implode.
When (not if) Grabow’s luck runs out and he starts getting lit up like a Christmas tree, Hendry is going to be stuck with yet another bad contract and will likely be out of a job.
Tags: Chicago Cubs, Hot stove news, Jim Hendry, John Grabow
