Marquis a Cub

Jason Marquis is going to sign a 3 year, $21 million deal with the Cubs. I've never seen a team spend money in one off season like these Cubs have. They've dished out a quarter of a billion dollars on free agent contracts in their desperate attempt to build a team for Lou Piniella to manage. Jason Marquis had an ERA over 6.00 last year and lost his roster spot in the playoffs to Anthony Reyes, a rookie with 21 career starts. This is now worth $7 million a year. Lots of people thought the Pirates would look to Marquis to fill the hole in the rotation, but I'm not sure I'd want him for half of what he signed for.

Anyways, this deal certainly pushes Jeff Suppan's price up to the "The Pirates could afford it, but please, please, please let's not pay Jeff Suppan $52 million for four years" range (that's if the insane Gil Meche deal didn't do that already). I hate saying this, but at this point I think Chacon is the best option for the Pirates as fifth starter unless Littlefield can swing a good trade for a young starter (like the rumored Kyle Davies trade). I don't think it's worth it to trade something away for the 37-year-old Lieber when we're not going to contend next year. We might as well break camp with Chacon in the 5 slot and hope that Herrera, Van Benschoten, or Burnett impresses at AAA this year.