Bluegrassrivals

The Cubs' revamped rotation has gotten deeper, as they've reached an agreement with lefty Paul Maholm according to his Twitter feed. "I hope to get to continue some things when I visit [Pittsburgh] during the year and start some great things as I start my Cubs career," said the southpaw. With Ryan Dempster, Chris Volstad, Travis Wood, and Randy Wells presumably penciled into the rotation, new Cubs management is either bracing for a Matt Garza trade or just building up depth.

As a member of the Pirates for seven seasons, Maholm has logged 64 career innings at Wrigley Field. The 29-year-old posted a 3.66 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.61 HR/9, and 49.9% groundball rate in 162 1/3 innings for the Bucs in 2011. I ranked him as the ninth-best free agent starter in October. Maholm, a Bo McKinnis client, had his 2011 season cut short in August due to a shoulder strain. After the season the Pirates chose a $750K buyout over his $9.75MM club option.

So far this offseason Cubs president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer have signed David DeJesus, Reed Johnson, Manny Corpas, and Andy Sonnanstine via free agency. They've added Ian Stewart, Casey Weathers, Ronald Torreyes, Dave Sappelt, Wood, Volstad, Zach Cates, and Anthony Rizzo via trade.






http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/cu...aholm.html

Looks like the Cubs are re-building instead of "win now" which is probably the smart thing to do.

Amen to that. They have depleted their farm system for too many years to try and compete with the Yankees and Red Sox in a quest to buy a title. My fear is that with any level of success, the restless Cubbie Fans in Chicago will ultimately press the Cubs management to go out and rent a player mid season, and the cubs, as they always do, will give away all the wrong players!

They're in talks with Kerry Wood. They offered him "substantial" raise. He wants to remain a Cub so hopefully they get him signed

Getting better

I hated that we didnt resign Maholm. I really like him. Solid pitcher with decent stuff, isnt going to wow anybody, but solid nonetheless, good teammate and a good ambassador to the game.