Lilly and Cubs agree to 4-year, $40-million deal

[mweir145]

This is arguably the worst signing (except for Padilla of course) in the entire offseason.

HA! coming from a guy who thinks "zito is god." id bet u anything lilly posts better numbers then zito this year.. some scouts believe hes the steal of this years market, and that he has better stuff then zito. On top of that, hes gonna be roughly half the price!

As a cubs fan, im very glad we signed him over Meche. He pitched well in the AL East which means he should thrive in the NL central. He strikes guys out and should have an era under 4. With our lineup, I'd say thats all we can really ask for.

One question: Have you ever actually seen Ted Lilly pitch? If you haven't, take my word for it, he's not worth the money that was offered to him, and he's certainly not going to turn out to be the "steal of the market." The guy has great games at times where you think he might be worth that someday, but for every good game he has, he averages it out with a bad game where he really just loses his focus or just doesn't have his good stuff. I suspect he will have better numbers in the NL (probably closer to a 4 ERA) because of the far easier competition, but I doubt he will ever change enough to be worth 10M a season.

As for Meche, well supposedly the Cubs are on the verge of signing him as well for a similar contract (the news is that Meche would rather become a Cub over a Jay).

[HOOTIE]

Poor Cub fans.

176 mil tied into Soriano/Lilly. Poor Lou.

Lilly has a career +3 PRAA. And for those who blame his era on the AL East, his career era versus the NL is 4.60, his career normal era.

[dyuen87]

WOW when can i get in on some of this money.

10 millioin per year for a back end of the rotation starter. Good luck Cubbies.

[CHE]

The Jays are looking smart, signing AJ burnette last year. Who would gave Lilly 10 million a year , he cant even be trusted as a 4rd starter/

[BritSox]

The Jays are looking smart, signing AJ burnette last year. Who would gave Lilly 10 million a year , he cant even be trusted as a 4rd starter/

Well, 5/55 would have been good, were it not for the opt-out after '08. So if he has a good season this year, he opts out and either they have to re-up, or he goes elsewhere. If he has a bad season, then he sticks with the contract.

[RugbyD]

anybody else who is still under 30 here want to quit their job and pool our $$ to hire a pitching coach to get us to the big show at least as a marginal MR?

[AcidRock23]

I am not sure what to make of this. I sort of think that there could be some potential, as he is only 30 and should get a bit of a boost going to the NL Central from the AL East.

At the same time, the Cubs are calling him their #4 starter but the way their staff goes, he could easily end up being the #2 guy after Zambrano if Prior turns up w/ another mystery ailment or comes back w/ a case of suck like he caught last year and Marshall, Guzman, et al are as erratic as they were last year.

CZam is a very talented pitcher and the other guys on the staff have ALL had their good moments but they've also all been utterly horrid at times and I'm not sure that they will get a $10 million return in investing that kind of dough in Lilly. I will still root for him but I dunno...

It should be entertaining if he and Pinella get into it like he did w/ Gibbons in Tor though...

[mweir145]

The Jays are looking smart, signing AJ burnette last year. Who would gave Lilly 10 million a year , he cant even be trusted as a 4rd starter/

Well, 5/55 would have been good, were it not for the opt-out after '08. So if he has a good season this year, he opts out and either they have to re-up, or he goes elsewhere. If he has a bad season, then he sticks with the contract.

The opt out isn't after this season, it's the one after next. And even if he did leave it wouldn't be a terrible outcome. It would probably mean that we got a good AJ Burnett for 3 years at 31M, an incredible bargain.

[greenandgold]

The Jays are looking smart, signing AJ burnette last year. Who would gave Lilly 10 million a year , he cant even be trusted as a 4rd starter/

Well, 5/55 would have been good, were it not for the opt-out after '08. So if he has a good season this year, he opts out and either they have to re-up, or he goes elsewhere. If he has a bad season, then he sticks with the contract.

The opt out isn't after this season, it's the one after next. And even if he did leave it wouldn't be a terrible outcome. It would probably mean that we got a good AJ Burnett for 3 years at 31M, an incredible bargain.

I would hate to count 10M for his 2006 an incredible bargin...

[Yoda]

I saw the title and LOL... Hendry is officially the worst GM in the game today.