Dempster re-signs with Cubs through 2012

[POND_OF_RED]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081118&content_id=3683267&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp
The Cubs and All-Star Ryan Dempster agreed on Tuesday to a four-year contract.
Published reports said the new contract is worth at least $52 million. The signing secures the free agent right-hander's services through 2012.

Dempster, 31, went 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA for Chicago last season after returning to the rotation on a full-time basis for the first time since 2002. He finished in the top seven in the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts and made the All-Star team for the first time since 2000.

Dempster remains in a Cubs rotation that includes holdovers Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Harden. The Cubs have also had discussions with San Diego regarding a possible trade involving right-hander and 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy.

Hell yeah! Now if we can just re-sign Wood and bring in Peavy we will have the best pitching staff in baseball next year hands down. Imagine a Big Z, Peavy, Dempster, Harden, Lilly rotation. That would be completely sick. GO CUBS GO!

[Goapics1]

still lose in 1st round

[StcChief]

Dumpster....LOL good luck with that.

[Hermcock]

Every season there's been some scrub pitcher that has performed well over his head..........And it's downright bonehead for a team to make a long-term commitment to this year's fluke pitching performance for the tune of $52 million.

This is the equivalent of giving one of these guys a $52 million extensionROFL

1999: Kent Bottenfield, STL (18 wins, NL All-Star)
2000: Mike Sirotka, CWS (fourth in the AL in ERA)
2001: Joe Mays, MIN (18 wins, AL All-Star)
2002: Odalis Perez, LAD (fourth in the NL in ERA, NL All-Star)
2003: Esteban Loaiza, CWS (21 wins-2nd in the AL, 2.90 ERA -3rd in the AL, Cy Young runner up)
2004: Carl Pavano, FLA (18 wins)
2005: Chris Capuano, MIL (18 wins)
2006: Bronson Arroyo, CIN (3.29 ERA, fourth in the NL)
2007: Fausto Carmona, CLE (fourth in Cy Young voting, 19 wins - 2nd in AL, 3.06 ERA - 2nd in AL)

[Hoover]

As a Cubs fan I'm not thrilled about giving Dempster 52m but that's the market folks.

That said I don't think Dempster's a fluke will he win 18 games next season? Probably not, but he's probably a 15 game winner.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

You should have taken the draft picks.

This is going to bite you in the ass.

[Hermcock]

As a Cubs fan I'm not thrilled about giving Dempster 52m but that's the market folks.

That's the market folks? Have you ever heard of homegrown pitching? It's not hard to develop a 3rd starter out of your farm system that will only make $400K/season.

[Hoover]

Zambrano is from our system as is Marshall, Hill, Samardzija, and Marmol.

I was as surprised as anyone how well Dempster did last season. The Cubs had the best starting pitching in the Majors last year so I don't think its really a bad idea to try and keep it in tact. Now I would love to see them land Peavy or add the Big Unit.