Cubs Avoid Arbitration with Barrett, Patterson, Farnsworth; Sign Williamson
The Cubs have their catcher for the next three seasons. They avoided arbitration with Michael Barrrett by signing him to a 3-year, $12M contract, reports the AP. They also avoided arbitration with Corey Patterson and Kyle Farnsworth by signing them both to 1-year deals. Patterson’s contract is for $2.8M, a big raise from last year’s $480K, when he wasn’t eligible for arbitration. And demonstrating the strange nature of baseball contracts, Farnsworth received a half-a-million dollar raise to $1.975M, despite posting a 96 ERA+ last year (his 4th below average ERA in 6 major league seasons).
The Cubs also made a nice no-risk, potential big reward signing of Scott Williamson. Williamson, who had elbow surgery in October, received a minor league contract and an invitation to spring training.
UPDATE (9:40pm): Regarding Williamson, it’s unclear what the invitation to spring training is for. As Dan Szymborski writes at Baseball Think Factory, “still injured and it’s unlikely that he’ll step on a field this season. The Cubs are just throwing a little bit of money his way to get first in line to supervise his recovery and try to sign him for 2006. After all, Williamson was a really good pitcher.”
And the Boston Herald reported Dr. Tim Kremchek as saying after the surgery, “‘I couldn’t believe what I saw,'’ said Kremchek, who is the Cincinnati Reds team physician. ‘It looked like a grenade had gone off in there. The damage was far worse that the MRIs or any examination alluded to.’” This was also his second Tommy John surgery. He had one in 2001 as well. Still, Williamson was expected to “begin throwing off a mound in six months and be ready to return to action in 9-10 months.” 10 months would put him at ready to go in August.