Huh? Wow.

The Cubs signed Ryan Dempster to a 4-year $54M contract today. All I have to say is wow. He had a decent year with the Marlins in 2001, and his 2008 season was actually pretty good. If you look past those years, though, he isn't anything special, and even those years were really just above average. This is going to look like a joke next year when he can't maintain his performance. He's never pitched two really good seasons consecutively, and before this year he had been mired in mediocrity. I doubt he comes close to this year's performance next year, and this contract is going to help inflate the contracts of the other free agent pitchers like Burnett. Hell, the Yankees are looking at possibly offering Burnett a 5-year, $80M contract! Hah! Hello Carl Pavano all over again.