The Cubs have signed Luis Valbuena for $930,000, which is about $930,000 more than he deserves. Then again, the Cubs have few options at 3rd so maybe Valbuena is worth $930,000.
Valbuena hit .219/.310/.340 in 303 plate appearances with Chicago this past season while playing second base and third base. The 27-year-old was first time arbitration eligible as a super two player this winter and had been projected to earn $900K by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz. As MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker shows, the Cubs have three remaining arbitration eligible players: Matt Garza, James Russell and Jeff Samardzija.
So Garza should get less than he would hAve if he wasn’t injured, right?
He should, but he also can’t get less than what he made last year. I’ll look into what Garza can expect sometime today.
IIRC, Matt Swartz came up with $8 million for Garza in 2013. I’d have to double check though.