Chicago Cubs Bring in Carlos Pena To Play First

Going into the offseason, the Chicago Cubs had a couple of priorities. One was to add a left-handed bat to a predominantly right-handed hitting lineup and another priority was to find a replacement for Derrek Lee at first base.

On late Tuesday night, the Cubs killed two birds with one stone.

The Cubs signed 1B Carlos Pena to a one-year, $10 million contract. Half of this deal will be deferred to January of 2012 in order to help the Cubs with payroll flexibility.

I can certainly see why both sides would do this deal.

For the Cubs, as I mentioned earlier, they were looking for a left-handed power bat this offseason. Pena has averaged 36 HRs over the last four years, so he certainly fits that criteria.

However, Pena’s numbers have regressed four years in a row. His average has declined four straight years. His OBP has decreased four straight years. His OPS has declined four straight years.

Pena’s best days are clearly behind him. So in a sense, the Cubs were smart in giving Pena only a one-year deal. If he continues on this decline, the Cubs won’t be stuck in a two or three-year contract that could become a disaster.

At one year, it’s not a terrible gamble by the Cubs. If he comes back, great, if not, it’s only a one-year deal.

For Pena, he’s hoping that he can have a comeback year, become a free agent again in 2012 and then cash in for one last payday. His agent, Scott Boras did the same thing with Adrian Beltre last year and that worked out well for Beltre.

I also think Boras did well by getting Pena $10 million. I predicted Pena would get one-year and $6–$8 million this offseason.

Can Pena turn things around? I think he is going to be hard-pressed to do so. I watched him a lot last year and he looked like toast.

He’s turned into a left-handed Dave Kingman. It’s either a HR or nothing and he can’t hit anything besides a fastball.

The Wrigley faithful are hoping for more HRs than the nothings.

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