CHICAGO -- A depressed free-agent market turned into a boon for the Chicago Cubs after they (finally) signed righty Yu Darvish to a six-year, $126 million deal on Saturday, pending a physical.
It's a move that wasn't necessarily on the Cubs' radar in early November. But with contract offers to free agents around the league decidedly lower than anyone could have predicted, Darvish became possible for a team that had many holes to fill on its pitching staff.
The Cubs were supposed to be about quantity over quality in their shopping this winter, and they followed suit by signing six free-agent pitchers before landing Darvish.