Ryan Dempster Re-Signs with Cubs

Ryan Dempster has re-signed with the Chicago Cubs, accepting a 4-year, $52M contract.

The righthanded starter-turned-closer-turned-starter enjoyed the best season of his career (huh, in a walk year, no less), going 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA in helping the Cubs get to the postseason. Despite those excellent numbers, Dempster’s availability didn’t draw nearly the excitement of other big names such as A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe, and C.C. Sabathia. Which is strange, when you think about it. Besides his strong year, Dempster has also been remarkably durable. He made all 33 of his starts in 2008, the fourth time in his career that he took the ball at least 33 times as a starting pitcher in a season.

Although there was some buzz that the Mets and other teams were interested, it appears that Dempster was fairly set on staying in Chicago.

“Was there more money on the open market? I’m sure there probably was. Who knows? Maybe there was five years. You never know,” Dempster said.

“That’s a question that I’ll never be able to answer, but truthfully I don’t really even care to know because I’m happy with what I have. It’s more money than I could ever dream of getting when I was a kid growing up playing baseball.”

Refreshing words, wouldn’t you agree?