Ken Rosenthal reports that the Cubs and Carlos Marmol have agreed to a three-year deal. We’re still awaiting the dollars. UPDATE: It looks like three years, $20 million.
This extension has been rumored for a while. It’s also a bit scary knowing what we know about three-year deals for relief pitchers (i.e. they almost all stink for the club unless the reliever is named Mariano Rivera). Still, Marmol is a stud: he had a 2.55 ERA and 38 saves last season, striking out 138 in 77 2/3 innings for a record 15.99 K/9.
Marmol was eligible for arbitration. He requested a $5.65 million and the Cubs offered $4.1 million. He would have had one more arbitration year after this one, meaning that the deal buys out two arb years and one year of free agency.