Ryan Dempster has decided to exercise his $14 million player option, keeping him with the Cubs for the 2012 season. Dempster, who joined the Cubs in 2004, logged more than 200 innings for the club last season. The innings were good, but not much else was as 2011 was one of Dempster’s worst as a Cub.
His struggles this past season made Dempster’s decision a no-brainer. The right-hander would not have commanded a yearly salary higher than what he is making now, and the overall value of Dempster’s deal would have been diminished by his down year. Now, Dempster has the opportunity to be paid well while trying to regain his value in 2012.
When he initially joined the Cubs, Dempster was used out of the bullpen. It was just in 2008 that Chicago decided to move Dempster into a starting role. The switch has paid off, as Dempster has logged 200 or more innings for four straight years. Before 2011, Dempster had also maintained season ERA’s at or below 3.85.
But 2011 was a different story. Dempster got off to an awful start, finishing April with a 9.58 ERA. He was not this consistently bad for the rest of the year, but his earned run average didn’t fall below 5.00 for good until late July.
Dempster noted the struggles and told reporters that his goal is to just “go out and do better”. The Cubs now have a 2012 rotation of Matt Garza, Randy Wells, Dempster and, at this point, Carlos Zambrano.
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