The Yankees off-season shopping list grows a little shorter as Scott Eyre signs on with the Cubbies. There was a good amount of talk that the Yanks would go after Eyre pretty hard to be the lefty out of the pen for next year but the Cubs beat them to it, signing Eyre to a two-year contract with a player option for a third year.

I was disappointed when I heard that he had signed with someone else because I had been looking at his stats and his rates recently. Batting average allowed, on-base % allowed and WHIP declining each year for the past 3 years. Positive trends with Ks too and it looks like he has his wildness coming under control. Combine that with his age (33) and left-handedness... and he looked like a great addition to the pen (certainly when you consider that he would be replacing Wayne Franklin, Alan Embree, et. al).

HOWEVER, I searched a little more on the 'net to find some more particulars on the contract. I found it: 2 years, 11 million dollars! That's closer money. It's also pretty much double what Tom Gordon was making with the Yanks and double what another lefty reliever got in the open market last year (Steve Kline - 2 years, $6 million). (Edit: Brad Williams was able to correct me in the comments below - the contract is actually only worth $11 million if he exercises the option. It's 2 years, $7 million if he doesn't. Even if he does, $3M + $4M + $4M isn't crazy money for a guy as good and as sought-after as Eyre.) Well, it's too bad - Eyre would have been a good pickup for the bullpen.