The Cubs had their arbitration hearing yesterday with Ryan Theriot.  The Cubs offered $2.6 million and Theriot asked for $3.4 million. 

Paul Sullivan from the Chicago Tribune reports that the Cubs won the arbitration hearing.  Theriot will be paid $2.6 million.

I have mixed emotions about the outcome of the hearing.  On the one hand, Theriot did not have a particularly good year last year when he earned $500,000.  So getting a jump to $2.6 million would be such a bad deal for Theriot.

On the other hand, Theriot’s closest comparable player is Stephen Drew of Arizona who recently signed for $3.4 million, and there is a very good statistical argument to be made that Theriot is the better player.

I’m not sure that we learned anything from this arbitration hearing other than that arbitration hearings are a crap shoot.  No wonder the Cubs had gone to an arb hearing in 17 years.