Per Bruce Levine, the Cubs and John Grabow continue to discuss a possible multi-year contract:
Agent Paul Kinzer represents Grabow, who would be the team's left-handed set-up man and a possible back-up closer in the event Carlos Marmol is injured or needs a day off.
The two sides are talking about a two-year deal for anywhere between a total of $6.5 million and $7.5 million. Grabow's people would like a vesting option for a third year added to the contract.
This may be a pretty good indicator, actually, of where the new ownership is heading. In the past, Jim Hendry was pretty open about throwing such vesting options into multiyear deals. If he doesn't give one this time, it may show that the Ricketts ownership group may not be so amenable to such deals.
On the other hand, giving one to a middle reliever might mean the pocketbook is open. Grabow did, though, make $2.3 million in 2009, so a raise to around $3.5 million would be pretty significant.
We, as always, await developments.