The Chicago Cubs announced the signing of 29-year old relief pitcher Manny Corpas on Monday and did not disclose the terms of the deal, but now Jon Heyman of CBS Sports is reporting Corpas has received a non-guaranteed split contract that could be worth up to $1.9 million, including incentives. Heyman broke down the deal on Twitter:
corpas gets $1M base from #cubs while in bigs on big-league deal plus up to 700K for days on active roster, 200K incentives
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 27, 2011
Corpas spent his last five MLB seasons with the Colorado Rockies and went 12-16 with 34 saves and a 3.93 ERA with the Rockies before the team released him after the 2010 season. Although he spent time in the Texas Rangers organization last season, he did not pitch in 2011 for the Rangers. If healthy, Corpas can help out the back end of the Cubs bullpen, so this looks like a low-risk, high-reward move by Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. If Corpas is unable to pitch, the team can always ditch him or send him to the minors and pay him less than his major league base pay under the split contract.
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