I guess what it comes down to for me is this: what were the other alternatives available, if we concede that the Cubs needed an additional middle infielder? With all due respect to Aaron Miles, I think we can agree that his skill set is not especially rare. I find it difficult to believe that a comparable alternative was not available, be it from minor league free agency, the waiver wire, a lower-level free agent signing or a small-scale trade. It’s not an earth-shattering move, but Chicago gave a two-year commitment at about 2.5 mil per when a comparable talent likely could have been had for something near the league minimum (400K), with no strings attached.

When we try to break down baseball economics, we tend to focus on the big, long-term deals, and justifiably so. But there’s something to be said for wasting money on the margins of your roster as well.

There is not a deal out there that can be done with Cedeno that can’t as easily be done without him. Picking up a more expensive version of him just so you can try to trade him wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The Cubs don’t have unlimited resources. They’re not the Yankees, and they’re probably already overcommitted in payroll. They need those cheap guys like Theriot and Fontenot to get around the big contracts they’ve given out, and adding payroll where it’s really not doing them any good doesn’t make any more sense just because he’s backing up the cheap players. They’re paying him the money no matter who he backs up, and he’s not going to be much good no matter who he backs up.

Now while we all think $2.45 million is a lot, baseball teams are going to hand out contracts to veterans that fans see as too much. We also like to play the role of fantasy GM and re-appropriate the money to some other player, which is not entirely fair as we’re not privy to the inner workings of contract negotiations for starters and we are operating from the standpoint of fans with widespread disregard for other teams’ involvement in the free agency process.

Honestly, $2.45 million a year is not that much to pay when your other three middle infielders are made just $.428 million (Theriot), $.407 million (Cedeno), and $.405 million (Fontenot) in 2008 and would not stand to see that much of an increase in salary.

We may think Miles should be playing for league minimum, but that simply is not the lay of the land for veteran free agents.

That being said, two years at $2.45 million a year is kind of chump change for the Cubs, especially with the glut of serviceable young middle infielders they have under favorable contracts. If Miles does play, then there’s something wrong here, obviously, but for a 32-year-old veteran middle infielder to get the occasional spot start, enable roster flexibility, and fill in should someone get injured, it’s not that bad a price for one of the haves.

Look for Miles to fill in on occasion as a super sub, but expect Fontenot to be the opening day starter at 2b. Think 450ab.

For some reason, people think the fact that he has played multiple positions gives him more value too (St. Louis fans use that to compare him to Kennedy all the time), but he’s not that good anywhere on the infield, it just so happens that he’s been stuck everywhere. Kennedy doesn’t get time at short or third, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t play them better than Miles. There’s a reason he’s been non-tendered each of the last 2 years and that the first time he was non-tendered, no one else wanted him.