great year, followed by massive contract, followed by a lacklustre start (.258/.331/.492) -- and then that lovely catchall of the injured reserve, back spasms.
have we heard this all before? man, i hope not. but aramis looks suspiciously like he's come back to earth -- earth being his career numbers. a line of .273/.324/.468 with a homer every 22 at-bats is still as good as the cubs have got out of the hot corner in a generation -- since ron cey, at least. is that worth what's he's pulling in? i leave that exercise to the reader.
but at least we should be able to start to back away from the more hyperbolic praise of aramis that was (unfairly, i think) raising expectations in a manner very similar to what befell kerry wood after that magical year of 1998. aramis is a pretty good third baseman -- not an every-year mvp candidate, and probably not even the cubs best position player (an honor reserved for a different corner infielder who will have to come back to earth one of these days). if expectations are moderated to that level, the cubs and their fans can hopefully be happy about having him for years to come.
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