Cubs, left-handed pitcher Paul Maholm agree to terms on one-year contract

The Chicago Cubs and left-handed pitcher Paul Maholm have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with a club option for the 2013 campaign.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Maholm, 29, went 6-14 despite a 3.66 ERA (66 ER/162.1 IP) in 26 starts for Pittsburgh last year, as his run support average of 3.38 ranked fifth-lowest in the National League.  He allowed three earned runs or less in 19 of his 26 starts and two earned runs or less in more than half of his starts (14 of 26) but earned the victory only six times despite a 1.44 ERA (15 ER/94.0 IP) in those 14 outings.  Maholm posted a 2.96 ERA (40 ER/121.2 IP) in 19 starts before the All-Star Break before making only seven starts afterwards due to a left shoulder strain. 

Selected by the Pirates in the first round of the 2003 Draft (eighth overall) out of Mississippi State University, Maholm is 53-73 with a 4.36 ERA (554 ER/1,143.2 IP) in 185 starts covering all or part of the last seven seasons with Pittsburgh (2005-11).  He made 29 or more starts in five-consecutive campaigns from 2006-10 before making 26 starts last season. 

Maholm reached the big leagues in 2005 in his third pro campaign and went 3-1 with a 2.18 (10 ER/41.1 IP) in six big league starts to close out the season.  He made his first Opening Day roster in 2006 and began his string of five-straight seasons with at least eight wins and 176.0 innings pitched, including career-highs with 10 wins in 2007, 206.1 innings pitched in 2008 and 32 starts in 2010.

Starting with his first big league season in 2006, Maholm has averaged 4.25 runs of support per nine innings pitched, the fourth-lowest mark in all of baseball in that span.  At the same time, the durable Maholm is one of only six major league southpaws to throw at least 1,100.0 innings the last six years.

Maholm is a native of Greenwood, MS and attended high school in Germantown, TN.  He was named Pittsburgh’s 2005 Minor League Pitcher of the Year and was selected to that summer’s Futures Game before making his big league debut that August.

The Cubs will make a corresponding 40-man roster move before Maholm is officially added to the roster.