This massive Cubs free agent miss proved to be a stroke of luck for Jed Hoyer

Under Jed Hoyer, the Chicago Cubs have never been a player on long-term, high-dollar deals for relievers. The Cubs' president of baseball operations was ready to buck that trend last offseason, though, offering a four-year deal in the $80 million range for All-Star left-hander Tanner Scott who, instead, took a lower offer (four years, $72 million) from the reiging World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

At the time, the news stung - and when the Dodgers then went on to snag a couple other potential Cubs bullpen targets, including Kirby Yates - it just added insult to injury. But with the clock winding down on the regular season, not being on the hook for the richest reliever contract in franchise history looks like a stroke of crazy good luck.

It's not that Scott has been a disaster relatively speaking, but when you consider what the Dodgers are paying him, it's fair to say the return on investment has been lacking. The southpaw has blown eight saves this season (second-most in baseball behind only Ryan Helsley) and by most metrics, has been an average-to-below average arm.

Naturally, he was on the mound for Los Angeles as the Baltimore Orioles completed the unthinkable on Saturday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was two strikes from throwing a no-hitter, but the O's clawed their way back and wound up walking off the Dodgers in front of a raucous crowd at Camden Yards.

Jed Hoyer's cost-conscious approach has paid off in the Cubs' bullpen

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Daniel Palencia has established himself as a legitimate ninth-inning option and Hoyer's bargain bin collection of lefties has played an integral role in the Cubs' likely return to the postseason. Caleb Thielbar (one year, $2.75M) boasts a 2.15 ERA and 0.834 WHIP across 58 appearances and Drew Pomeranz (one year, $1.5M) has been one of the feel-good stories of the league (2.45 ERA in 47 appearances).

Scott's numbers (4.56 ERA/4.52 FIP in 51 outings entering Saturday night) fall well short of either of those lefties and it's worth wondering just how hamstrung the Cubs' front office would have been financially with that contract on the books. A near-silent trade deadline this year drew criticism as it is, and that's without any real major-dollar contracts eating up huge chunks of payroll.

Again, this is not a defense of the Cubs continuing their frugal approach to roster-building. They're a major-market team capable of going toe-to-toe with any organization in the league financially and need to exploit that advantage, especially in an NL Central that lacks any other teams capable of fielding top-level payrolls. But it's a fair assessment and reminder that not every big free agent deal works out and we needn't look any further than Scott and the Dodgers for proof of that.