An interesting tidbit I found while working for MLBTR today:

Boz: Cahill turned down 2-yr offer from Pirates to start. (Took one yr pen deal with Cubs $4.5m) — Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) January 16, 2016

"Boz," in case you're curious, is Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio. In October, I suggested Cahill might be able to get a two-year deal in the $8 million - $10 million range, only to be surprised when he only got a one-year deal from Chicago. It sounds like the Pirates might have been willing to commit more heavily to him, but it turns out he really likes pitching for the Cubs. Oh well -- there's no accounting for taste.

Cahill likely would have taken the spot in the Pirates' rotation currently occupied by Ryan Vogelsong. Cahill was awful in 2014 and in the beginning of 2015, but did quite well down the stretch after the Cubs signed him in August and put him in their bullpen. Cahill is only 27 and had a pretty good track record before 2014, so unlike with Vogelsong, it would have been pretty easy to see what the Pirates would have been thinking if they had signed him. He clearly looks like the sort of reclamation project the Bucs like to work with.