No Peavy Deal for Cubs

Good. The cost was just outrageous. How can the Pads expect such a huge return and have the other team pick up the entire $85 million? That's not how baseball has worked in recent years.

Hopefully this means we keep Derosa.

Can we package Theriot and Dempster to the Siberian Professional League for Miss Uglugchuk?

I bet Jake is peaved.

Good. Now we can stop hearing new rumors about it...but we probably still will.

Soooo can we trade for Wood now?

i would guess peavy is not to happy
the price may come down when towers
realizes he has a disgruntled player
also wonder what owner thinks about
still having that contract.

lets move on to right field
i want ibanez

Does that mean we still can't trade Marquis! I think he'd still look better in another uniform!

hahahahaha - you just got roberts'd

I would rather have Randy Johnson, Josh Vitters, Sean Marshall and the trade pieces of Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno over Peavy anyway. I wonder if Jimbo now hits the trade market for a RF and use the FA money for Bradley or Ibanez to get Johnson and Trevor Hoffman. I wonder if the O's would do Pie for Scott? Given the volume allegeldly for Dero, Jimbo should put him on the block and see what he can get.

Now go get Brian Roberts.

Well, I'm relieved.

I like the Bradley, Johnson, Hoffman suggestion.

Would it have been amazing to have the rotation of Peavy, Z, Dempster, Harden and TL? Of course. Does not trading away everyone and their Johann's mother for this deal and pursuing Randy Johnson make more sense. Yes, I think it does.

On another note, I'm wondering when the last person posts a 3/44 "Peavy deal is off" post.

Maybe Hendry was surprised by the interest that DeRosa generated and he realized he could improve the team even more.

So instead of Hoffman, how about a leadoff man joining Bradley and Johnson?

Ibanez talks heating up and likely going to the Phils as per ESPN?

Let's get Abreu or Bradley! Wonder what the contract will be for? 2-18?

Angels trying to swoop in...

http://hotstove.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/12/angel...

Clement signs minor league deal with Toronto.

PEAVY DEAL DEAD!
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3762958

Okay...move on! Sometimes the best deals are those that aren't made! Let's address our problems...ie Marquis and RF!

Any update on Peavy?

We haven't heard the last of this story this Winter, I bet.

I think that with Sabathia and Burnett deals being wrapped up, the market for pitchers will start to clear pretty soon. That may cause both sides to reassess...and more likely Towers, because he is the one that needs to cut payroll.

I wasn't too happy with the idea of helping out the Phillies by trading DeRosa to them. While not in the same division, they are a strong NL team and we didn't need to be making them a better and deeper one.

Is it possible to sign Randy Johnson and then only pitch him on days when the wind is blowing in?

signs with Reds...

so with the Brewers falling apart (and they should really just trade Fielder and Hardy by this point for a boatload of prospects), who's the Cubs top competition next year?

Cardinals "should" have a mostly healthy Carpenter and Wainwright back, plus looking to add a Fuentes or another closer. Greene is actually an improvement over someone, so I'm thinking they should be the big contender. Kind of depends what they do with Ankiel and Ludwick.

Reds pitching has the potential to be pretty damn good as well. Enough young hitters where you don't know if they'll all click together like the Brewers did in 2007 and make a run.

Unless the Astros find 2 starting pitchers, I don't see them doing much. Pirates are, well, the Pirates.

a cold winter blast
no peavy, but not too peaved
let's play two today

(It's the wrong day of the week; just couldn't help it.)

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/...

If there is no money exchanged in the deal, it clears 6.2 million off the payroll. Schoenweis is also in the last year of his deal and because he is a RP, has a chance to maybe get Type B status next winter. Given that it curently looks like the Phillies 3-4-5 is going to be Utley, Howard, Ibanez getting all the LHRP help as possible is nice.

Hendry today, reported by Sullivan/Rogers:

"I see Marshall being a huge, valuable guy," Hendry said. "We knew exactly what we were getting into with Rich Harden. ... The adaptability Marshall had [last season] was very admirable. You have to be mentally strong [to be a spot starter]."

Hendry said he was looking beyond the 2009 team when he decided not to do a Peavy trade. He sees Vitters as a key part of the future, as he is expected to be ready to take over at third base if Aramis Ramirez opts not to exercise his player option for 2011 or the club doesn't exercise its option for '12.

"The Chicago Cubs are a big-market club," Hendry said. "But still, you have to have a flow of talent coming to allow you to operate the way you need to operate."

I was the biggest Peavy-trade supporter here, so I'll chime in.

I'm disappointed that it sounds like Peavy won't be here. I think he would have given us the best rotation in baseball (even over the Yankees' forecasted rotation) and a great improvement over last year's club.I understood that it was going to cost something to get him though and so I never saw the trade as a sure bet, even when it seemed to be. I'd much rather have Peavy for the next 5 years at $70 mil or so than Dempster for the next 4 at $52 mil. It's too bad that Hendry apparently couldn't wait long enough to do a Peavy deal before re-signing Demp.

Part of me still wonders whether the Cubs will monitor the situation and see what happens in the next month or so. It seem clear now that Towers is about as big of a delusional fuck-up that MacPhail was last year who played the media just as badly first with the Braves and then with the Cubs. No doubt someone got to him and told him to raise the stakes on the Cubs. I knew that things had changed from their end when DeRosa's name started getting tossed around, and when Towers had suddenly discovered a third or fourth team to deal with. Towers is likely to have a very pissed player, a pissed fanbase, and perhaps a pissed owner to deal with in the coming weeks, so chances are that Peavy's name will remain in trade rumors.

However, perhaps not with the Cubs. Hendry's comments as reported above by VirginiaPhil (via Sullivan/Rogers) seem like he's made up his mind. Unless the price drops drastically, I don't see the Cubs revisiting this topic.

I heard Hendry's comments on WSCR this afternoon, and he came as close as Hendry ever comes to saying, in effect, that he's done with dealing with Towers. Very polite, but the context was the important part of his response. Shades of the McFail fiasco last year.

The Cubs were frustrated by the Padres' attempts to seek five or six players for Peavy

...Yeah, because clearly it's easier to find Peavy-caliber players than it is Marshall-caliber players.

*sigh*

Whatever.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=257494

"It was just one of those rare occasions that we thought it was worth trying to go in and kick the tires and see if it was possible," Hendry said. "Or, how can we make it work if we can do it? As the week progressed, the volume of the depth we had to give up became the sticking point for me.

"Out of respect to the player, he was worth looking into."

sounds more respectful of Towers in the print version what Dmac got from the radio, not that I doubt Dmac's account (comment #47).

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/...

"Randy's really interested," one of his agents, Barry Meister, said Thursday, the final day of the winter meetings. "We made a check list of everything that's important, and San Francisco checks off on every box. They're in the National League. They'll be competitive. They train in Arizona.

"San Francisco has a lot of appeal."

so is there another team in San Francisco that I forgot about? one that doesn't count Randy Winn as their best offensive player.

This whole thing has been a big distraction from getting done what they need to accomplish this off season, although there is still time. A LH RBI bat is needed, but only because FUKUDOME was / is a $14 million bust. Why is no one talking about this? If you sign someone for $10 million to play RF, and FUKU is in center, your outfield will cost $42 million next year! You could have afforded Manny in LF and whatever you want in RF with Johnson/Pie in center for that price!

I know there would be no takers, but if there was any possible way to move FUKU they should be doing it. I hate the Sox, but look, they have moved Swisher and Vasquez so far. That is moving out the overpaid deadwood, and good management. The FUKU contract at this point is much worse than Marquis. I admit I was happy we got him last year, but the deal has not worked out by any measure, and now we essentially have to fill the same hole via expensive FA two years in a row.

Am I the only one who would like one more solid arm in the bullpen, preferably LH? Just think, if FUKU could hit we could have kept Wood.

From Rotoworld (via SI):

The Mets and Cubs are reportedly talking about a Jason Marquis deal.

There was talk about Aaron Heilman for Marquis as recently as yesterday, but it's believed the Mets turned down that deal weeks ago. Scott Schoeneweis for Marquis would make a lot more sense. Both are entering their contract years. Schoeneweis is owed $3.6 million, while Marquis is due $9.875 million.

Listening to Bruce Levine today, he stated that Towers was looking fo "...6 or 7 players from the Cubs."

IF that's the case, that is just fucking nuts. I love Peavy, but its not like all of the names bandied about were completely useless Todd Hundleys.

Again, if there was no pitching talent on the team already, then I'd understand a bit more. But on paper, it is now the strongest starting core in the Division.

If the owner, in the throws of his divorce, really needs to slash payroll, the price will come down. You can bet on it. Hendry did the right thing in this case.

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/...

"It's tough. Jake was pretty shaken by it,'' Axelrod said. "He was starting to think about what life was like to be a Chicago Cub, and now that was taken from him.''

Jayson Stark's nontender prediction sheet:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=...

Gaudin makes the list, not Cotts or Wuertz.

The only LH bat is Gabe Gross .... yuk.

Any update on Peavy?

Sorry to do this, but, Rashid Davis is not a professional football player. Go back to the Arena League, dude. You suck.

Ibanez apparently signs with Phillies for 3/30 and Marquis-Mets is on the backburner according to Mets sources.

Will he take Burrell's position, then? 'Cause he ain't gonna take over for Vittorino or Werth.

Well, good, and bad for the Cubs. Good in that he will not be on the north side patrolling RF. Bad, in that Bradley will want a similar deal, I'm sure.

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/comments/chicago-cub...

Story about Cubs' interest in Bradley.

Frank Thomas thinks Cubs fans would "love" Milton ... although he doesn't clarify if it's because he thinks they're all asses.

If your paying attention to the NFL, once an asshole always an asshole. Terrell Owens bitching and complaining again and sabotaging another NFL franchise.

How many days till he calls Romo a racist?

Just keep that in mind if Milton Bradley becomes a Cub. He is of the same mind set of Terrell Owens. A me first type of guy where everyone is always conspiring against them to bring them down. Mix in a little uncontrollable rage and you got a fine human being.

- sigh - you're probably right MIKE C. Lou is paid, in part, to handle players like this. He has a LOT of experience doing this. Possibly, they would be with the team for the same amount of time.

If Paul Bako is the Cubs first FA signing, I will puke. Oh, I forgot about Chad Fox already getting resigned.

I predict a Lou/Bradley cage match in '09. Even better than Lou/Dibble.

it's still up there:

Peavy deal getting closer

December 10, 2008, 11:33 AM

Rotoworld sez Reds will make an offer for Burrell.

Because Baker and Adam Dunn worked out so well...

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/deluca/1327539,CST-...

Towers kept putting left-hander Sean Marshall on the table. Never did the Cubs give a nod of approval to Marshall being part of the package. Then the Cubs' brain trust considered all of the money they would be taking on in a Peavy deal. Financially, they could make the right-hander fit in 2009. Even 2011 and beyond. But 2010 was a real sticking point.

The Cubs' payroll will be supersized in 2010 without Peavy. Adding him creates a lot of stress

Jason Marquis ($9.875M), Rich Harden ($7M) and Mark DeRosa ($5.5M) come off the books after the 2009 season, plus Reed Johnson (who will probably get somewhere around $2.5M in 2009) and Kevin Gregg (who should get something like $4.5M in 2009). So that's about $28M off the books going into 2010, with Carlos Marmol, Ryan Theriot, Sean Marshall, Rich Hill (if he's still around), and Mike Fontenot (who is a virtual lock to be a "Super Two") becoming first-time salary arbitration eligible post-2009 additional to the others who are already eligible for salary-arbitration (Gaudin, Cotts, Wuertz, and Cedeno, presuming they are still on the team).

Why not just go with Marquis the first half of the season and then unload him mid-season when you might be able to get someone to pick up his remaining salary?

He's got a career 4.25 ERA, 49-33 record, and averages 6.2 IP per start the first half.

That's awesome for a fifth starter. Keep him.

Navigator: The longer the Cubs hang onto Marqus, the more likely somebody will take back his entire contract. Once it gets to Spring Training and some of the FA losers realize just how lousy their starting rotationa are, a guy like Jason Marquis (one year for $9.875M) will suddenly look like a bargain.

Agreed. Hendry was at a real disadvantage trying to move Marquis at this stage of the off-season. His market value will increase once all of the FA's are off the board and teams start realizing they need someone (anybody) to throw 200 innings next year.

The fact that Hendry was willing to shop Marquis now (and eat a sizeable part of his salary) shows how much he likes Peavy. (And perhaps how much Piniella dislikes Marquis).