Cubs Pursuing Pedro Martinez
The Boston Globe is reporting that the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs seem to have the most interest in Pedro Martinez. Both teams have sent scouts down to the Dominican to see him pitch (hitting 94 mph with his fastball) and are beginning to explore just how much it might cost to sign the future HOF'er (I would hope). It's said he's looking for $5 million.
On the surface, it certainly wouldn't make much sense for the Cubs to be looking for another starting pitcher, considering that's been the strongest part of the team. But if the Cubs could sign Pedro, that could open them up to move another starting pitcher for a much needed bat...or two...or five. I would think Z and Dempster are pretty much locks to stay. Lilly would certainly draw interest from contenders but they would probably want to move prospects and that's probably not what the Cubs are looking for and Lilly does have some sort of no-trade clause. Rich Harden is a free agent at the end of the year, so he could be moved to a contender at the deadline, but you run into the same problem of that contender probably wanting to move prospects rather than established talent. So that leaves guys like Sean Marshall or Randy Wells or both and now you might be able to make some moves with teams out of the race and be left with Z, Dempster, Lilly, Harden and Pedro as your rotation. I know I could live with that starting staff.
All just a bit of fun speculating, but we need some fun after the last two days (Thanks to Wes for the link).
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