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Dempster "Blindsided" by Trade, Confused by Baseball's News Cycle
So the latest on the Dempster saga is that Ryan Dempster was "blindsided" by the trade yesterday and because of this, he's going to take the full week to decide. Rumors are that he strongly prefers to go the Dodgers and seems to be trying to push the Cubs into accepting a deal from them, although it certainly won't be as good as getting Randall Delgado from the Braves.
Other things Dempster has been blindsided by (a few I'm stealing from Twitter):
- His Birthday
- the birth of his chidren
- the start of the season
- spring training
- warmer temperatures in the summer
Yeah, it would have been great if the Cubs got to him before the news leaked out, but you work in a multi-billion dollar business with reporters that are good at their job, throwing a temper tantrum over it isn't particularly professional.
It's certainly true that Ryan Dempster doesn't owe the Cubs anything and does not need to feel obligated relinquish his 10/5 rights because of pressure from the front office or the fans. But he is being a bit of a two-faced ass about the whole thing, isn't he?
Now please don't confuse that statement into thinking I'm upset at all, afterall it's just baseball and this is really nothing more than expensive entertainment. But from the reports over the last few weeks, I find it hard to come to the conclusion that Dempster was truly blindsided by yesterday's report and I do come to the conclusion that he really just wanted to go to Los Angeles, but certainly didn't make that clear to the Cubs.
Now with the caveat that I in no way know everything that was discussed, let's pick apart what has been put out in the public.
"I'm not an idiot. I know what's going on. I just try and enjoy it"
"I'm not an idiot, but what is this twitter and Internet and how does information spread so quickly? And how is this possible that news got leaked? Theo and Jed should not have let that happen!!! What do you mean there's a second party where that leak may have come out of? You lie!!! Lying liars!"
Now there's a Ken Rosenthal article out there that doesn't have any direct quotes from Dempster, but it does claim to say that the Braves were Dempster's second choice and further states, "Dempster, according to one source, has told the Cubs that he is open to many clubs and given them only a handful of teams that he would reject."
Without direct quotes from Dempster, it's nearly impossible to determine the veracity of that article. For all I know, the Cubs leaked it out in a huge long con to control public opinion in their favor and get the best deal possible for the Cubs, but that's a lot of conspiracy theory that I'm not comfortable with. It doesn't take a leap of faith to believe that Dempster told the Cubs the teams he's most comfortable with or the general parameters, the Cubs ran with that and were set to discuss in person with Dempster the deal they had in place before the things got out of hand. The Cubs are certainly the party here with the most to lose, so it would make sense they were the most cautious about leaking information and attempting to appease Dempster. I can't imagine the Cubs didn't anything foolish like promise him the Dodgers and even though there were reports that a deal was close with the Dodgers, hopefully Dempster's isn't running with those news reports while admonishing the ones he was so displeased with yesterday.
It will get worked out one way or another, and the Braves are saying all the right things at the moment that they still want Dempster and it appears the current deal is still out there. But it just takes one phone call with another offer for them to change their minds. Dempster's wish that the Cubs send him to the Dodgers is nothing more than a wish at this point. The Dodgers are certainly not going to come back with a stronger offer knowing the position the Cubs are in and the Cubs are probably not going to accept the allegedly lower offer from the Dodgers just to appease Dempster when they know they have something better out there. That's just bad for business. I guess it's better to get something than nothing, but the Cubs can presumambly still offer Dempster a contract after the off-season that would net them draft picks. They run the risk that Dempster accepts it, but at 36, he'll certainly be eyeing a multi-year deal and 1-year of Dempster at around $12M wouldn't necessarily be terrible, especially considering the current lack of Cubs starting pitching options.
Let's hope Dempster gets over the bruised ego and that Randall Delgado is one of those pitching options.
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