Jake Peavy: Available.

[Guest]

I think the biggest negative of losing Wood would be the fact that we'd lose Marmol in the highest leverage spots. Could the Cubs be smart enough not to just move him to the closer spot?

 

My problem with not retaining Wood is that you are losing 1 of your 2 best relief pitchers. I don't think the Cubs will go and get Cruz and Affeldt as they should if they are going to replace Wood.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I tend to agree with you, but hasn't the mindset been that bullpen performance is flukish by nature and that it's not smart to commit a whole lot of money to it anyway?

 

That's the case with most relievers because they're middling talents whose performance can really fluctuate in short spans, especially with short relief outings. Wood is in the pen because of health, and that's the chief risk in giving him multiple years given his success as a reliever and his stuff.

 

That said, I don't mind letting Wood walk and taking the picks, and I think we could probably even get by in the pen with the odds of Marmol and 2 of Samardzija, Wuertz, and Gaudin having good years(Ceda would be lingering as well if he's still around). I wouldn't feel good about the talent level in the pen though, and would want to add someone like Cruz or Affeldt, at which point you debate if it's simpler and maybe just as efficient to keep Wood around.

[nilodnayr]

Ugh, let Dempster go and collect those picks. Wood is more important esp if you already have Peavy on board.

 

I disagree. In a person neutral setting I'd take Demp over Wood. Contracts ignored. Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden are liable to miss a combined 20 starts or so. I wish i was exaggerating, but I am not. Jason Marquis, while crap, is useful as a safety blanket if Zambrano or Harden go down. If we acquire Peavy and deal away Marshall, which is inevitable in such a trade, then we no longer have the safety blanket. If we acquire Peavy and sign Dempster and retain Marquis, we do have one, a pretty damn good one too.

 

Yes, but if they get Peavy and keep Dempster then they will definitely trade Marquis. Hes not going to the bullpen. And you'll still have Gaudin as a saftey net (I also wouldn't say Marshall going in the Peavy trade is inevitable, likely, but not inevitable, especially since his name hasn't come up much).

[Guest]

Samardzija would also likely be a safety net.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'd be really sad to see Kerry Wood in a different uniform, but Dempster at 4/48 is a better deal than Woody at 3/36.

[rawaction]

Samardzija would also likely be a safety net.

 

Mitch Atkins and Randy Wells also. Possibly Angel Guzman. Granted those aren't good safety nets.

[Ryno is God 23]

Get Peavy..sign Wood and take the picks from Demp.

[nilodnayr]

I tend to agree with you, but hasn't the mindset been that bullpen performance is flukish by nature and that it's not smart to commit a whole lot of money to it anyway?

 

That's the case with most relievers because they're middling talents whose performance can really fluctuate in short spans, especially with short relief outings. Wood is in the pen because of health, and that's the chief risk in giving him multiple years given his success as a reliever and his stuff.

 

That said, I don't mind letting Wood walk and taking the picks, and I think we could probably even get by in the pen with the odds of Marmol and 2 of Samardzija, Wuertz, and Gaudin having good years(Ceda would be lingering as well if he's still around). I wouldn't feel good about the talent level in the pen though, and would want to add someone like Cruz or Affeldt, at which point you debate if it's simpler and maybe just as efficient to keep Wood around.

 

I wouldn't mind letting Wood go either if only for the health factor.

 

Actually, if I had my way, I'd let both Wood and Dempster go and sign Lowe and Cruz to replace them. You gain a whole lot more certainty with Lowe (in performance) and Cruz (in health) and at probably lower costs AND you net yourself two sandwich picks.

[YearofDaCubs]

I pity the GM who gives Demp 5/75.

[RammyFanny]

Ugh, let Dempster go and collect those picks. Wood is more important esp if you already have Peavy on board.

 

I disagree. In a person neutral setting I'd take Demp over Wood. Contracts ignored. Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden are liable to miss a combined 20 starts or so. I wish i was exaggerating, but I am not. Jason Marquis, while crap, is useful as a safety blanket if Zambrano or Harden go down. If we acquire Peavy and deal away Marshall, which is inevitable in such a trade, then we no longer have the safety blanket. If we acquire Peavy and sign Dempster and retain Marquis, we do have one, a pretty damn good one too.

 

Agreed.

 

Also, if Harden does good this season and stays healthy, he would probably fetch like 14 million a year next offseason. We can't just assume that the payroll will continue to rise every year.

 

If we lose Harden (and don't resign Dempster), then we would have Peavy/Z/Lilly/?/? going into the next offseason.

 

And if Harden is injured alot of next season, then we still have the same problem since we are uncertain how much he is able to pitch healthy for throughout the next season.

 

It's alot easier to find bargain one inning relief pitchers than it is to find bargain starters who will probably give you 200+ innings with around a 3.40 ERA and 1.30 whip (my projected stats for Dempster next year).

 

I'd rather have Peavy/Z/Lilly/Dempster locked up for sure with our main task being to find a decent bullpen guy, rather than having Peavy/Z/Lilly/?/? with Wood closing games.

 

Edit: I'm not 100% sure on our payroll going into next offseason, so maybe i'm wrong and we can easily fit Harden extended. Still, he could easily have injury problems like always (hopefully not though).

 

I'm not advocating 5-75 though.

[BigbadB]

If we lose Harden (and don't resign Dempster), then we would have Peavy/Z/Lilly/?/? going into the next offseason.

 

If they don't resign Dempster in this scenario, they'll still have Marquis. That's not saying much, but still.....

[CubColtPacer]

If we lose Harden (and don't resign Dempster), then we would have Peavy/Z/Lilly/?/? going into the next offseason.

 

If they don't resign Dempster in this scenario, they'll still have Marquis. That's not saying much, but still.....

 

He was talking about next offseason. Marquis will be a free agent along with Harden.

[aeathin2]

I tend to agree with you, but hasn't the mindset been that bullpen performance is flukish by nature and that it's not smart to commit a whole lot of money to it anyway?

 

That's the case with most relievers because they're middling talents whose performance can really fluctuate in short spans, especially with short relief outings. Wood is in the pen because of health, and that's the chief risk in giving him multiple years given his success as a reliever and his stuff.

 

That said, I don't mind letting Wood walk and taking the picks, and I think we could probably even get by in the pen with the odds of Marmol and 2 of Samardzija, Wuertz, and Gaudin having good years(Ceda would be lingering as well if he's still around). I wouldn't feel good about the talent level in the pen though, and would want to add someone like Cruz or Affeldt, at which point you debate if it's simpler and maybe just as efficient to keep Wood around.

 

I wouldn't mind letting Wood go either if only for the health factor.

 

Actually, if I had my way, I'd let both Wood and Dempster go and sign Lowe and Cruz to replace them. You gain a whole lot more certainty with Lowe (in performance) and Cruz (in health) and at probably lower costs AND you net yourself two sandwich picks.

 

I agree about Lowe over Dempster.

 

A Zambrano/Peavy/Lilly/Harden/Lowe staff with Guadin as the 6th when there is an injury would be unreal. Also, If you trade Marquis you can resign Wood and still have money to go after the left fielder.

[BigbadB]

A Padres insider indicated Peavy will be dealt this offseason and said the club isn’t looking ‘‘for a home run, but at least a double’’ in terms of the talent it would receive in return for the former Cy Young Award winner.

 

You just gotta love comments like this. Towers is playing fantasy baseball and bringing teams like the Yankees and Angels into the discussion while Peavy is denying he will accept a trade to either team, yet some insider is convincing people that all you need to get Peavy is to hit a lousy double.

 

Ask for a double, and all you're probably going to get is a double.

 

But hey, the one thing the Roberts thread had that the Peavy thread didn't is some nice, juicy insider info.

 

Only problem is I'm not sure our farm system can hit a single, let alone a double.

[erik316wttn]

Ugh, let Dempster go and collect those picks. Wood is more important esp if you already have Peavy on board.

 

100% agreed.

 

Our bullpen could be godawful next year. We need all the arms in there we can get.

 

Plus, my man crush on Kerry Wood borders on unhealthy.

[inari]

My sources at OH are telling me that John Mooers is the only thing standing in the way of Peavy becoming a Cub. It should be done any day now, though.

[RammyFanny]

Someone dust off the Bruce signal.

[RammyFanny]

Van Dyck doesn't sound optimistic for whatever reason:

In the wings: If Dempster leaves and the Cubs can't land the Padres' Jake Peavy, which appears the case now, one of the fallbacks for the rotation might be Jeff Samardzija, who was a reliever after his debut July 25.

 

"It depends on what happens over the winter," Hendry said. "I know he wants to start down the road. And nobody doesn't feel he'd be real good at starting.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-081106-chicago-cubs,0,4246312.story

[Post Count Padder]

My sources at OH are telling me that John Mooers is the only thing standing in the way of Peavy becoming a Cub. It should be done any day now, though.

Please don't tell me OH stands for Orioles Hangout.

[BigbadB]

So I'm talking to a bunch of my Padres fan buddies last night, and they asked what the climate looked like for Peavy to be traded to the Cubs.

 

I said, "well, the Cubs have the players necessary to make a deal, and the Cubs seem like the best trade partner for the Padres right now with Peavy's limited number of teams he'd be willing to trade to, so I'll go ahead and say that it won't happen."

[RedFlash]

My sources at OH are telling me that John Mooers is the only thing standing in the way of Peavy becoming a Cub. It should be done any day now, though.

Please don't tell me OH stands for Orioles Hangout.

 

No, it stands for "Oh, Hell" as in, "Oh, hell not again."

[David]

San Diego GM Kevin Towers spoke to a small group of writers on his way out of the St. Regis.

He said that the Jake Peavy trade talks have progressed to a point where the pitcher has been told he’s going to be traded, it’s just a matter of when a deal is struck.

“That train has left the station,” Tower said.

Towers also revealed that he is dealing with three teams, all in the National League. He mentioned the possibility of Peavy moving as part of a multi-team trade.

The Padres are known to be dealing with the Braves and Cubs. The third team could be the Cardinals or Astros. The Yankees are not in the mix.

“It’s been narrowed down for quite a while and there have been no additions,” Towers said.

[David]

My sources at OH are telling me that John Mooers is the only thing standing in the way of Peavy becoming a Cub. It should be done any day now, though.

Please don't tell me OH stands for Orioles Hangout.

 

That would be the joke.

[CubinNY]

What does the Padres equivalent to BigBird (FatherRyan?) have to say about it.

 

I've intentionally not been reading this thread b/c I don't want to get my hopes up.

 

Hendry has all the luck (I hope).

[Clem Fandango]

Don't know whether to put this in the Dempster or Peavy thread, since they almost seem linked together at this point. Peavy thread is read more often though, so... didn't see this posted yet...

 

Ken Rosenthal is working overtime today with his second column. This time Rosenthal reports that the Cubs are willing to give Ryan Dempster a four-year deal even if they land Jake Peavy from the Padres.

 

The club also is willing to give Dempster a four-year contract, sources say, a decision that should put them in good position to retain the free-agent right-hander.

 

Even though the Cubs are for sale, team officials apparently believe that they can absorb the four years and $63 million remaining on Peavy's contract while committing at least $50 million to Dempster over the same term.

 

Rosenthal notes the close relationship between Dempster and Jim Hendry could keep Dempster from accepting a longer or more lucrative deal with another team.

 

However, Rosenthal notes there would likely be a ripple effect on the roster if the Cubs were to resign Dempster and trade for Peavy.

 

* The Cubs would likely be unable to resign Kerry Wood.

* Several players may have to be traded to reduce payroll, including Jason Marquis.

* May have to opt for a cheaper left-handed hitting outfielder than originally thought.

Edited November 6, 2008 by The Logan