Dempster Traded to Texas for 3B Villanueva & RHP Hendricks

[Little Slide Rooter]

Dave Schoenfeld offers his thoughts, thinks the best fit is Detroit and the Cubs could aim for Turner, but settle on Crosby or Porcello...

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/25504/crystal-ball-dempster-lands-in-detroit

 

Also offers 6 other possible destinations, all of which are baseless hypotheticals.

 

EDIT: The ridiculousness of this article is absurd...

 

Trade suggestion: Tyler Greene, Adron Chambers and Maikel Cleto. This may not be the sexy prospect package Cubs fans envision, but the truth is Dempster isn't going to bring some huge return. Hey, I could be wrong -- the Mets got Zack Wheeler, San Francisco's top prospect, last year for Carlos Beltran. But I'm not sure Dempster will fetch what Beltran did.

 

Later...

 

Trade suggestion: The Cubs can aim for Jacob Turner and maybe settle for Casey Crosby or even Porcello.

 

So Dempster won't return anything huge, but they could aim for a Top 25 prospect Detroit reportedly balked at including in a Garza deal who is held in higher regard than Wheeler? Well done, Schoenfeld.

 

He also floats Dempster for Jose Igleseas.

 

Do we really know that Detroit balked at Turner? Depending on the rumor of the day back in the winter, what Detroit balked at was Garza for Turner and Castalannos AND Crosby or Smyly. This isn't to say that I think we could get Turner for Dempster, because I don't. I'd bet we could get Turner and then some for Garza. Probably not Castalannos though.

[El Duderino]

Is Turner still desirable at this point? What happened with his injury?

[gocubs2118]

It really depends on what Garza's contract demands are. If he's asking for Matt Cain type money, then I try to get the Jays, Yankees and Red Sox in a bidding war and hope the Jays offer the most. I'm not real comfortable with giving Garza, Matt Cain type money. I'd rather have Anibal Sanchez plus the prospects in the Garza trade than just Matt Garza on a deal he's probably not worth.

[davell]

How the hell does LaHair get coupled with Garza in that discussion?

 

"Even LaHair?"

 

If you can get anything for LaHair, take it. They got a ridiculous start from him and have done a tremendous job of doling out the playing time to maintain those overall numbers in impressive territory.

 

This.

 

I put him there because he's not a guy we HAVE to get rid of right now. In my trade scenarios of what it'd take me to personally deal those 2, it should be pretty apparent that I value them quite differently. But as someone who thinks he's a solid .800ish+ OPS guy for a few years, I need SOMETHING decent in return.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I know I'm changing my tune from March and April, but at this point, I want something for LaHair. A guy who slots into the 11-20 range in the Cubs organization.

 

But I look at all the contenders who are getting awful offense from 1b and LF, and I'm not inclined to just give him away.

 

My guess is he goes to the Pirates. He'd fit perfectly for them and wouldn't cost them any budget room.

[Guest]

I know I'm changing my tune from March and April, but at this point, I want something for LaHair. A guy who slots into the 11-20 range in the Cubs organization.

 

But I look at all the contenders who are getting awful offense from 1b and LF, and I'm not inclined to just give him away.

 

My guess is he goes to the Pirates. He'd fit perfectly for them and wouldn't cost them any budget room.

Gimme Jameson and I'll give LaHair!

[Clem Fandango]

Do we really know that Detroit balked at Turner? Depending on the rumor of the day back in the winter, what Detroit balked at was Garza for Turner and Castalannos AND Crosby or Smyly. This isn't to say that I think we could get Turner for Dempster, because I don't. I'd bet we could get Turner and then some for Garza. Probably not Castalannos though.

 

IIRC the rumors that were being reported said the Tigers did not want to include Turner in any deal, and supposedly Porcello was who the Tigers were trying to include instead, was it not?

 

Either way, it never happened, and the rumors were just that, rumors, so it's completely irrelevant at this point to talk about a trade that never happened 4-5 months ago

[davell]

Turner has 6 starts and 36 innings in AAA right now with 17 walks and only 21 K's. Yeah, he's really young, but I do wonder about his health. I'd just as well prefer to stay away from Detroit, if we're talking Garza. I'd take Crosby and Garcia for Dempster from them.

[davell]

Hoyer said tonight we're looking for power arms that throw strikes. Said our pen has not done a good job of this. He didn't come out and actually say we're looking strictly for pen arms, but maybe a more realistic package for Dempster is Lindblom or Tolleson and Gould?

[Clem Fandango]

I find the bullpen situation slightly humorous because in Spring Training didn't Hoyer say something to the effect of "The bullpen is the easiest part of the team to put together"?

 

Now we're looking for power arms everywhere we can. Not upset with that strategy, but I find it a little funny given his preseason quote.

[Guest]

I find the bullpen situation slightly humorous because in Spring Training didn't Hoyer say something to the effect of "The bullpen is the easiest part of the team to put together"?

 

Now we're looking for power arms everywhere we can. Not upset with that strategy, but I find it a little funny given his preseason quote.

 

 

I don't think those two statements really conflict, though.

[Clem Fandango]

I find the bullpen situation slightly humorous because in Spring Training didn't Hoyer say something to the effect of "The bullpen is the easiest part of the team to put together"?

 

Now we're looking for power arms everywhere we can. Not upset with that strategy, but I find it a little funny given his preseason quote.

 

 

I don't think those two statements really conflict, though.

 

I don't either, I just think it's funny that it was "the easiest part" and the bullpen has been arguably the biggest reason for the tremendous failure this season.

 

I also can't really remember the last time we had a lot of power arms since the days of Wood/Prior/etc. I'm excited about this approach.

[jersey cubs fan]

the bullpen has been arguably the biggest reason for the tremendous failure this season.

 

They will lose that argument to the lineup every time.

[Cubswin11]

the bullpen has been arguably the biggest reason for the tremendous failure this season.

 

They will lose that argument to the lineup every time.

Yeah the offense ranks in the bottome third of almost every category and has the 5th lowest OPS in the league. They are the #1 culprit for the hellish season we've had so far.

[Clem Fandango]

the bullpen has been arguably the biggest reason for the tremendous failure this season.

 

They will lose that argument to the lineup every time.

Yeah the offense ranks in the bottome third of almost every category and has the 5th lowest OPS in the league. They are the #1 culprit for the hellish season we've had so far.

 

Touche... I just know that LaHair, Castro, Barney, Soriano, and DeJesuis have all been performing admirably so it slipped my mind just how bad the others have been. I just knew that the bullpen has blown a whole lot of leads as well.

 

Double whammy, I suppose. And not the good kind.

[Elrhino]

I know I'm changing my tune from March and April, but at this point, I want something for LaHair. A guy who slots into the 11-20 range in the Cubs organization.

 

But I look at all the contenders who are getting awful offense from 1b and LF, and I'm not inclined to just give him away.

 

My guess is he goes to the Pirates. He'd fit perfectly for them and wouldn't cost them any budget room.

 

Feels like he could be a good sell for the Rangers. Michael Young looks washed up, so at the very least they could use a cheap lefty platoon to pair him with at 1B. LaHair would murder that right field porch. Their system is stacked, Anaheim is breathing down their necks, I think it would make sense for both sides to take a package of low level prospects off their hands.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Twitter just blew up because a couple reporters tweeted that Theo and Dempster were sitting together, talking, in the third-base seating area.

 

I love being a sports fan in the modern era. It's almost certainly nothing, but at least I get to see friendly sniping between beat reporters over what side of the field it's happening on.

[jersey cubs fan]

Twitter just blew up because a couple reporters tweeted that Theo and Dempster were sitting together, talking, in the third-base seating area.

 

I love being a sports fan in the modern era. It's almost certainly nothing, but at least I get to see friendly sniping between beat reporters over what side of the field it's happening on.

 

bruce miles said they were talking stanley cup

[Guest]

Twitter just blew up because a couple reporters tweeted that Theo and Dempster were sitting together, talking, in the third-base seating area.

 

I love being a sports fan in the modern era. It's almost certainly nothing, but at least I get to see friendly sniping between beat reporters over what side of the field it's happening on.

 

bruce miles said they were talking stanley cup

 

nah, doug padilla said they were exchanging pie recipes.

[Guest]

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan

Theo-Demp chat. Special request for @mattAbbatacola #Cubs

http://twitpic.com/9w3mhr

 

here's a link to the pic

[Guest]

From MLBTR chat

 

Comment From Theo

What could I expect in return for Dempster?

 

Ben Nicholson-Smith:

One very good prospect and a supplementary piece seems about right to me.

[davell]

With Morrow out indefinitely and now Drabek possibly hurt as well, coupled with being a game under .500 currently, Toronto is looking like less and less of an option for either Dempster or Garza.

[CyHawk_Cub]

With Morrow out indefinitely and now Drabek possibly hurt as well, coupled with being a game under .500 currently, Toronto is looking like less and less of an option for either Dempster or Garza.

 

Send 'em both...problem solved! :D

[Bote McBoteface]

Apparently the Orioles' announcer said something about Baltimore talking to the Cubs about a veteran pitcher. I can't confirm it at all, its on PSD.

 

Would Dempster be enough for Matusz? Probably not?

 

Maybe we can dump Soriano on them :D

[Hairyducked Idiot]

All the various beat reporters are now reporting that "sources" say that Dempster and Epstein talked trade scenarios yesterday, presumably in the grandstand meeting.

 

Wouldn't that be Hoyer's job? I know it's all one big front office conglomeration of brain power, but I still feel kinda bad for him.