BigbadB

This is right on point. You don't just give up on a guy like Peavy. My personal feelings on this is that a deal is already in place for Peavy to go to the Cubs. The Padres are just waiting now for Hendry to: A) Finish a deal with a 3rd team that will give San Diego a major league ready starter to complete the package B) Move Marquis I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if both of those events happen within minutes of each other.

west coast not-withstanding, I can't imagine Lee lifting his NTC to go to that crap team He lives in the bay area. i know this. I still don't think he'll trade sleeping in his own bed for playing for a last place team They will be better than the Padres.

Absolutely. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask. The Giants front office could probably use a good laugh about now. Good call. They're gonna need to get their laughs in before the season starts Nah. They'll still be able to laugh at the Padres.

I've wanted him for years, although he continues to prove the naysayers right about never being healthy. I finally turned myself off on him as the offseason began, but looking at the current outfield situation, I actually like Bradley a lot once again. If you can go into the '09 season with Soriano, Fukudome, Bradley, Johnson and Hoffpauir, with DeRosa as a spot starter on occasion as well, I think you have all the depth you really need and you don't have to count on Bradley to be healthy for the full year. When he's in there, he sure can produce. He's now another full season removed from his knee injury, so maybe you can get a solid 120-130 games out of him. That might be all you can expect from the aging guys like Ibanez or Abreu as well. Actually, Ibanez is completely off my radar since Seattle offered him arbitration. He only played 20 games in the field last year. But, it sounded like he wasn't happy to be DHing as often as he was. Texas just wanted to make sure he didn't reinjure that knee. Bradley did steal 5 bases last year, which is a sign that the knee felt good enough to run.

Absolutely. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask. The Giants front office could probably use a good laugh about now.

Who will the Giants be trading Howry to for that to happen? Back to the Cubs, obviously. More obvious would be the team playing the Cubs in the '09 NLDS since the Cubs don't win games in the NLDS very often.

Who will the Giants be trading Howry to for that to happen?

I guess the Peavy deal won't be happening today. Don't want to spoil Chad's day in the sun.

How can you portray a GM who is holding Omar Vizquel's place at SS until Omar's grandson is ready to take over as this horrible person?

Nevermind. Schierholtz has zero experience at 1b. I could have sworn he was playing 1b in their minor league system.

Holy crap would that be a steal for Florida. What can we give to SF instead? I really don't think Cantu is much better than Hoffpauir, to be honest. Derrek Lee to San Fran for Sanchez and Schierholtz. Sanchez is then included in the package to get Peavy. Trade Marquis for anyone willing to pick up most of his contract, sign Wood AND Milton Bradley and bring back Blanco for about a million and call it an offseason. Derrek Lee to San Fran for Sanchez and (1 of Bumgarner or Alderson). No less than that as we'll have a big hole at 1B if we trade Lee. I wouldn't call it a big hole. Schierholtz is someone who I think could provide the production Lee does on offense. I'm not sure how handy he is with a glove, but it looks like he has decent enough power and hits for a pretty good average. He hits lefty. I like him over Bowker, who K's a ton and really doesn't provide much outside of HR power.

Here is the current value I place on the players that you list as potential pieces to acquire Peavy: Pie (not good enough to crack the Cubs outfield starting line up and has no place on this team) Cedeno (not good enough to crack the Cubs starting infield) Marshall (currently the Cubs 6th starter) Vitters (the only valuable blue chip prospect in the entire system, but still somewhat of an unknown on whether he can be a productive major league player) Unknown prospect (who in the current Cubs farm system has the potential to be an impact player at the major league level?) If you honestly believe the Padres are getting a steal for one of the top starters in MLB (with a long term contract attached, meaning the Cubs will control him for several years) for a guy who can't make the team, a back up infielder, a back up starter, 1 good prospect and some other unknown prospect, I'm not sure what to say. I'd make that deal today, tomorrow and yesterday.

Holy crap would that be a steal for Florida. What can we give to SF instead? I really don't think Cantu is much better than Hoffpauir, to be honest. Derrek Lee to San Fran for Sanchez and Schierholtz. Sanchez is then included in the package to get Peavy. Trade Marquis for anyone willing to pick up most of his contract, sign Wood AND Milton Bradley and bring back Blanco for about a million and call it an offseason.

haha. Makes me wonder what Mark Prior is doing today.

I doubt that Ronny is a deal breaker. Besides, Towers has probably moved on to someone like Vitters over Ronny.

I was happy to see that Thome has had the main thoroughfare through Alpha Park in Bartonville was named after him. Very cool. I was there over Thanksgiving.

I'm going to disagree with Callis on this one, although I really hope he's right. Veal is probably already destined to become a bullpen arm at this point anyway, and the demand for lefty bullpen help is pretty high. There are just too many teams that could use a guy like Veal in their bullpen. Too many pitching coaches will think they know what can make him an effective short inning reliever. Heck, the Cubs are lacking in that very same department. I'm not saying the Cubs should pencil him in for a 25 man roster spot. But, I certainly don't like seeing him exposed to Rule 5 when there are other players less valuable who are being protected. With an already depleted farm system (and even further depleted if Peavy gets traded to the Cubs) and absolutely zero compensation for losing a guy like Wood makes this Donald Veal exclusion from the 40 man roster a real head scratcher. I'm not happy.

Probably the most underrated player of recent times. Seriously? Jay Bell must have been one of Brady Anderson's best students in the school of "how to extend your career by roidin' up".

Actually, I believe they are. I believe they have a small window of opportunity to win at this point because they looked to veteran players to build the powerhouse they currently have, rather than build from within. The big league team is aging and the farm system is in complete disarray. These are not the traits of a team who can maintain a perennial foothold atop the NL Central standings. That's not to say that new ownership and a GM can't turn things around in a hurry. As long as you can keep throwing money around, you probably won't see them battling Pittsburgh for 6th place. In a sense, I kind of feel like the biggest reason St. Louis isn't making a splash right now is because their farm system isn't very strong right now, either. It's like they are storing nuts for the winter. Develop the farm, trade for young talent and then take the available cash to make a strong run next year or the year after that. It's just odd that they would sit on their hands with one of the best players in the league, who is not getting any younger. At the same time, Atlanta is going against their own business model of developing young talent and then filling in the holes where necessary. They are spending unnecessary resources for a team that probably isn't really going to be ready to contend until 2010. I'd be pissed if I was a Braves fan and watched this latest Vasquez trade go down.

Yeah, I think that it will happen eventually, though I really hate getting my hopes up only to see Hendry stomp on my throat while I'm down. On a related note, I listen to a little bit of San Diego sports radio and this year is going down (according to the sports talk guys here) as the worst in San Diego history. Aztec football, Padres baseball, Chargers football. The Hoffman situation. The Peavy situation. The Moores situation. I think the only thing that would really stop Peavy from being traded is if the Moores situation clears up somehow. And that's not likely to happen. Padres fans actually seem okay with Peavy being traded, as they see having Peavy on a bottom feeder team for the next several years as a waste of resources. They view Peavy as someone who can fetch enough talent to turn the lousy farm system around. I don't see it that way since Peavy has an NTC and everyone knows the Padres are cutting payroll in half, but I'm absolutely shocked that the people here aren't completely outraged. It will probably be a very long time before another young up and comer in the Padres ranks will be extended an NTC, that's for sure.

I get scared every time someone posts in this thread. I guess I'm the guilty party this time. That is all.

I don't dislike MacPhail at all, but you must admit that his slow moving pace and his overvaluing his players can be really annoying. I think he might be the wrong man for the job to rebuild the O's if you are an impatient O's fan. He might get it done, but it won't be done quickly. MacPhail does appear to be quite slow moving when making a trade, but I don't know if all the blame should be directed at him for this Peavy fiasco. 1) Cubs ownership is in flux 2) Cubs budget is currently higher than it should be for a team that is looking to add players 3) More than 1 team is needed to finish the deal 4) Other players appear to need to be traded in order for this particular trade to work for the Cubs 5) The market has been moving slowly for everyone due to the economy 6) Towers is getting raped on this Peavy deal no matter what. I can understand their slow response. 7) SP is honestly not the Cubs biggest need at this point, which requires Hendry to be working on more than just Peavy. 8) There are other teams Hendry can look to to get the package of players the Padres need. 9) Hendry might actually be required to actually move some payroll before a deal for Peavy goes down so as not to be stuck with a higher payroll than is allowed. 10) I'm sure there are plenty more, but I'm still on my first cup of java this am. MacPhail's name only really came up toward the tail end of last week. Towers is the one that has been the slow mover at this point, even though he was pretty clear in the early going that he wanted to get something done as soon as possible so that he could focus on the rest of the team's needs. I can't blame Towers for still being where he is at. He's partially to blame for giving Peavy no trade rights, but at the same time, Moores is the one who is forcing Peavy to be moved. I want this to be over as much as the next guy, but this is a very complicated situation. Even though Towers is forced to trade Peavy, and the Cubs appear to be the only real suitor, Hendry is still not the type of GM that will kick Towers in the nads with his current predicament. Hendry will see to it that Towers gets fair value for Peavy. In the big picture, that would probably be wise anyway. I would think a strong working relationship with small market teams who can't keep their high priced talent would be quite valuable in future dealings.

Personally, I don't put all that much stock into a GM's post season record. It's the GM's job to put a team on the field that can consistently get to the postseason. Obviously, the stronger the team the better. It's the players and managers who then need to continue to play in the playoffs the way they played all season.

Yeah, I probably should have elaborated a bit more on that. Houston certainly isn't a small market team, but their ownership has been spending frugally of late, thereby making them appear more like a smaller market team than they really are or should be. St. Louis has been the same way lately.

Very sad.