BigbadB

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.

Only if they've completely forgotten what made them such a good team throughout the entire '90's and halfway through the '00's. I honestly can't figure out what they are trying to do. If there really was a huge window of opportunity right now, I could see going for it. But, Philadelphia is coming off a World Series victory and should be even better in '09 and you know the Mets will be spending freely this offseason with a pretty strong supporting cast already in the fold. It just doesn't make sense.

That's some imagination you've got there. So you hate every GM and not just Hendry? Did they kick your dog? Consistency is a virtue.

Go Braves, Go Braves!!!

I will go ahead and agree with Goony that a monkey could have put a competitive team on the field 5 out of 6 years, along with making the postseason 3 of those 6 years, given the resources Hendry has had to work with. Payroll has nearly doubled since Hendry took over and he already had a fairly stocked team of regulars and a highly rated farm system. What I have found to be the most troublesome with Hendry's tenure as the Cubs GM, is his constantly changing philosophies of building a winner. To me, he's been extremely narrow minded with what type of player can help him now and in the future. He gives the perception of tunnel vision when it comes to "getting his man", even if a better man is available and at his disposal. The lame quotes like "guys who can catch the ball" and "left handed power hitter" are only the tip of the iceberg with the problems I've had with Hendry over the years. I won't call it all bad. I like a lot of the players Hendry has brought to this team. At times, he's looked like a magician. However, over his full body of work, he just isn't getting the job done. Winning divisions when 4/5 of the teams in your division are crappy small market teams going nowhere ever isn't really the best indicator of your body of work. Switch us with Boston and Boston is winning more than 100 games a year while we are struggling to break .500. Epstein is a good GM. Hendry, not so much.

I guess there's always hope for improvement. At the same time, I've said from day 1 that he shouldn't bat any higher than 8th in the order. If he's a high risk to be caught stealing, do it from the bottom of the order. If he's a high risk to hit into a GIDP, let him do it from the bottom of the order. If he's got a respectable OBP, let him get on base in front of Soriano.

If Marshall ends up in a package to the Padres, I think Samardzija is in the Iowa rotation to start '09. Possibly Gaudin, also. I don't think you can go into the '09 season with so little depth in the starting rotation. If the Cubs get Peavey and they don't deal Marquis they will be fine even if they have to trade Marshall. Z Harden Lilly Peavey Dempster ---------- Marquis Gaudin I'm not sure what to make of Samardzija as a starter, but I think he'll be needed in the bullpen with Wood gone. Well, from everything we have been reading, the Peavy deal is contigent on the Cubs freeing up money, which means Marquis is gone. That leaves Samardzija and Gaudin as your only real options to fill in if someone in the rotation gets hurt. Guzman is done as a starter. Veal will be on some teams 25 man roster for at least a few months, if not all year as a LOOGY. I would guess Gaudin will be the long man in the pen and Samardzija will be getting stretched out in Iowa. I'm sure the Cubs can find someone off the scrap heap for dirt cheap, but I wouldn't expect it to be anyone decent enough. Maybe a Jerome Williams type guy.