BigbadB

2 years younger. Zero major league service time. Young for his league. What do you mean he doesn't walk? His OBP in '08 was more than 100 points better than his AVG. Over a full season, that equates to more than 100 walks. Yeah, worst comparison ever. I'm not sure where that "doesn't walk" stuff is coming from either. Not sure if the defense argument holds much weight, either. Schafer was listed as the best defensive outfielder and best outfield arm in the Braves farm system, not to mention a top prospect.

2 years younger. Zero major league service time. Young for his league. What do you mean he doesn't walk? His OBP in '08 was more than 100 points better than his AVG. Over a full season, that equates to more than 100 walks. Unfortunately for Pie, the major league service time he does have has displayed rather poor results, especially against lefties.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-peavydeal110608&prov=yhoo&type=lgns With this latest news, I would imagine the Cubs are the team looking at a 3 or 4 team trade, since the inclusion of Tommy Hanson and/or Jordan Shafer trumps any players we can offer. Only thing is, I don't see Atlanta doing this. Towers is playing poker with Atlanta and Chicago, hoping one of them ups the ante enough to pull the trigger. Luckily for Atlanta and Chicago, Peavy is the pit boss in this card game.

Good point. Couple that in with the fact you would probably get a chance to be an everyday starter, put up numbers in that park that would make you appear to be even better than you actually are (see Chris Young), and ML teams all over the country would be chomping at the bit to offer you contracts that are better than your actual value. By staying in Chicago, he might push himself out of any chance of being a starter. If the Cubs did trade for Peavy and resigned Dempster and Wood went elsewhere, you have to figure Samardzija is probably destined to be next year's set up man or late inning reliever. But, he did request a full NTC, so it's his choice to veto any trades. He has every right to do so. If Peavy ends up on the Braves and the media spins it in any way that Samardzija was the deal breaker, the fans will probably be all over him if he doesn't perform magnificently.

Threeways are hard as hell to get going. Especially convincing the wife to make it work... Oh. Not THAT kind of a threeway. Heh. #-o I hear the after part is the hard part when your wife is involved. True story.

I wonder if the Cubs contention that they'd like to trade for Peavy and resign Dempster is just posturing to get Peavy to agree to a trade. The latest Rotoworld blurb says Peavy would not agree to a trade if it weakened the major league team he was being traded to. By staying firmly in the Dempster sweepstakes until this Peavy this is ironed out could just be to help convince Peavy to accept a deal to Chicago. It's just really weird right now that no only is Peavy engaging his NTC, but is also dictating what players the Padres are allowed to ask for in return.

1) Harden costs nearly as much as Peavy this coming year 2) Harden would leave as a free agent after next year

They were 20 games back because they had an insanely large amount of significant injuries. If they get Peavy and make a couple other moves they will compete for the division in 2009. And the significant injuries were to oft-injured soon-to-be 37 year old Chipper Jones, nearly dead John Smoltz, always injured Mike Hampton, already dead Tom Glavine and it was bound to happen sooner or later Tim Hudson. You can assume another 40 innings out of Hudson next year, but none of those other major injuries were at all flukish or unexpected, and they can't expect any of them to produce more in 2009 than they did in 2008. Atlanta needs a lot of help. There were a lot more injuries than those guys you mentioned. Those were the ones that made a difference. Name guys who were flukishly injured that can be expected to return healthy next year and perform better than they did this year. That's the only way you can pretend they are a couple moves away from contending again. I think you're really over exaggerating how bad they were last season and really underestimating how bad injuries destroyed their pen. Peavy/Hudson/Jurrjens/Campillo/whoever can win if guys like Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano stay healthy. They were only -25 in run differential last season and they pretty much mailed it in and shut guys down in the second half. Peavy, maybe another bat, and good health has that team competing in 2009. I don't think he's overexaggerating at all. You're only listing the pitching staff. They don't have Teixiera anymore. Who is going to step up and match the offense he provided?

Huh? What have YOU heard? :shock: The first half of the post you quoted quantifies that it was a hypothetical. You won't be getting inside information from me, because I don't have access to inside info.

Huh? What have YOU heard? :shock: The first half of the post you quoted quantifies that it was a hypothetical.

That's just plain old stupid. How is that serious egg on the face? Samardzija has a no trade clause, we know that. That makes it difficult to trade him, but not impossible. We know that. There's no egg on the face for pointing that out and still seeing a guy traded. Poster A: We should trade Samardzjia, Player B, and Player C Poster B: NTC. He can't be traded. If it turns out that the NTC doesn't limit certain trades -- such as one to the Padres -- Poster B was actively wrong. Thus, egg-in-the-face. That still doesn't justify egg on the face. Couldn't we just all be happy for ourselves if that trade happened? It's childish to look for some avenue to say "I told you so, I told you so" instead of just joining in on the celebration that the Cubs are now a better team with Peavy.

The biggest loser in all of this is going to be the Padres. The leverage that Peavy possesses right now is San Diego's fault. The one thing that a small market team was afforded when it was time to move the high price tags was return talent that could potentially make them a competitive team again within short order. The NTC clause makes this a significant loss for the Padres. I can't imagine the list of suitors for Peavy if he didn't have an NTC, and what the Padres might net in return if there were 29 teams in the hunt.

I gotta think if this was Dempster' intent he wouldn't have opted to test the open market. Leverage. Dempster loves Chicago, but Chicago needs to pony up to his demands. There is only so much love you can give. Dempster may offer a hometown discount from his free market value, but the only way you find out your free market value is by testing the open market. If the Cubs were offering 3/30 last month, but free agency could net him 5/75, he could still sign with the Cubs for less and get credit for offering a discount. Exactly.

I gotta think if this was Dempster' intent he wouldn't have opted to test the open market. Leverage. Dempster loves Chicago, but Chicago needs to pony up to his demands. There is only so much love you can give.

I wouldn't mind it so much if they traded for Peavy and resigned Dempster, while also retaining Wood. There is still a hole in RF, but you could realistically find a cheap LH bat that could platoon with DeRosa and then go with Fontenot and a RH platoon there as well. It's probably not ideal to have 3 positions getting platooned regularly, but you could also hope that someone could step up and play everyday. As of today, the Cubs have: CF: Fukudome/Johnson 2b: DeRosa/Fontenot RF: DeRosa/Hoffpauir

They were 20 games back because they had an insanely large amount of significant injuries. If they get Peavy and make a couple other moves they will compete for the division in 2009. And the significant injuries were to oft-injured soon-to-be 37 year old Chipper Jones, nearly dead John Smoltz, always injured Mike Hampton, already dead Tom Glavine and it was bound to happen sooner or later Tim Hudson. You can assume another 40 innings out of Hudson next year, but none of those other major injuries were at all flukish or unexpected, and they can't expect any of them to produce more in 2009 than they did in 2008. Atlanta needs a lot of help. Thanks. You saved me a bunch of extra time explaining this. This same team no longer has Teixiera, the one guy capable of making them a possible .500 team. The downgrade to Kotchman is significant. This team just isn't in a position to compete with the Mets or Phillies next year.

Even if it's Pie/Cedeno/Atkins/Marshall and not Hill, that's ridiculous. Why do the Padres like Atkins THAT much? Yeah, I don't get it. Can we offer up Colvin, Ceda and Hill for Holliday next, please?

I would think any leverage the Cubs might have had with Marquis would go out the window if they resigned Dempster and traded for Peavy. I think a lot of teams would be willing to trade for Marquis, but the Cubs will probably have to pick up a significant portion of his contract. Z, Peavy, Harden, Dempster, Lilly = no room for Marquis. Best guess is the Cubs get a marginal prospect or serviceable utility guy while picking up at least half of Marquis contract.

Color me giddy. And color Padres fans pissed when they see the kind of production they got from trading their golden boy.

That's what I see, also. Atlanta would be better off letting their young guys develop and then see if they can add a veteran starter or two once these guys develop. The Braves lose if they win a bidding war with the Cubs. The Cubs aren't trading away their future to get Peavy. Atlanta is. Honestly, I might be more afraid of the Dodgers at this point. If they really are offering Manny 25m a year, then the Dodgers may not be serious players for Sabathia, and might cough up a decent package for Peavy.

Luckily, Peavy would not allow the deal to happen if Soto was in the package. It's obvious that Peavy's main reason for wanting to be traded to the Cubs is because of Soto. We haven't won a World Series for 100 years, so it's obviously not because of our historic winning ways.

I don't see why it would. From where I'm sitting, this is moving much faster than anyone would have anticipated. There are really only 3 serious players for Peavy, and Towers probably needs this to be done sooner rather than later, because he has other players he's looking to move and will need to know what spots need to be filled. I'm just glad I have a busy slate this weekend so that I'm not spending 24 hours a day waiting to see this deal happen. I had way too much time to kill during the Roberts fiasco. In the event this deal goes down sometime this weekend and I'm not here and Peavy goes to the Cubs, let me officially say that I will have been very excited about the trade (assuming that Marmol and Soto were not part of the package).

Yeah, but I can get my hands on a Peavy Padres jersey and some blue sharpies. I win.

This is looking very favorable for the Cubs. Peavy won't accept a trade to the Braves if it costs them some of their current starters, thereby hurting their chance to contend. Hey Peavy, look at the division. The Braves are probably a 4th place team next year with or without you. The Phillies just won the World Series and will look to be just as good or better next year. The Mets have all kinds of money to throw at FA pitchers this offseason, which will make them a much better team than Atlanta. Florida has a solid pitching staff and young talent to trade to make their team even better. Atlanta isn't going to be a contender next year. Period. The Cubs, on the other hand, have a great shot of winning their division with or without you. Milwaukee loses Sheets and Sabathia. St. Louis is looking in garbage bins all over America to fill out their roster. Houston is, well, Houston. Cincinnati is probably the biggest threat to the Cubs next year. Just get it done.

No the Grossman 2.0 last year (Where he was much better) loved tossing that fade route to Olsen. Were those fade routes actually completed? In the games where Grossman played after he got back, Olsen had: Raiders: no catches Seattle: 7 catches, 43 yards Denver: 1 catch, 10 yards Giants: 2 catches, 7 yards In the Washington game, all 3 of Olsen's catches were after Griese replaced Grossman. Their longest connection during that whole time? That 10 yard pass in Denver. That's a rather short fade pattern if it isn't in the end zone. Plus there were no TD catches. It looks like Olsen was only used only as a safety valve when Grossman came back. They didn't send him down the field at all. Olsen's value came last year only when Griese was in. Yep, you are right. I went back to stats, and it was Griese who tried to stretch the field with Olsen. My bad dog. Grossman changed. He became panicky last year as the season progressed. So panicky, that I don't know that I trust him in there against a strong pass rushing team like Tennessee. As the pocket starts to close, which generally happens with the Bears long before a guy can get downfield for a long pass, he looks for the quickest place to dump the ball. If the line gives him time, and Rex is given the opportunity to trust the line, he can be dangerous against any defense. The Rex who basically lost his job after last year was the guy who seemed like he was paranoid to even be out there. Afraid to make a mistake, afraid of what was going on behind him where he can't see, afraid of throwing another INT, afraid of being sacked and hurt again and afraid of the fans reaction. Deer caught in the headlights syndrome. I like Rex, but I've been very concerned about his ability to lead the team. I was one of the last to fall from that grace, and now that it's gone, he needs to go out and regain that admiration and respect. This is the perfect team for him to do it against. Sunday is all about Rex.