BigbadB

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.

Exactly what does getting Peavy accomplish for them? They lose a guy in Escobar who has potential to be a all-star SS for the next decade, and any prospects that they give up they lose out on developing them to be part of a competing team 3-4 years down the road. There is no way they contend this year and it's unlikely they contend they next 2 seasons. They'll end up giving up a lot, plus the pads will likely expect whoever gets him to pick up at least part of the contract, and thats not something that rebuiling teams should be doing. People keep saying the Braves are rebuilding and I don't know where that is coming from. Sure they are a pretty young team, but they have aging guys like Chipper, Smoltz, and Hudson (the latter will be back by midseason). The Braves had the 4th highest payroll in the NL last year, over 100Mil. They have plenty of money to spend this offseason. The Braves' payroll has been over 85M every year since 2001. The only big salaries they have are Hudson (13M) and Chipper's 10M option. They have enough to add Peavy and a bat. That would put them back in NL East contention right away. The reason I don't see the Braves being big players is that the Braves didn't build their dynasty in the 90's by trading their prospects for a star pitcher. They kept their prospects and built the team around those prospects. And then they made the team even better by getting guys like Maddux. To me, and I could be wrong, for the Braves to give up prospects like Heyward or Schafer or Jurgens for a guy who is already making big money, wastes the best years of Peavy's career while all of these guys are going through growing pains of learning how to become successful major league players. By the time they are really contributing, Peavy will be off to his next destination, after tiring of not winning in Atlanta. Couple that in with the fact that New York and Phily both have the talent and money to spend to strengthen their teams even more in the East, and I think Atlanta is jeopardizing their future just to finish 3rd this year and next. ETA: I think the Marlins would be in a better position to go after Peavy right now than the Braves. Hanley, Hermida, Uggla, Maybin, Josh Johnson, Volstad, Miller.

I wouldn't have a problem with Holliday going to St. Louis. It's a deep drive, back, back, back, Holliday is at the wall, and it's a home run. Mark Mulder serves up another crushing drive with his 75 MPH fastball. Juan Pierre fist pumps as he circles the bases and the Dodgers take an 11-0 lead.

The link does not say a deal is currently tentative. What gives?

I'm guessing FatherRyan is currently signing up for LA Dodgers season tickets.

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."

Is Bradley considered expensive?

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.

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

I love how Fred always capitalizes every letter in "CUBS." It took him a while to stop referring to them as "ORPHANS", the name he knew them by in his childhood. ;) I kid, Fred. I kid. Oh, that's good stuff. And I'm not kidding.

Brandon Webb's ground ball rate and low pitch counts make me drool. I think I'd probably go with Halladay next. But, neither of those guys are available and Peavy is, and he's #3 on my list. How mad would an opposing team (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Houston) be if they came into Chicago for a 3 game set and had to face Peavy, Harden and Zambrano?