Sever82

I honestly wish they interview Peavy. I would really like to hear what he has to say. I mean if he really did sing "Go Cubs Go" and was psyched about coming to the cubs, how much of a letdown is this to him? Would it be such a letdown that he would go back mad at towers? Unlike some posters on here i dont think he will go back to towers and say i demand you trade me to the cubs or that he would pressure towers but i think in some way he would make it difficult for Towers. It just annoys me that Towers acted during these dealings as if he had the leverage and the cubs needed peavy more than towers needed the trade. I dont think the Cubs will revisit the talks unless Towers calls them because Hendry probably feels annoyed by Towers and his Demands kind of like the deal with the Orioles. My only question now is, what are other teams offering for Derosa that as reported, 10 teams called the cubs for him? Pie is almost certainly gone so what trade will he be invovled in. If we do sign a FA to play right, i wonder what trade we will make. It would be very annoying if the cubs signed Randy Johnson, to me he's no better than putting Marshal or marquis at that spot of the rotation.

That is a bit absurd. Don't you realize that there are competing entities feeding the media? Both organizations have guys who intentionally "leak" what the organization wants leaked for the purpose of gaining leverage in negotiations and controlling fans expectations. Then there are other insiders who are passing on the real stories. That's not to mention the fact that things change, and some sources who aren't leaking as part of the plan, have information that may or may not be as recent as they think it is. A reporter could have a legitimate, honest insider and pass on information that ends up being wrong. If you expect rumors to be independently verified or something like that in this type of situation, then you get no information until the deal is done. You've got to consider the motivations and the role in the negotiating process all of this plays, and always take things with a grain of salt. Reporters shouldn't be held liable for a reported rumor not coming to fruition. Hell, look at the BR fiasco last year. BR himself thought he was going to be a Cub for sure it was so far along. The fact that it didn't happen doesn't mean that reporters who said it was imminent were full of Veterans Committee. If a reporter constantly gets the party line from a source and fails to realize that his source is using him to get out what his organization wants out (i.e. the reporter fails to continually validate the credibility of his source), then that reporters deserves to lose respect. Not because of how difficult in wading through the glut of information and misinformation from both sides over fluid, evolving negotiations. That's ridiculous. If anything, when a major deal like this is in the public eye, both organizations kick their misinformation operations into overdrive. In this particular situation, too much of the Padres situation is known (owners divorce, order to cut payroll to $40 mil, Peavy's full NTC and his preferences), so the only real leverage tool that Towers has is misinformation. When you have both teams working misinformation as part of the negotiation process, you're going to get alot of conflicting reports like we've had the last few days. It should be expected. Reporters should be held accountable for what they put out there. If you have a reporter that hears something that they know isn't true, they'll put it out there just to put it out there. I can bet money on that at one point during this trade discussion some writer put out a report saying the deal is all but done when they knew they had nothing to base it on but just put it out there to grab attention. A lot of writers have basically repeated what other writers have said and just put their own twist to it. I have a good amount of respect for Bruce because he hasn't put out a report that jumped to a conclusion, even when he puts opinions into his article we can tell its just an opinion from him. I mean you have someone like Jayson Stark or Philips who puts out an article that is reiterating what another writer wrote but take credit for it. I'm just tired of so many writers putting out anything they hear even its from Towers' Bell boy.

I'm starting to doubt this will get done and i've lost a lot of respect for some writers depending on who gets the story right because it seems like chicago writers are saying it will get done but national media like ESPN keep saying its unlikely or too many hurdles, etc. I think to today we'll hear significant news, we might even see a breaking news report saying the trade went down. Once the Rule V is over, we'll know something. I dont think we'll get important news until 7pm or so.

His agent isn't really needed for anything since we know he will waive his no trade already... And we already know that it will be after Thrusday, so... I wouldn't say that. There are some complications that would need to be talked about if an agent's player is traded. I doubt its as simple as saying " He said he's good with being traded to the cubs so just do it if you can, if you need me give me a call." So yeah, i would either take it as the deal is done or the trade has been tabled for later. Also he checked out, not left for lunch. Still, fax machines take care of that stuff in a second. I'm sure all of the trades that come pouring in at the last second of the trading deadline don't require physically meeting with their agents, since some of those deals come to fruition in like 5 minutes. True i see your point in that. There is an article on Mlbtraderumors.com saying that Peavy might be attracted more to the yankees now that they have CC. According to the article Axelrod said peavy might be interested in the yankees if they got CC. I wonder how long it will take before a NY post or new york writer posts an article saying that Peavy is considering the yankees or that the yankees are making a push for peavy. Its annoying but NY fans act like their teams are the only ones in the planet.

His agent isn't really needed for anything since we know he will waive his no trade already... And we already know that it will be after Thrusday, so... I wouldn't say that. There are some complications that would need to be talked about if an agent's player is traded. I doubt its as simple as saying " He said he's good with being traded to the cubs so just do it if you can, if you need me give me a call." So yeah, i would either take it as the deal is done or the trade has been tabled for later. Also he checked out, not left for lunch.

The agent for Jake Peavy, Barry Axelrod, has left the winter meetings, with no word of a deal. The expectation continues to be, however, that there will be a deal with the Cubs. Per Buster Olney If this is true it can either be there is no deal done during the meeting or the deal is done and they will announce it soon or tomorrow.

??? Wood just signed with the Indians yesterday. [/sarcasm] Did he, man i didnt realize that. I guess Philips might be off with his sources. I do believe him when he says that CC might resign with the Indians though, i mean that seems likely.

Steve Phillips was just on Espn with some interesting tidbit. Supposedly according to Philips the Cubs might not offer arbitration to Wood, he still thinks Wood will remain with the cubs at the end of the day. He's also reporting that the Cubs are having inner discussions about exercising Harden's option. On the a side he believes the recent signing of Luis Salazar will fill the cubs void in left field.

Quick question, I'm having a debate with an NY fan at work. He's a Yankees fan and happy about getting CC and said CC is a better pick up than Peavy. At first i thought he migth be right but after looking past all the ESPN bias and coverage of CC, does CC even come close to the numbers Peavy has put up? I mean SOs, Ws, ERA, etc? I mean you can say the health concern can be applied to both since they're both power pitchers, i mean you may never know maybe next year CCs arm starts acting up. So putting health aside who would you rather trade for with the package the cubs have supposedly out there for Peavy, CC or Peavy? I know Peavy is a right handed pitcher but does that justify picking CC over Peavy? Another thing and i know someone is bound to bring it up, Yeah petco is a hitters park but dont use that as your argument because its been proven wrong before.

Whats this rumor i heard yesterday that they're waiting til after the rule 5 draft to make a deal. Supposedly that the Padres need to clear room in their roster?

I liked yesterday's article about Selling high on Derosa, even though it seems like the cubs are giving up a lot, trading Derosa now is better than letting him walk away with nothing or having diminishing numbers this coming year. To me its starting to sound like it might be Vitters, Pie, Marquis, and Derosa shipping out from the cubs and then peavy coming back.

http://hotstove.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/12/getting_closer_to_a_deal_for_p.html Looks like this is almost done basically

Don't say I didn't tell you so when the Yankees surprisingly jump into the Peavy sweepstakes (but if they don't, please conveniently forget I said this) I dont know if the yankees will jump into the Peavy sweepstakes, i think they'll try to sign Burnett before they do that because i think Yankees feel they have good pitching prospoect in hughes, joba and kennedy that they can build around. Look at it this way, back in 2001 i believe, if you had Wood, Zambrano and Prior with the level of talent that they have, would you trade them for lets say Pedro Martinez at the time? Not to say that Hughes, Joba and Kennedy are at the level of talent that Wood, Prior and Zambrano were but im pretty sure the yankees hold them on that level. I feel Cashman is overrated as a GM, anyone could aquire the players that he did if they had that kind of money to play with. In my opinion if Hendry or Kenny Williams werre the Yankees GM in that period, they Yankees would have more rings cause unlike Cashman i feel that Chicago's GMs would use the money more wisely. I mean even though the Cubs haven't won a championship, we still have one of the best rosters in the MLB because of Hendry. Imagine if Hendry had the luxury of expanding our payroll to over 200 million like the yankees were, we would have maybe Arod on our club, maybe Cabrera cause we would be willing to trade and extend his contract.

I think those are the two factors that this depends on and i'm not sure if Bruce can confirm them both. One which is, has the padres FO told Towers that he needs to move Peavy Period and it needs to be done before the start of the of the season. Two does Peavy really just want to go to the Cubs? Would he consider the Angels, Yankees or Dodgers? I can belive the first one but i think peavy would be open to a trade to more than just the cubs. Hendry does hold most of the card but you can't get cocky cause something can pop up out of nowhere. Today in the morning i felt the deal might get done by today but now i'm feeling like nothing will get done during the meetings and that there is also the possibility of it not happening because of the padres asking for too much.

There is nothing on the yankees that i would trade Z for, not even joba. I think a lot of the Yankees prospects have been overvalued because of the east coast bias media. Hughes, Kennedy, Cabrera are all overrated. Joba is good but he will not last as a starter, reminds me too much of Wood. Like i said i wouldn't trade Z for anyone on that Roster, not even Arod with his 30 mil a year contract. If you're going to trade Z you have to be smart about it, you can't overvalue him either but you can't undervalue him. I think trading Z for someone like Hanley is fair, maybe trading Z pie and Cedeno for Lincecom is fair. Cano i think is falling off. I can't stand it when people see a yankees trade rumors and see cabrera, hughes and kennedy and act like its such a good package. These guys have not proven anything on the major league level, not to say marshal is better than hughes but doesn't marshall have a better ERA than hughes at this level?

I wouldn't trade Z to bring in prospect for Roberts or Peavy, i wouldn't trade Z unless it was for a stud young player. I would be happy with some three way trade if we traded Z and got someone like Hanley Ramirez in return or maybe even trading Z and a prospect to the Giants for Lincecom. I would be highly disappointed if the cubs traded Z for someone like Roberts. Z is still a young star so you should get a young star in return.

Exactly i share those same feelings, i would be salty if we received Johnson instead. Quick Request, i'm at work but could somebody watch the Hot Stove Special On ESPN at 4pm Central to see if they mention Peavy? Then give us a recap if possible, doubt i will make it home on time. Another thing to wonder is if Peavy was really singing " Go Cubs Go" and is so pumped to be a Cub what do you think he will if Towers keep putting the price up and then ultimately discourages Hendry from pulling the trade. Is it just me or does anyone think that Peavy will be unsatisfied with staying with the padres after all this and pressure Towers to send him to the Cubs or someone else. I have to imagine that this on again off again treatment is pissing Peavy off.

ha beat you to it, but anyways, am i the only one that doesn't want Randy Johnson on this team? I'm a little worried cause i'm getting the same feeling with this trade that i got with the roberts trade where the orioles began asking for too much in the trade. Sounds like Hendry might be holding back because Towers may be asking for too much for Peavy. I really dont blame Hendry to be honest, to give up six players for just peavy and one of those players is Derosa who could've been an all star last year and might of been your team MVP, dont know just my opinion but we might be giving up too much. Dont mind switchin Theriot for Derosa.

2:25pm: The saga continues...Kevin Towers does not think this deal lost steam in the last 24 hours, according to Yahoo's Tim Brown and Gordon Edes. However, they say the Cubs are having second thoughts about this four-team mess. The Cubs source says the price is too steep for them right now and they're looking at another short-term option for the rotation (Randy Johnson maybe). Mlbtraderumors.com NOW I'm WORRIED

This really sucks, i'm going to keep my eye on it but i'm not going to get my hopes up until it happens. As far as im concerned it won't happen until i heard Cubs trade for Peavy. And i hope Kaplan on CTL doesn't say something like " I talked to some people within the Cubs organization that say its pretty much dead for now until they get the ownership situation figured out" I'm tired of that want to be insider bumb.

Rosenthal is an idiot, basically what he says, contradicts everything that has come out the past couple of days. I mean you had rogers i believe saying that a source close to hendry said the deal is very close. Then about the whole ownership, I'm pretty sure i caught a clip on Comcast Sportsnet of Hendry saying that the cubs had run by the three prospective bidders their plans and that they all approved. I dont think the ownership situation needs to be resolved before the Peavy deal gets done because Hendry or Kenney can always ask for the approval from prospective bidders on a possible deal The only thing i agree with Rosenthal is that Marquis needs to go before Peavy gets done. To me it sounds like Rosenthal is tyring to update his posts frequently and would put anything out there just to put it out there. Bruce if you're out there please debunk this Rosenthal Post and let us know the latest on Peavy.

I think one thing i wonder about and hoping Bruce can answer this, is do GMs usually tells writers like Bruce the truth? I mean what i like about Bruce is that he doesn't speculate too much, he basically tells you what he heard from the mouth of Hendry but then you have other writers that report on pure speculation or what one person told another or what friend told you blah blah. So I wonder if Hendry tells Bruce that they're just talking, if thats the truth or if he's just saying it to take the attention off at the moment. I wonder this because sometimes you get a report saying that two teams are just talking and then next minute a deal gets done or the next minute a report comes out denying the story.

Is it me or does it seem like the writers outside of Chicago and San Diego have been off on this possible deal? I mean Miles and Levine haven't jumped the gun and have instead have stated that the talks are still going but nothing is definite. We have also heard about possible prospects involved but nothing certain. Than you have the San Diego writers who have reported the cubs in the talks and possible three team deal but haven't called it a lock. And then you look at a writer like Olney or Stark and they all but denied the possibility about the cubs getting peavy and instead have insisted that the Braves will end up getting Peavy. But now that it seems obvious that peavy wont go to the braves, they're now jumping the gun and saying the cubs might get him. Then i just read that stark says there a zero chance peavy gets trade during the winter meetings. I'm kind of getting annoyed by ESPN writers because they like to put something out there even though its a guess so that if it comes true, then they're looked upon as legit sources. But when they're totally wrong ( Like Olney was with the Harden Trade) they never mention it or acknowledge the trade as much. I honestly think the Peavy deal will get done soon, i'm talking about tomorrow or by thursday. It wouldn't surprise me if i heard a levine report on the way home that the cubs got peavy. This possible trade gives me the feeling i got with the harden trade. At first i thought it wasn't possible or thought it might be weeks away, but then i remember driving on my way home from work and bruce levine interruption Mac, Yurko and Harry with the breaking news of Harden to the Cubs. Hopefully we get something like that soon cause i'm tired of checking website and message boards for the latest updates.

Just my opinion but to me you have a better chances of winning with a stud pitching staff than a stud offense. I'm still holding on to the hope that we trade Marquis away and get peavy and sign furcal.

Really? You prefer Soriano at Lead Off? Wow