BroLight

I see why you are having such a tough time grasping this. YOU are the one that's NUTS! It is BOSTON that is desperate, not the Cubs! The Cubs would be dealing from a position of strength, and regardless wouldn't be putting Soto or any regular, other than Soriano, in such a package. Most teams wouldn't be willing to give up such an offensive threat, and that makes a deal for Soriano even more attractive. Remember, I didn't say this was GOING to happen, only that it might. But if the Red Sox were indeed willing to see Beltran as a real offensive threat, how much more valuable would Soriano be to them?

I have trouble believing that the Cubs would trade Soriano since they are trying to add offense. Obviously it would make sense to try to get out from under his contract, but the Cubs are in a win-now mode and getting good youngsters for a big piece of your current offense doesn't help in 2009. As for the Peavy deal, I do think it will happen and I'm hoping we can exclude Vitters. Soriano is a problem that has a huge contract. He plays poor D, but that would be less of a problem in Boston where most hard hit balls are going off the wall anyway. He also has a mental block about hitting someplace in the lineup other than leadoff, and the Cubs can NOT win deep into the playoffs with him hitting leadoff because he is an all or nothing type hitter. All of this gives Lou a GIANT headache! When you put his contract, mental block and D along side the Cubs need for LH power, a true leadoff hitter (L or S), and perhaps another OF to play L or R, Hendry will jump at the opportunity to move him, especially if he could get Ellsbury and a couple of pitching prospects for Towers in return. Ellsbury is not only a great leadoff hitter, he plays CF, AND his salary is so low and will remain relatively so, long enough that the Cubs could actually afford to sign Bradley to play RF and Dunn to play LF with backloaded contracts. That would make Fukudome & Johnson the 4th and 5th OFrs, with NO NEED to negotiate at all with MacPhail, and the Cubs would have a perfectly balanced lineup of: Ellsbury L, Theriot R, Bradley S, Ramirez R, Dunn L, Lee R, Fontenot L and Soto R. Does anyone think that Jim and Lou aren't "drooling" over even the slightest possibility of this happening? Fukudome would be a 4th OF'er making 50 mill... As long as he remains a suspect offensive player, that's the only spot for him. No one wants him as he was last year. The other choice would be to make him a $50M AAA player, but that requires his permission. If the Cubs were successful taking the Roberts route, he would be a platoon CF with Johnson, but I'm not holding my breath for it to happen. There seems to be some vindictiveness in MacPhail. The bottom line on Fukudome is that Hendry is not going to wait on him, and he also isn't going to let Fuku's presence on the roster stop him for "going for broke" in pursuit of a World Series win!

No. Boston isn't stupid. Maybe they ARE....If they were willing to do the deal for Beltran, who is far LESS of an offensive threat than Soriano!~

I have trouble believing that the Cubs would trade Soriano since they are trying to add offense. Obviously it would make sense to try to get out from under his contract, but the Cubs are in a win-now mode and getting good youngsters for a big piece of your current offense doesn't help in 2009. As for the Peavy deal, I do think it will happen and I'm hoping we can exclude Vitters. Soriano is a problem that has a huge contract. He plays poor D, but that would be less of a problem in Boston where most hard hit balls are going off the wall anyway. He also has a mental block about hitting someplace in the lineup other than leadoff, and the Cubs can NOT win deep into the playoffs with him hitting leadoff because he is an all or nothing type hitter. All of this gives Lou a GIANT headache! When you put his contract, mental block and D along side the Cubs need for LH power, a true leadoff hitter (L or S), and perhaps another OF to play L or R, Hendry will jump at the opportunity to move him, especially if he could get Ellsbury and a couple of pitching prospects for Towers in return. Ellsbury is not only a great leadoff hitter, he plays CF, AND his salary is so low and will remain relatively so, long enough that the Cubs could actually afford to sign Bradley to play RF and Dunn to play LF with backloaded contracts. That would make Fukudome & Johnson the 4th and 5th OFrs, with NO NEED to negotiate at all with MacPhail, and the Cubs would have a perfectly balanced lineup of: Ellsbury L, Theriot R, Bradley S, Ramirez R, Dunn L, Lee R, Fontenot L and Soto R. Does anyone think that Jim and Lou aren't "drooling" over even the slightest possibility of this happening?

In part, YES, Towers asked for too much. This has been attested to by Peavy's agent and others. You might want to try and be "informed" before you blog! But it goes beyond that. Towers discovered while trying to negotiate deals with the Braves and Cubs, originally, that although Peavy gave him a list of "acceptable" teams, that he was truly ONLY interested in staying in San Diego or going to the Cubs! Every time Towers tried some other team on the list, Peavy sent a message that they would have to renew his full no-trade clause, and/or renegotiate some part of his contract. Finally after rejecting Towers request for a new and/or expanded list, Peavy and his agent told Towers just to present every deal. Since Towers knew that meant a waste of his time, he quit trying. Restricted, therefore to the Cubs, Towers had no choice but to back off and wait for the Cubs to complete other deals (including the O's deal for Olson, whom Towers has already approved). The biggest part of that was to get the Cubs other needs lined up for fulfillment before taking up the issue again. Since there has been NO change in orders from Padres ownership about moving Peavy's salary, and NO statement from Moorad indicating any displeasure with that, but to the contrary, Peavy will become a Cub before Spring Training. And Hendry's good friend, Towers will be the recipient of the best deal that Hendry can put together for him, and nothing more! THAT is precisely where the Peavy deal sits! As for who plays CF for Boston, that is THEIR concern, but there would be nothing at all to stop the Cubs from including Pie in the deal. Right now, the Red Sox are mainly concerned with protecting themselves in case either Lowell or Papi can not come back strong, and competing with the Yankees. They have their pitching under control, it is their OFFENSE they are worried about and THAT is Soriano's strong suit, make that ONLY suit! He would be a juggernaut hitting over the wall!

And people like you believe the BS that you have been fed about that particular exchange, which was taken completely out of context, misunderstood, twisted by those seeking to tear down rather than discuss and magnified beyond any semblance of proportion. If your attack is allowed on this board, then it has become no better than the one the originators, who invited me, were trying to escape!

Was the room full of smoke when this vision came to you? None of those deals make the least bit of sense for the other clubs involved. If you were a fan of the Orioles, Red Sox, or Padres, would you want your team to make those deals? Half the guys you mentioned coming from the Cubs have minimal to no trade value. No Smoke! What rock have you been hiding under? Most of these individual pieces have already been discussed & reported to some extent; but if you would like to be more specific about what piece you object to, I'd be happy to ENLIGHTEN you!

It's true that there is more to come from Hendry....probably a couple of deals AFTER the Bako signing, the Marquis trade & the power LH hitter (probably Bradley)! A week ago, if Jim was able to say, he would tell you that he was working toward an opening day lineup of: Roberts, Theriot, Bradley, Ramirez, Soriano, Lee, Fontenot & Soto or something very close to that. With a rotation of Peavy, Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster & Marshall with Samardzija starting at AAA, Marmol closing, Gregg & a yet to be acquired LH to be the setup men. But that was a week ago! Since then a couple of things have changed. First, a Chicago pundit, made it public that MacPhail had stiffed Hendry last year regarding Roberts. Now that it's out, it could very well become such a problem with MacPhail, that Roberts may not be "available" to the CUBS. Make no mistake, MacPhail still wants to do the Olson for Pie deal, but Hendry was hoping to make the bigger deal. We'll see on that one. In the meantime, it has become known that the Red Sox are not going to sit quietly after their disappointment over Texiera. Actually, they have put out the word that they are looking for a stud offensive player, because of their uncertainty about Lowell & Papi. They would prefer that this "stud" be young.....note their attempt on Ramirez from the Rays that was denied. One NYC pundit suggested that they would be willing to give up Ellsbury & Dice K to get Beltran. Let me ask you, isn't this door open for a Soriano deal?? He is the same age as Beltran with more pop! I think Hendry's "wheels" are churning over these possibilities. After all, with Ellsbury, the Cubs wouldn't need Roberts. Another thing that has happened which many people think changes the availability of Peavy, is the sale of the Padres. I am NOT among those that think this way. This buyer is a friend of the Moores. He has been working on this deal since the first part of November....(that's prior to the Winter Meetings)... If he had any objection to moving Peavy, he would have said so before now. Even if he did object, there is a "cash need" being driven by the divorce, and he has at least "gone along" with the idea of trading him, in favor of the bigger picture...his ownership! A week ago, Hendry's plan was to finish the Marquis deal, sign Bako & Bradley, and then turn his attention back to Peavy. Refusing to give up Marshall or Samadzjia and not wanting to give up Vitters, His offer for Peavy would have been something close to Cedeno, Hart, Stevens, Vizcaino (wishful thinking), either Wuertz or Guzman and a PTBNL. That PTBNL would have been Olson, if Hendry's idea of a deal with the O's was consummated. That would have been Roberts and Olson coming to the Cubs for Pie, Rich Hill, Fontenot & Harden. Olson would have been the PTBNL to the Padres. But the other option on that PTBNL (assuming no O's deal), would have been Hill and Pie. An extra player, if needed to complete the O's deal would have been Hoffpauir, who really needs to play 1b or get dealt to an AL team, where he could DH. Which way will it go? I don't really know. But if we start hearing about a Soriano deal with the Red Sox, we'll know, but Jim still wants Peavy. Peavy still wants the Cubs & Towers has NO OTHER CHOICE but to trade him to the Cubs...sooner or later!