2008-2009 Cubs Offseason Thread

[GYBE]

Interesting indeed. I'd do that deal in a heartbeat.

[The Sheik]

As would I, but I think that trade shows the hilarity of this "insider." There is no way we can do 3 for 1 even if one is an above average everyday player. There has to be a Wellington Castillo or Jose Ceda involved in this deal as well.

If I were the Padres even the Braves deal sans Escobar looks better then this.

Maybe Towers has that much of a man crush on Pie.

I also like keeping Ronny over Theriot. I still think he pans out someday.

[SportsWorld]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 13UPOQ.DTL

Sabean also was seen chatting with Craig Landis, who represents reliever Bobby Howry, who made between 72 and 84 appearances in each of the past four years. His ERA last year was 5.35, but it was 3.00 over the three previous seasons. Sabean seems confident he can redo his bullpen largely through free agency, saying, "There's enough depth there to think there should be enough to go around."

We could get 2 draft picks out of Bobby **** Howry

[hermes]

wow i figured we'd have to give up a pick just for someone to take him

[Posey H8er]

A Baconator for Howry would have been fine for Jimbo during the regular season but the other GMs felt Howry wasn't worth it.

[hermes]

looks like the Peavy deal is moving into Brian Roberts territory

link

There's a reason the Braves were surprised to learn that they were close to acquiring Padres right-hander Jake Peavy.

It's not true.

"Totally inaccurate," a Padres source with knowledge of the discussions told FOXSports.com on Thursday. "We are not close with anyone at this time."

also
link

While there was “some movement” in negotiations with the Atlanta Braves and a “much better than reported” offer from the Chicago Cubs, a source with knowledge of the Jake Peavy trade talks said Thursday morning that the San Diego Padres have not agreed to players in either proposal.

While Cubs manager Lou Piniella termed his team’s interest in Peavy as “just talk,” a source called the Cubs’ involvement “serious.” The Cubs are believed to have offered a package that includes outfielder Felix Pie, infielder Ronny Cedeno and starter Sean Marshall, but not Jeff Samardzija.

better deal, but not good enough to get anywhere

[SportsWorld]

http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sport ... Peavy.html

The Braves have ended negotiations with the San Diego Padres to obtain pitching ace Jake Peavy, according to Braves general manager Frank Wren.

Wren told the AJC he has informed Padres GM Kevin Towers of the decision. Wren said the team will continue to pursue starting pitching, it’s main offseason goal and could not wait on the Padres.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8795 ... weepstakes

The Cubs, the other team in the heaviest pursuit of Peavy, remain interested in acquiring him, sources say. The team is intent on adding one starting pitcher, whether it's trading for Peavy, re-signing Dempster as a free agent, or finding another pitcher. Left-hander Randy Johnson is one of the free-agent pitchers in whom the Cubs are interested."

Please no on Randy Johnson

[SportsWorld]

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/ ... 1#p2025971

Alright, I will give some details about some of the information from my “source”. I have thought about it and I don’t realistically see any of this information having coming back to hurt the Cubs chances in this trade. This is the majority of the information that I told to Raisin earlier. Some people have been really close with guesses (and now some people have been right on). I am in Puerto Rico and Jake Peavy was staying with a big group of Major Leaguers at my Resort as part of a Nike sponsored retreat. I have some pictures (actually none of Peavy though) but I can't upload them until I get home. I think all of the players including Peavy left last night. That was also the reason I wanted to wait until today, it wasn't that I was told anything would happen by then, it was that I knew he would no longer be a potential source and I didn't want things spreading into the media (however unlikely) and him to get upset with me or refuse to talk to me.

Anyway here are some of the details I was leaving out. Monday night I went into the casino about midnight here. Right as I walked in, one of the guys with the Nike group got up from the seat right next to Peavy at a blackjack table. So I went and sat down in it and played next to him for close to two hours. We talked quite a bit. The first thing I said when I sat down was "So are you a Cub yet?" He chuckled and said "Not yet, but I hope I will be real soon." I showed a little bit of surprise after some of the things I had read. We small talked about it for a little while, I told him I'm from the Chicago area and we'd love to have him, etc. He expressed several times how much he loves Chicago and has heard some great things about the organization/fans/etc. He also indicated that he is aware of what a huge deal it would be to win it all as a Cub.

I mentioned that the media seems to think the Braves are the front runner and he emphatically said "I am NOT going to Atlanta". Then less emphatically he said "I'll end up in Chicago." He then went into a little bit more detail about some of the information I had in my first post. He said his first choice was to be traded to the Dodgers because he just built a home in Southern California and would rather not move his family if he didn't have to.

He asked Towers to trade him there and he basically scoffed at trading him within the division (I'm happy, but I don't really understand the taboo nature of that, if it would be the best deal I'd jump on it personally).

Tuesday night I saw him again, I was pretty impressed because he called me by name. I asked him if he had any good news for me and he said nothing had changed.

Wednesday I saw him a couple of times and we said hello, but I never got to really talk to him. I did play blackjack at a table with one of the Nike representatives who is friends with Jake (and happens to be from Chicago too). We just talked about how great it is going to be to have Jake on the Cubs and he has been told the same things by Jake (that he is most likely going to end up with the Cubs and won't go to the Braves). Then I played Roulette next to Mrs. Peavy for a while and I was asking her about it some. I asked if she had a preference where he went and she said Jake wants to go to Chicago but it doesn’t really matter to her at all. She said "Anywhere is fine, I'm just along for the ride". Then she added "I don't want to go to Toronto though".

So there it is. The late night posts have been because PR is one hour ahead of Eastern Time and most of the time I am on between 2 and 3 AM here after the bars/casino are closed. To summarize, Jake wants to be in Chicago, it’s as simple as that. That is if he can’t stay in Southern California. The Angels thing scares me a little bit and surprises me because he didn’t mention them being a possibility at all, and I didn’t think to ask him. The reason I was insistent that he wouldn’t be traded to Atlanta is because he flat out told me more than one time that he won’t accept a trade there, and he was holding all the cards.

Unfortunately though, I think that was the end of my stint as an “insider”. See you around the boards,

Donnie

[The Sheik]

^^^^

right....

I had coffee with Todd Walker this morning. He started a carpentry business here in Utah. I asked him what he thought about the peavy situation and he agreed that Peavy would be traded. So there you go. Peavy will be traded somewhere, at some point this off season.

[SportsWorld]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... 8610.story

Could the Cubs wave goodbye to one power pitcher and say hello to another?

One day after severing ties with closer Kerry Wood, the Cubs began exploring Friday the possibility of signing left-hander Randy Johnson to a one-year deal.

General manager Jim Hendry still hopes to re-sign Ryan Dempster, but he's moving ahead with contingency plans in case Dempster leaves. The Cubs are said to have offered a four-year deal in the $50 million range, but Toronto, Atlanta and at least two other teams are looking at the veteran right-hander.

Johnson's agent, Alan Nero, told the Tribune on Friday that Johnson "would seem to be a perfect fit" for the Cubs.

[The Sheik]

Randy Johnson or Jason Marquis. Who do you want?

Lets say our magic off-season or whatever Jimbo is thinking in his head works out. Do you think that this team is better:

Zambrano
Peavy
Lilly
Harden
Johnson

Theriot
Lee
Abreu
Ramierez
Soriano
Soto
DeRo
Fukudome

[DanTown8587]

Randy Johnson? Makes some sense but he (and the rest of that staff) is so injury prone you have to carry six starters.

[Posey H8er]

Randy Johnson or Jason Marquis. Who do you want?

Lets say our magic off-season or whatever Jimbo is thinking in his head works out. Do you think that this team is better:

Zambrano
Peavy
Lilly
Harden
Johnson

Theriot
Lee
Abreu
Ramierez
Soriano
Soto
DeRo
Fukudome

I like that because it seems very logical. Although I think Raul Ibanez will be cheapest left handed bat out there that fills the Cubs' need.

[hermes]

Randy Johnson? Makes some sense but he (and the rest of that staff) is so injury prone you have to carry six starters.

thats where Marquis comes in

[ChronicKerr]

So Rich HIll won't be back next year?? We'd have 4 lefty starters if we got Johnson including Marshall and Hill.

[Posey H8er]

Rich Hill totally lost his stuff last year and it's uncertain if he will return to his old form. I liked Marshall as a 5th starter and he very well may be there this year but there is a chance he will be traded.

You have 3 definite starters right now. Harden, Zambrano, and Lilly. Dempster's decision will come within the next 48 hours according to Bruce Levine. If Dempster signs most likely the Cubs will not go after Peavy, but I would like to go after Johnson for a cheap 1 year deal if possible.

[The Sheik]

The Jake Peavy trade derby is now down to one viable team, according to GM Kevin Towers.

“It's really come down to one club now – the Cubs. It's going to take awhile. They have a couple of players to pick from that we are interested in but anything with them is going to potentially involve a third team or fourth team. We're focusing only on them.”

Towers said his conversations with the Yankees “were not substantial” and that he told Yankees GM Brian Cashman “until I get the go-ahead from Jake, I'm not going to” explore trade options with Cashman.

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... for_peavy/

anybody else worried this deal is gonna probably end up involving Vitters?

[hermes]

wooo its down to us

check back in a month to see if any progress has been made

[SportsWorld]

Check back in July.

[Posey H8er]

What was the range that some experts predicted the Cubs payroll would be in 2009? Around 145 or 150 million? With Dempster's probable $ 13 million per year it should now be higher than 124 million.