If DeRosa is included, he adds a lot of heft. Or Ted Lilly. Or even Rich Harden.

previous articles mentioned Cubs’ pitching prospects farther away from the majors. Anyone want to speculate?

Suppose that Towers still likes Pie, and he would like Cedeño thrown in as a stop-gap SS. Perhaps the Cubs have a young pitcher in the lower minors that they really like. (Maybe Josh has some ideas?)

In order for the Cubs’ total package to match the Braves’, the Cubs would have to provide either 2 more B-level prospects, or…

the ML player who could provide them…

If the Dads covet someone in the Twins or Indians system, they could ask for DeRo, who could be spun to the Twins or Indians for those prospects; both teams need IFs. Ditto if (for some strange reason), the Dodgers lost Manny and wanted to replace him with Sori, or if the Giants like LBR enough to spin a pitching prospect or two.

My point is that the Dads could have been given a list of current Cubs who are on the table. They could do the legwork on the “flip” part of the trade, then execute two 2-team trades in quick succession.

Maybe the thinking is improving the pitching is the most effective way to take the pressure off the offense, particularly in the postseason.

I do wonder if a another team will swoop in and make an overwhelming offer to the Padres like the Tigers did last year with the Marlins.

he will likely be significantly cheaper in 2009 than Dempster.

If the Cubs can get better and younger at SP then it seems like a good move to me.

Dempster seems like a quality guy. He’ll help the Cubs or someone else.

We COULD match a Brave offer but it would be a matter of how much it costs us.

If Harden is in this deal, like Ive said before, it isn’t worth it because I don’t know that there would be that much more of a difference between a healthy Peavy and a healthy Harden in our rotation.

YEAH, I’m greedy but I hope it’s Harden playing alongside Peavy or NO DEAL, Howie.

No team including the Yankees and Red Sox spend that kind of money for 5 starters.

secretly thinks pie can be the lefty lou craves, he’s just not gonna tell lou.

than Peavy-Demp

I don’t suspect this is for a 2009 run. If they move Johnson for something, that is another piece. They have some good prospects as well so maybe in a few years they can compete again.

They strike me as the kind of team that could do what Minnesota and the Southsiders did this year.

but it is by no means certain and the fact that the Cubs are getting so much press here is a sign that we remain a possibility.

That won’t happen. That’s over 40% of their salary in starting pitching.

 The Cubs can’t tie up all their off season money on the starting rotation. The do have other needs.

…that they’re not mutually exclusive. On the other hand, multiple sources claim that this could cause the Cubs to pass on Wood.

It’s against the CBA

The more this goes on, the more I am starting to think we might get him, but I will still refuse to buy it until I hear the official announcement.

makes me want, even more, to trade Ted Lilly to Atlanta for Escobar. Then Peavy can have Escobar on his team and neither be a Brave or a Padre.

They have Chase Headley, but I really like Samardzija, hes exciting to watch. I do think he can be a good starting pitcher and he’s obviously a good draw and/or fan favorite, so itd be said to see him go.

Samardzija is a tough one to figure out though, I like him and like a lot of us,most of our excitement probably has to do with the fact that he could easily be playing in the NFL, but “we got him”….he’s our Bo Jackson I suppose…..so sometimes I wonder how much of him is just Notre Dame two sport star hype, but he has the size and the tools to be successful, not Peavy successful, but we’re not trading for a 26 year old Peavy either.

So like you said, I hope Hendry is thinking long term on this one, but if they can get him w/o Shark….sweet.

That said, trading Samardzija, Marshall, Cedeno, and Pie for Peavy sounds realistic if you believe Samardzija is a top pitching prospect. Where would that leave the Cubs? Well, our rotation would be
Harden
Peavy
Zambrano
Lilly
Marquis
Gaudin (swing)

And our ‘pen would be significantly weaker, missing Marshall and the guy people expect to slide into Marmol’s role if Wood walks.

That would suggest to me that we would refocus our attention on Wood, as opposed to Dempster.

We would also need to find a backup or starting SS. And if Marshall is traded, you can’t trade Lilly without having a LHless rotation.

The Padres, meanwhile, get two former top 100 prospects for skill positions and two pitchers with decent upside, but also with significant downside.

 That not only would his trade value go down after this season, primarily because of his 2010 contract, atleast the team that winds up with him this year, will get somewhat of a bargain for atleast 1 year but what happens if Peavy get’s hurt next season? Not all that far fetched considering he is coming off of an injury plagued season.

 He has more value this year than next.

Besides, everyone saw what happened to Minnesota last year when they dragged things out. They ended up with a deal worse than they could have gotten at the beginning of negotiations. This will be done a lot closer to Thanksgiving than Valentine’s Day.

…and gone over proposed deals with the teams. This is a lot farther along than I think you understand.

(Really the UT.)

The subject of Escobar came up Thursday morning between Peavy and his agent, Barry Axelrod. Less than 12 hours earlier, Axelrod had met with Padres General Manager Kevin Towers to get an update on trade talks that had taken place the previous three days at the GM meetings in Dana Point.

"Escobar’s a pretty good player," Axelrod said. "To be honest, Jake and I have said, ‘If that kind of trade gets made, who plays short for them?’"

…

"One of the things we will want to look at some point is, ‘Who are you giving up? How much are you weakening your team to make this deal?’" Axelrod said. "If Team X trades three starting pitchers and a starting shortstop to get Jake Peavy, that lessens their chance of being a successful team."

That’s really all this comes down to. The information sharing is a consequence of his dubious bargaining position – everyone knows there’s only 2 horses in this race (Chicago and Atlanta), that he has to trade him now before free agency starts (before the Cubs and Braves hit their yearly payroll limits by filling up their needs via free agency).

You keep saying (over and over and over) that they can wait til spring training if they need to (they can’t) and that this is just a ploy by the Cubs. It’s likely the other way around – I think the Padres are letting Cubs stay in this mainly to try and drive up the Braves offer – the Padres really want Tommy Hansen thrown in this deal.

I don’t think the Cubs odds are great of pulling this off, but your shrill harping that this is all some huge elaborate hoax with no chance of happening is pretty silly.

An anomaly or a trend? Who knows but I’d at least listen to offers.

I was hoping to trade him for Palin, Rush, and a Conservative To Be Named Later. :P

See here.

On the other side, there’s a reason the Braves are looking to move a cheap, young SS who put up a nice OBP and developed a good defensive reputation. I’ve heard there are personality issues.

Schafer’s scouting report just came out from Kevin Goldstien at BP ($$$). He’s their 3rd rated prospect.

The Good: Schafer’s tools rate as average or above across the board. He’s a patient hitter with a quick, quiet swing and at least average power. He’s a 60 runner and an even better center fielder because of his outstanding instincts, with one scout adding, “I don’t think I ever saw him break wrong on a ball.” His arm is another weapon due to both its strength and accuracy.
The Bad: Schafer struggled against left-handers in 2008, who found success both in busting him inside and getting him to chase good breaking balls. The suspension seemed to hang over his head much of the year; he was clearly pressing at times, and his body language left many wondering if he was having any fun out there.
Perfect World Projection: An everyday star-level center fielder who annually hits .300 with 20/20 power/speed numbers.
Glass Half Empty: He turns out to be a one-sided star in desperate need of a platoon partner, a la Ray Lankford.

… and Fontenot was not connected to this trade.

Can we get a link to that? I was under the impression it wasn’t a full no trade clause. Moreover, I don’t think Samardzija would use it. I think he’d like the opportunity to start. Miles doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

… with offer.

… although the reality is that Woody likely wouldn’t get bites for a 3+ year term contract.

I’d love to get a top-of-the-order guy, along with a left bopper. But at what cost while staying around $150M? After Peavy and Dempster, there’s very little left. There’s some wiggle room after you push Marquis…

If you don’t, turn to page 38.

Seems like Hendry is pretty tight with a lot of GMs, which can really help.

Towers is pushing the Braves to up their offer. If they do, they win.

 If for some reason those prospects don’t pan out for the Pads or are even worse total busts, the Padres would be reminded by their Rival Dodgers, for the next however many years Peavy would be under contract. That wouldn’t be good and that’s why it’s so very rare for Divisional rivals to trade with eachother and even rarier is 2 Divisional rivals to reach a deal with such a talent as Peavy. I just don’t see the Dodgers being any factor in this other than just as leverage to use against other teams.

He has a sweet swing, very sweet. Furthermore, that sweet swing is LH.

For someone who has such a sweet swing, he is very streaky. I don’t understand, because usually, guys with nice, compact swings are more consistent.

Although the Braves projected him for 25 HR power, his career high is 16. Turner Field is a pitcher’s yard, but not overly so. He is only 26, though, so may improve his power numbers in the next few years.

His defense at 2B has improved a great deal, but he is not a gold glover. He has slightly better range than DeRo, but a much weaker arm. (Before TJ surgery, he had a below average SS arm; better than Riot, but not really good enough.) He is certainly not a liability at 2B, and he does OK in LF too.

He started 2008 as the Braves’ leadoff hitter, and did miserably (.328 OBP). He was moved to the #2 spot, and didn’t do any better (.322 OBP). He thrived when he was dropped lower in the order.

So, he represents a LHB who isn’t a leadoff hitter and isn’t a middle of the order hitter. Since Dome will likely start the season batting 7th or 8th, you might end up with LHBs back-to-back at the bottom of the order — which isn’t the idea behind the exercise. Add to that the move of DeRo (or KJ) to RF, and you don’t have room for your LH power bat.

So, I don’t see how he helps, and the Braves will have enough market for him (if they decide to trade him) that they can get more for him than we should give up. The Mets have a gaping hole (actually, a sucking chest wound) at 2B; the Cubs don’t.

Ugh.