Dempster’s agent has recently stated that Ryan will wait mid-December or later to sign a new contract, around a month after free agents are allowed to sign. If Hendry is set on resigning Dempster and in the end isn’t able to that could leave him in a difficult situation. By that time most of the (quality) free agent pitchers that are in the Cubs’ price range could be off of the market and Hendry could be stuck without a replacement. If Peavy ends up on the Cubs that would definitely make it easier to deal with losing our best pitcher from last year, but it would still mean the Cubs lost out on signing a very good pitcher. So if that scenario was to play out we would have a rotation of Peavy, Zambrano, Lilly, Harden and Marquis, and that is assuming that Harden isn’t involved in the deal, and thats an assumption I feel comfortable making. Thats still a very, very good rotation, but imagine swapping out our worst, Marquis, for Dempster. So I propose the following idea. The Cubs give Dempster a two week window to respond to their offer and if he isn’t willing to sign before his aforementioned deadline the Cubs should go and see if they can sign a different pitcher, maybe Derek Lowe, AJ Burnett, Ben Sheets or Randy Johnson. Or, because they already would have a very good rotation with Peavy but without Dempster, Hendry could use that money on a reliever or an offensive player, or just decide not to spend that extra money at all. What I’m trying to say is that if Hendry does get Peavy he should be open to the idea of letting Dempster go, not a bad idea considering this is his first very good season as a starter.

is shoulder tendinitis? about the same that harden and zambrano will be healthy next year. Dempster wants atleast 13m/year for 5 years… he is 33. Penny is 30 and could be signed for perhaps as low as 8m/yr, realistically around 9.5/yr.

I’m willing to wager any bet that Dempster’s line this year will be equal or worse than Penny’s.

I highly doubt Dempster will have a sub 4 era this year.

Signing Lowe is iffy, too. He will command atleast 15m/yr and the guy is old.

Penny could be had on the cheap, which is really tempting. I don’t understand the Penny hate on this board… instead of saying, “no” perhaps explain your opinion.

enough said………..

We do what it takes to get peavy. Then we don’t have to worry about letting dempster walk (who I think will be a #3 type starter and overpaid). Then try to trade marquis if possible. If you can get rid of marquis, then signing lowe would create a damn good rotation.

zambrano, peavy, harden, lilly, lowe

if the cubs wont give wood a 3yr what chance does demp have of getting a 5yr.could be a case of a journeyman pitcher getting hot at the right time.great season but will he do it again?i do hope he comes back.but dont break the bank for him.

Which do you guys think is the biggest risk.

Brad Penny with a 3 year 24 million with incentives to bump it to 10 million a year

or

Ryan Dempster for 5 year 65 million with no incentive?

To me, I think the Brad Penny contract is better, and we could even add a mutual option for year 4 and 5 if that’s what the Cubs want to do

Also it has to be considered, if Ryan Dempster walks, we get 2 picks to boost our mediorce at best farm system!

are equally likely to get hurt. Demp has been consistently healthy for a couple years while Penny consistently gets hurt every year.

as if he is almost a sure lock to put up the 08’ numbers every year. and it’s comical that you guys are afraid of penny’s last season because he posted a 6 era… the Cubs signed dempster the season after he posted a 6.19 era season.

The “what have you done for me lately” attitude some of the members have on this board make me question how much you really know about baseball.