Braves continue to dig a deeper hole where they have old pitchers with big salaries. They were at $102M last year but appear to be at $80M or so right now, they appear to have lost money last year without the inclusion of their broadcast revenues which I think represented about $35M

Good also it takes the Peavy sweepstakes back to one bidder.

They have room this year, barely…but room nonetheless, it is the new owner’s sign off of moving the payroll to $150M next year that is the question.

But I do know they don’t have room for Peavy at this time.

He’s a blogger. Just because he runs a blog does not make him right or give him any more insight to the situation than anyone else.

I ran Ivy’s numbers too. And with the players going back to SD, even with Peavy’s $11.5M salary and $1M insurance, I have the Cubs at just over $141M.

…and he knows the parameters that can change what he can spend and when.

Just like with the Bradley deal, we knew the Cubs were interested but no one knew until just the other day that Hendry snuck out of the GM meetings (not Winter meetings) to meet with Bradley and told him if he could hold the phone for a couple months, we’ll be able to swing a deal.

With Peavy, there’s knowledge on each side what’s going on with the other side. They’ve talked, plenty of times. Timing counts, and counts a lot. I’m not saying this will happen, but I don’t think anyone here can say 100% for sure it won’t happen.

yes they are a gamble but in today’s market and the player’s ability level, they are almost a steal. Not to mention they are only 1 yr deals. Dont forget saito either. they did a pretty darn good job IMO.

calculated risks, with tons of upside, and limited downside.

I would have preferred that they had reached a bit, and brought Lowe back there, but it’s hard to complain about those moves as a Plan B.

My point was that the Cubs were wise in not signing Lowe for anywhere near the money and years that he got with the Braves. IMHO, there are better options out there, given the money and contract length, for this season and next. A one or two year deal, again IMHO, to a Sheets or Wolf puts the Cubs in a better position in the long run.

Also, wanted to clarify, I am against signing anyone else if it ends the Cubs chances of trading for Peavy. Peavy’s age and talent are worth any gamble that his contract puts a team into, IMHO.

is his ability to strike out batters. Lowe is a ground ball pitcher and requires a good defense to be on the field for him to be effective. There’s also more “luck” involved with balls put into play. A strikeout pitcher can record outs all by himself.

But they do show that the pitcher really is dominating, and not just by the numbers. It shows that the people around the game believe so also. I’m not saying here that Peavy is worth everything that the Cubs have to offer, simply that he is a better option than Lowe

It wasn’t yet. Ok, good to know

Atlanta has been striking out quite a bit this offseason on FAs. Maybe they felt like they needed to make a statement that their club was still relevant in the FA market. We saw the same thing with Soriano a few years ago.

and he states this: The Braves paid $60MM for Derek Lowe, though no one else made a comparable offer. This is a testament to Scott Boras (and perhaps the Braves’ desperation), though Boras has more challenging work ahead in Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek.

I found this on MLBTR just now with the source being Rosenthal himself.