http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=j...o&type=lgns

Hope the Cubs don't get him...or they do and he goes Mike Hampton/Jaime Navarro/Barry Zito on them.

Sounds like Cubs are going to get him, as the Padres would rather have a surplus of mediocre pitchers than actually get future studs. I'm convinced that Hendry has incriminating evidence on some of these GMs.

He has to. This really pisses me off. He got aramis ramirez and lofton, for one year, for nothing. He got Derrek Lee, one of the best offensive 1bs in the national league for f-ing Hee Sop Choi. Also, the Rich Harden deal i found suspect. Even though hes not always been healthy for who they gave up that was a steal. Gallagher is trash and they would have given Murton away for a bag of bats and Patterson may just be corey 2.0. Id say the cubs are second only to the indians in the ultimate fleecing in trades.

Small market teams probably like helping the Cubs out because they know the more jerseys the Cubs sell, the more money they'll pocket through revenue sharing.

Honestly I have no idea what else they'd be thinking. There is not one player in the Cubs minor league system and only a couple players on their Major League team that I'd rather have than Yunel Escobar alone. Add a CF in Schaffer or Hernandez, who are again better than anything the Cubs would give up aside from maybe Vitters, and Atlanta is offering more on top of that? Oh, I forgot how AWESOME Sean Marshall is. And man, that Ronny Cedeno is gonna be so good he's going to make Cesar Izturis look like Rey Ordonez! And Felix Pie?!?! GTFO! That guy is gonna hit .240 all over this b****! Man, what a deal...

I just don't understand how Hendry makes other teams take his scrap heap for dynamite talent... Maybe not scrap heap, but Pie hasn't proved anything in 2 seasons, Marshall is nothing special and Ronny Cedeno just sucks. Ofcourse the main piece won't waive his no trade clause but im sure they'll just pick another prospect out of the hat.

Btw obviously i have no way to prove this but i trust my buddy and he tells me he has a cousin in cali that use to blaze with vitters in high school...funny story

I believe you. I'd get high too if my last name sounded like a brand of cat food. I bet it wasn't his weed though.

For what it's worth, just this past Thursday on a Madison radio interview, Keith Law was so angry about the reports that the Cubs were the favorites to get Peavy, he said it "made him embarrassed" to be in sports journalism. He said there was no way that what they were offering would be enough.

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/...dM%20hr%203.mp3

I'm not a KL fan, but fantastic rant. Hit the nail right on the head.

I agree it'll be highway robbery if they're able to land Peavy for that boatload of garbage they're serving up. But does anybody think Peavy really makes them a better team? I mean think about it. Instead of 97 maybe they win 98 games next year? And that's assuming they get the same exact years they got from guys like Dempster, Derosa and Soto. Certainly not a guarantee, especially Dempster. They still lack a CF and RF. Their 57527023705473 billion dollar LF is regressing every year. They've still got no left-handed hitters worth a damn. Their bullpen is suspect. And they might lose Wood. Now that I think about it, even with Peavy, they'll more than likely be worse next year.

Do the Scrubs even have the bullets it would take to really land Peavy?? I don't see how.

Not even close. But somehow they're the favorites in landing him.

If the Padres would like some mediocre pitchers for Peavy, we have plenty to give them. Just so he don't go to the Cubs.

B&B were talking about this last week. Their feeling was that all the Cubs stuff was just the Padres trying to get Atlanta to up their deal. If this is all it takes to get Peavy, I'd imagine he would have been traded by now.

Supposedly the Padres are looking for a ML pitcher, reliever, and prospects in the deal.

As the Cubs step up their pursuit of San Diego Padres ace Jake Peavy, they might be playing themselves out of the bidding for one of their top offseason priorities, Baltimore Orioles leadoff hitter Brian Roberts. Sources say the Padres are seeking a three-for-one or four-for-one swap for Peavy, getting a package of young talent that is expected to include at least one major-league-ready pitcher. That could cost the Cubs some of their best trading chips in their pursuit of Roberts.

Chicago Sun Times

Thanks Trib. Also the players they are offering are pretty much crap that cant even play for the Cubs, but they are the "favorites". And they have chased Roberts before and didnt have enough and traded away their best pitching chip in Gallagher, yet they have a chance again? Who is pumping cubbie koolaid into the water system?

The trib company loves the koolaid!

Call it all the Kool-Aid you want but Hendry has fleeced enough people in the past.

Although the Marlins got him pretty good on the Juan Pierre deal.

According to De Luca the Cubs are not willing to include Samardzija in a deal for Peavy. He names Marshall, Hart and Fontenot as the possible garbage heading to San Diego.

Teams like trading with the Cubs because they know it will not come back to bite them in the ass. They do not have to worry about someone they traded hoisting a WS trophy

So 2 fringe pen arms and a backup middle IF'er for probably one of the best if not the best pitcher in the NL. Hmmm, seems legit.

I think its more of Samardzija not willing to waive his NTC (how the hell did he get that!?)

Because the Cubs signed him as a reach pick and gave him negotiating leverage.

Hendry's MO is to sweep in where this is financial trouble. I imagine right now he's at Circuit City trying to buy a bunch of flatscreen tv's for the players' locker room to try and trick the fans in thinking Mark Cuban bought the team.

And with the owner of the Padres having to give half of everything to his wife in a divorce settlement, the Padres are definitely seeing some financial trouble right now.

Seriously though. Would we be able to get Peavy with a package of Richard, Broadway, Getz, and maybe one other fringer, because thats what the Cubs are offering.

But Peavy wants to stay in the NL /green

If the Cubs couldn't get Roberts for their best trading chips, there's no way they'll get Peavy for what's left over after the Harden trade. The Cubs are turning into the consistently-losing version of the Yankees -- they apparently can get any player they want for Kevin Foster and Ryne Sandberg's wife.

The problem with that theory is that the Padres operate differently than the majority of Major League organizations in that, their Front Office is pretty much run, and publically represented by three individuals. Kevin Towers, the “GM”, Sandy Alderson (CEO), And Paul Depodesta “a special assistant.” While each of these individuals is somewhat different in their approach one thing that is certain is that they are very smart. Another thing is that they are very financially savvy, (schooled in the Money ball approach), and have set their priories to finding financially accessible and opportune players. I find it difficult that they’d have the wool pulled over their eyes in terms of trading the best pitcher in the league. I’m fairly certain that even if money is an option for them they have their act together. Who knows maybe they see something in the Cubs spares (Hart, Marshall, ETC) that we don’t?

When you have to pare payroll in anticipation of selling the team, and you have a few offers on the table, you have to take the best offer. While we may think the Cubs offer is crap, the fact is that the Braves arent a trade partner because Peavy doesnt want Escobar coming to the Padres in the deal, and for whatever reason nobody else is being mentioned as interested(which really boggles my mind), so the cubs might look like the best one out there.
I also dont think the Padres are going to be bamboozled in any deal, and I respect Towers, but he may be under orders to take the best offer available. B&B were talking to someone(DeLuca or someone) and the rumor was that the Padres are trying to get payroll down to 40 million by January so they can start the process of selling the team.

Who knows, we all might wake up and Houston sweeps in and scoops him up for all we know.

If that is the case, then he ought to play for time. The Twins didn't get the offer for Santana that they accepted until much later in the process, and Peavy isn't earning money by doing offseason workouts. The Cubs's offer is so low that it really isn't going to go away or get worse with time. If they got up tomorrow and then said "That's it, time's up" and then a month from now the Padres called the Cubs back and said "Ok, we'll take it", the Cubs would be IDIOTS not to jump at it. But if he plays for time, it's entirely possible someone else will get in on the game.

The Pads pulled their 4 million dollar offer to Hoffman today. I don't know if its going around all of baseball, or the NL West is having huge financial problems, but it looks like the Dimondbacks, Rockies, and Padres are all having serious money issues.

thats the thing i dont get, you would think there would be a competitive team out there somewhere that could put together a better package than what we are hearing from the Cubs.

edit: does Peavys NTC encompass all teams?

Someone will, these things always just take time.

Last year it started off that the Twins wanted either Hughes + Kennedy from the Yankees or one of Ellsbury/Pedroia from the Red Sox along with other toys. They hung out and neither team met their price, but then another team got itself involved and came through with a multitude of other guys.

Patience, Mr. Towers, patience. You're smarter than this.

The Padres might be preparing to sell according to Rosenthal.

One would think the Braves offer allows the Padres the most flexibility.

If they get Escobar, Schaffer/Gorkys, and Reyes then they'll have a lot to play around with. They could probably turn around and deal Escobar for more 'spects if they wanted to. Greene should get them a halfway decent prospect although I think they'd be selling pretty low. Giles might be cheap too considering his NTC takes teams out of the mix.

If the Sox could unload a couple of outfielders I'd love to make a run at Giles if he'd agree to come here. He would give us a sweet lefty bat and really be the perfect type of fit for our lineup and ballpark. He's got good power, he walks a lot, he hits at home and on the road against both righties and lefties, he has enough speed to score in situations our current sluggers can't although he's not going to be stealing bases, plus he should be Type A after '09, and on top of all that, he could really be the perfect replacement for Jimmy after '09 both as a DH and as a lefty bat. I think his bat is still good for another 2-3 years given his health and power + plate discipline combination. Plus he could hit anywhere from 2-3 or 5-7 in a lineup. Please, please, make a run at Brian Giles. I think we'd be able to get him cheaper than a guy like him would normally go for because of the NTC. And he'll only make like $9M or something. Very affordable. Please do it Kenny.

Someone help my failing memory, but didn't KW try to get Giles a couple times a few years ago? Could he be one of those "Kenny eventually gets the guys he wants" players?

Kenny should have got Giles in the Ritchie trade. He sent enough to the Pirates that I asked, where's Brian Giles?

I noticed on NSBB.com that Cubs fans are still considering Rich Hill to be a pitching prospect. At what age does that label stop?

FWIW ESPN radio, both national and the local, said Cubs and Braves are still in Peavy discussions, but Pads are talking to Braves now and Cubs are trying to get a 3rd team involved. Looks like Pads were balking at the cubs package (The Score is saying Cubs and Padres looking for a 3rd team while ESPN is saying Braves and Pads are in advanced talks)

The Pads would either have to totally clean out the Cubs system, or the reports of the players being mentioned were bogus, which looks to be the most likely scenario. Keith Law hit it right on the head.

Cubs blogs are going nuts with a rumor that Peavy is being dealt for Theriot, Pie, and Marshall (and then Cubs would sign Furcal). Please, please don't be true!

That's some atrocious value for Jake Peavy.

That would be an great deal for the cubs and terrible for the Pads, which is why i dont believe it.

Some douche named Andy Dolan seemingly created that rumor out of thin air. He even mentions that it completely contradicts what Olney said this morning in his article.

wow...if hendry pulls that off i'll go nuts...taht would be 2 trades he was able to work out giving up quantity without quality for a stud SP in about 5 months time..

Its not really a rare occurance for cubs fans to start that crap. It was only a year ago that Rich Hill was going to bring them Brian Roberts.

B & B are doing a good recap of this situation right now

basically Boers source said the Braves aren't really intrigued by the Cubs offer and a lot of this is talk

also saying that Dempster is a long shot for the Cubs at this point and also might have trouble resigning Wood