Jake Peavy Rumors: Friday

I'm not taking anything away from the kid. He is good, but he is way too young to even speculate as best of his class.

Sounds like a mind game the Padres are playing to try and get hanson. I read the Padres had lukewarm interest in Schafer and now Peavy wants Escobar as his SS. Give them 5 pitchers not named Hanson and get it done.

Without the Shark is the Cubs offer any where near the Braves?

Sorry guys, I'm just in that kinda mood. Must be Friday...

The idea that the Cubs can still get Peavy without including Samardzija and or Fontenot is ludacris. You can say all you want about throwing Harden in, but correct me if I'm wrong but he only has one year. The Pads are gonna want a heckuva lot more than a rental for A 2007 Cy Young winner.

My guess is the Braves come through in the end, with Escobar, Heyward and a bright looking pitcher or two.

One thing I think most people are forgetting with regards to Peavy complaining about teams like Atlanta not having enough fire power w/out Escobar, or not wanting to go to the AL, and all the other things he's requiring is that ... He has a no trade clause! He doesn't have to go anywhere if he doesn't want because he, along w/ the Padres, signed a contract knowing this.

Kobe Bryant did the same thing when the Lakers were trying to trade him to the Bulls ... he said that if the Bulls traded Luol Deng as part of the deal, he would veto the deal (granted he, along with the rest of us, didn't realize Deng would be the most inconsistent player in the NBA...). That's part of the power of having a no trade clause.

If the Padres goal is to drop salary and get younger talent in return, trading Peavy + the $60mil he is owed for the likes of the Shark, Cedeno, Marshall and Pie sounds like a pretty good deal for both teams (considering none of them are probably 25, and Shark and Pie have a lot of upside potential).

The Padres save a ton of money and get young talent, and the Cubs get an Ace to either replace Dempster, or to add incredible depth ... Seriously, a starting rotation of Peavy, Zambrano, Lilly, Harden, and Marquis (Assuming this deal would mean Dempster is gone) would be the best in the league hands down.

Cook,

He batted .200 the last two years in HS eh? Not according to this prospect report:
Vitters’ has been on the radar of most scouts the past two years, as a Junior he was part of a long running legacy at a Cypress High School, where he followed his brother [Christian] who was drafted by the A’s last year and is now in Low A Kane County. Before Christian, the SS for Cypress was recently traded Cub prospect Scott Moore. Still he really exploded on the scene in 2007. He absolutely flourished in all major high school events such as the Area Code game, the World Wood Bat Championship, the Aflac Classic, and the Cape Cod Classic. In 2006 as a junior, he posted a .352 (31/88) with 7 2B, 9 HR, 32 RBI while impressing scouts with bat speed and hand-eye coordination. This year as a senior, Josh battled a case of pneumonia early in the high school season yet still ended up batting .371 (26/70) with 6 2B, 1 3B, 8 hrs, 25 RBI.

"i played against vitters in high school.... was not that good"

What's the point?

i still would like to bring up the point that the cubs don't have the young starting pitching that the padres want

The Angels should just pony up Brandon Wood, Howie Kendrick, Reggie Willits, and Nick Adenhart for Peavy and Khalil Greene, as well as re-signing Tex.
Peavy, Lackey, Saunders, Santana, and Weaver would be sick. And by sending the package to the AL they won't have it bite them in the backside anytime soon, and then if they establish themselves, they could always sign them.

I hope the Cubs acquire Peavy, so i can laugh even harder when the Cubs choke in the playoff

jtd

The Cubs dont' have a pitcher in all of their minor league system including Sean Marshall who similar to Charlie Morton? That's pretty funny.

Every team in MLB has at least a few potential 4-5 pitchers hanging around in their minor leagues.

I think we all know if Atlanta wants this deal, they can make it happen. That is why I agree with Miles it is 50/50 for the Cubs.

Personally, I would like to see the Cubs get Peavy, resign Dempster at 4 yrs. and resign Wood. I know that is asking for a lot. The budget would be out of whack. Also, Peavy would have to get a new deal, although that might happen after '09 when some Cub contracts are done. Ofcourse, who goes to SD or a 3 way would remain to be seen. But if they could get Wood back for the right dollars and years, that would really help the back end. I just can't think of Woody as say a Met.

I could even live with a lesser RF situation (not too horrible) if my above pitching situation were to fall into place.

All this Peavy talk almost makes you forget we still need a lead off guy, LH RF and LH BP arm.

I think the Braves have offered their last offer. I don't think it is fluid like the Cubs. Braves offer is:

Yunel Escobar, Gorkys Hernandez and Charlie Morton.

mmontice you really must not know the braves system at all. The Cubs best pitching prospect would rank about 6 in the braves system. After Hanson they have Rohrbough, Delgado, Medlen, Locke. The 4 mentioned could all be included in the deal and it is rumored that the Padres really like Locke.

I still believe that Peavy is pushing for Chicago. He wants to be on a winner next year. This is just my opinion. I think in the background he is telling Towers where he really wants to go.

jtd, don't forget about Diamond and Teheran.

I think the Padres probably requested Gorkys over Schfar since he has a higher ceiling overall. Schafer will have trouble in the bigs just like Brandon Jones did I can almost garuntee. Hitters just don't progress well in the Braves farm unless they have some real talent.

Unquestionably the Braves have to still be the favorite but it seems that everyone is ignoring the fact that Morton is incredibly young and just because he isn't Price or Papelbon dosen't mean he won't delevop into an above average pitcher. He has the stuff to be.

As a Braves fan I would much rather keep Schafer than Gorkys. It is really a toss up who will end up being better and Schafer can help us this year.

Does the combination of Johnson and Lillibridge have the same value together as Yunel? Because if so, I think a deal should be centered around those two and Gorkys Hernandez. Of course the Padres would also want some pitching, so I'd add Morton or Reyes in there as well a lower level pitching prospect (Medlin, Locke).

Anyone disagree?

I have said it before. Morton is not a bad pitcher nor is Marshall. But they are a little lower than the Padres are looking for. They want someone projected to be a solid three. And I still do not understand the Gorkys thing, we have Hunter who is the same age, same level, and same numbers as Gorky.

I agree Gorkys does not make since for the Pads because they have several OF prospects at his level...I would imagine its Schfar or bust.

Bravesfan89, Towers has already come out and said that Matt Antonelli is our 2B of the future and will more than likely start this season with the Padres. So Kelly Johnson does not have the same pull on SD as Escobar does, mainly cause we are also shopping Greene. Then you add it that KJ is arb eligible and it makes it unlikely.

I could see the Padres maybe changing on Escobar and taking Lilibridge if the Braves were willing to give up more higher end pitching. But we wont be taking KJ.

I would hope the Padres would pass on Gorkys as they have Cedric Hunter, and Gorkys looks like the second coming of Freddy Guzman. The deal listed from the Braves needs just to have one of the lower level pitchers added and I would think the Padres would take it.

Also from all that I have read Vitters has lost some of his luster since being drafted so trying to say he is going to be elite because he was viewed as the top hitter in the draft does not account for the last year and a half. Moustakas, Heyward, Wieters, etc are viewed as better prospects currently then Vitters and they are from the same draft class.

jtd,

You must really not know the Cubs system, as Marshall is only 1 year older than Morton.

"Also from all that I have read Vitters has lost some of his luster since being drafted so trying to say he is going to be elite because he was viewed as the top hitter in the draft does not account for the last year and a half."

Vitters battled injury right away, and thats the only reason he lost any value. As soon as he came back, he tore it up immediately and gained his value right back. For this reason, he isn't quite as highly regarded as Wieters or Heyward...but he has done nothing to diminish his value.

Can people please stop throwing around the word elite with such absoluteness when referring to 18-20 year old prospects with <=2 years of low-level minor league experience? Who knows how these guys will turn out.

This runs into what I have been saying all day. People can throw in so-called high risk, high reward young prospects into a trade, but if I'm Kevin Towers, I want the sure thing, or the closest to it.

Telling me over and over again that the Braves have good arms that have never pitched above A level ball would not interest me if I am trading away one of the best pitchers in baseball.

For example, Veal tore it up in the low level minor leagues only to hit a roadblock at AA. This stuff happens. Pie did well in the minor leagues before he hit a roadblock in the MLB.

Towers does not want to roll the dice here.

Im curious to have a Cubs fan answer this. Not because I hate the Cubs or anything but if Marshall, Cedeno and Pie are the highly touted prospects that they are claimed to be, why is it that they seem to be in every deal that Cubs fans throw out there?

I don't think many people have called them "highly touted". Rather they are the best the Cubs have to offer.

The good news is that all this should be over with by December 7

The Cubs should trade Derreck Lee, Pie, Marshall, and a minor leaguer for Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez.

i hope your joking

Lil_eddie, why so much?

I think we can get the package of peavy and gonzalez for Lee, Pie and Hill.

Hill was supposed to be a #2... right????

Okay... nothing to see here folks, keep moving on.

Its funny because last year Hill, Marshall, and Pie would have been more than enough to get Peavy

"Its funny because last year Hill, Marshall, and Pie would have been more than enough to get Peavy"

Not completely sure of that...he was coming off a Cy Young and had a very, very nice looking contract.

ok soo im not even ganna bother commenting on lil eddie cus well lets be honest no one who even somewhat follows baseball would even consider that a possibility second off one of the main reasons i jus cant see this cubs package being even close to what the braves are offering is i dont think i have heard one cubs fan even weary of the commented deals. Everyone has been all for trading cedeno,pie,marshal,veal, even vitters, not tomention it seems like alot of u cub fans wouldnt even mind throwing in jeff samardza. There is something wrong with this picture if these guys are sooo good arent u cubs fans a lil scared of giving all of them away for one pitcher???

"Hill was also coming off of a very good first season, Pie was a highly thought of prospect, Marshall was highly thought of"

Hill you are right about, but Pie didn't really get a fair shot at anything this year and Marshall did absolutely nothing to diminish his value...

peavy...harden...dempster...cc...it doesnt matter, YOURE STILL CURSED; you will win 90+ games with a stacked lineup on paper and then choke in the playoffs, again

One RF option is gone. SD picked up Giles and his option.

DOB has a new blog up entitles:

"Pondering a Jake for Yunel, Gorkys and Charlie...."

He also adds that the Braves included a lesser prospect, which is actually a big deal if that lesser prospect in Cole Rohrbough or Jeff Locke. Here is the link:

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/entries/2008/11/07/pondering_peavy.html

This, along with what MLB.com's Mark Bowman said, makes me think that the Braves offered Gorkys and aren't offering Schafer. Or that the Padres don't like Schafer.

Pads want Escobar...
But I don't think the Padres will settle for Reyes, Escobar, Hernandez I think they will want prospect pitchers.

I wonder if Jake and Axelrod are just coming out with the info that they dont want Braves to be damaged by trading Escobar to get Khalil Greene traded to them or maybe by the asking of Kevin Towers to get the Braves to remove Escobar for Lilibride and then throw in a Tommy Hanson whom the Padres covet

BravesRed, you lost me at "Gotay". If the Braves traded KJ, there's no reason to platoon Prado with Gotay (who has been outrighted, btw).

Here's my plan for the Braves:

Trade Escobar, Morton/Reyes, Hernandez, and Locke to SD for Peavy;

Trade KJ to St. Louis for Ludwick;

Trade a good reliever (gonzalez, moylan), plus someone from among Brandon Jones, Cole Rohrbough, Tyler Flowers, etc... good prospects, not junk) to Milwaukee for J.J. Hardy.

Hardy and Prado up the middle is fine. Ludwick in LF solves the power OF problem. Peavy solves the ace problem; and you've got plenty of money left over to fill in the rotation/bullpen with free agents.

Doubt it'll happen, but makes sense to me.

SuperChargers,

I think the Padres realize at this point that Hanson is completely untouchable. I think the Braves are comfortable enough with their evaluation of Hanson that they wouldn't deal him straight up for Peavy.

If you read the David O'Brien blog post linked above (he's the Braves beat writer) he was in contact with Axelrod and was assured that the mention of Escobar was only an example he was giving and not an actual statement on Peavy's willingness to accept a trade to Atlanta if Escobar were moved in return.

Also, I don't think the Braves current offer is just Escobar, Reyes/Morton, and Hernandez. There is a fourth player involved, almost certainly a pitching prospect.

I would say that fourth guy is Locke

The fact that both Gorkys and Hunter are a couple of years away allows you to develop them both still.

One could fail, then you have another anyway. If they both hit then you could spin on to someone else to fill another need.

On the Cubs offer, if Cubs fans actually believe it's true about people like Pie and Cedeno "just needing time", why don't the Braves just remove Escobar and replace him with Brandon Jones and Lillibridge? They're both AAAA players and just need the at bats to develop too.

I don't see how a Hernandez, Morton, Jones, Lillibridge, Locke deal is worse that the Cubs one.

Obviously, Towers has stated he wants quality, hence Escobar's inclusion, the Cubs offer doesn't seem in the same ballpark as it is.

Baseball Prospectus came out with their top 11 minor league prospect rankings for the Braves today. Here is how they referred to Morton and Reyes.

"The Braves have produced their share of young talent of late, but much of it has been of the fifth starter or swing-man type on the mound (Jo-Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton), and bench players in the field (Gregor Blanco, Martin Prado)."

Can we seriously please end the talk now of having Reyes and Morton being a large part of this deal.

Just as Marshall is shot down be every non-Cubs fan out there, can Braves fans please, if you won't listen to people on this list, at least listen to Baseball Prospectus?

In case you're interested, the list is as follows.

Five-Star Prospects
1. Jason Heyward, OF
2. Tommy Hanson, RHP
Four-Star Prospects
3. Jordan Schafer, CF
4. Gorkys Hernandez, CF
5. Freddie Freeman, 1B
Three-Star Prospects
6. Julio Teheran, RHP
7. Cole Rohrbough, LHP
8. Tyler Flowers, C
9. Randall Delgado, RHP
10. Brandon Hicks, SS
Two-Star Prospects
11. Kris Medlen, RHP

Guys like Locke didn't make it in either.

Here is the stat that matters to Cubs fans. Jake Peavy's career postseason ERA = 12.10
For a team that hasn't won a World Series in 100 years, do you really want a SP who has a history of sucking in the clutch.

NickC it does matter where they field, since CF is a premium defensive position. And I would love to see Huffman (who the team doesnt believe is ready for AAA just yet, they would like to start him at AA) and Kulbacki.

LF: Huffman (at least to begin)
CF: Hunter
RF: Kulbacki

All three are some of our better outfielders in the system. Like i said, they wanted a near ready CF in those reports, and that changed to middle infielders. So no, it doesnt change my mind on it, cause i still dont see the point, if replace Gorky will allow the Padres to get a larger need, aka SP, either left-handed or power arms.

One thing that Cub fans need to understand, if the Cubs some how get Peavy, Dempster WILL NOT BE with the Cubs. He will be with another team that is DUMB enough to give this guy more than 4 Yrs, and 65 to 70 million. Dempster is a good pitcher that probably had his best season in 6 years! He can only go down, he is not going to win 17 games next year!! 1-Peavy 2-Zambrano 3-Lilly 4- Harden ? Harden

I should add to that, since that sounds vague. Huffman the team believe needs more time to develop, not a bad thing for a player drafted out of college who is only 23 years old. Plus Hunter and Kulbacki who both were very good at high A. Huffman is also struggling in AFL at the moment, which is giving more weight that he is staying at AA next year.

I still have to ask who the headliner of that deal is. Cedeno has had one okay season, Pie is out of options and hasn't proven much in the majors, Marshall has been okay but he should have started all year whether with the cubs or at AAA Hart is an okay prospect but is climbing the age ladder and i'm not sure if he's a starter or a reliever, Veal hit a roadblock at AA this year. None of those guys are impressive.