Nothing Imminent On Peavy Deal

How much worse off would a team be signing a solid free agent starter at a lower price, while preserving the farm system?

Great Question, do the Cubs even have a notable farm system? Why not bet everything on 09'?

how bout Braves try to get Grienke or Cain with a slightly lesser package? Towers is clearly a dumbass.

i hate the padres =] this whole thing is just absolutely ridiculous, wren give up.... please, build for 2010 make the pads take the cubs inferior package!!!!

I wonder if the Yankees included Phil Hughes and/or Austin Jackson in their offer, because honestly if that was the case, then suddenly you may have a better centerpiece than any other. Hughes could be really good in Petco.

That article told us absolutely nothing. That was a worthless piece of journalism.

I'm amazed Yahoo posted it, as it has ZERO new information in it.

garlick, yahoo has posted alot of stupid stuff in the past... and jtd i hope that happens sooo bad, towers has been trying to milk both teams for everything he can possibly get, granted he should do this but not for this long, im praying the padres get fleeced here...

Tyler Flowers just had a 3 HR 7 RBI night in the AFL.

I'd like the Braves to move to whatever they were going to do before Peavy came on the market. Good luck KT on finding a better offer.

How much worse off would a team be signing a solid free agent starter at a lower price, while preserving the farm system?

Answer: not much

If the Braves could sign Burnett, Lowe, Dempster, or even Garland they'd be better off without Peavy and with Escobar. They can use pieces like Reyes, Morton, and Flowers to go after other trades and still be very competitive. Trading Escobar just leaves a huge hole.

Tyler Flowers is playing his way on to that so called untouchable list as we speak. Trade Kotchman and put this monster at first. We will worry about Freddy Freeman when hes ready.

FYI, Flowers just hit 3 HRs today to make it 7 so far in the AFL. He's becoming a very valuable trading chip.
And yeah, I think I'm done wanting Wren to float Esco out there. Pull him back and offer Flowers, Lilli, Gorkys, JoJo and maybe another pitching prospect and say do or die.

I'm a life long Braves fan, but guys, let's calm down about Flower's turning into an all-star because of his performance in the AFL. It's the AFL. The competition isn't even fully AAA level.

Flower's is an interesting prospect, but he's not a blue chipper because he hit 3 homers in one AFL game.

These wannabe GM's need a reality check.

I keep hearing the word prospect as if it means anything and people keep putting down Marshall.

Marshall isn't a slouch and he'd be great for Petco Park and he's actually proven something in MLB.

Does that make the Cubs' offer better than the Braves' offer? From what I've heard are involved in the deals, no, clearly not.

The reality is that neither team needs Peavy. The Braves would probably be fine if they went into rebuild mode and unless the Astros, Brewers, or Reds bake a huge splash the Cubs are going to win the Central for a third year by at least 10 games.

maynard, no one on this post has said anything about marshall, go to a cubs board or something. Towers better accept one of the cubs or braves offers sometime in the next week otherwise he is in trouble cause i doubt peavy wants to come back now

Bravesfan, as you know names have been thrown around here for a week now nonstop, so don't act all high and mighty all of the sudden.

The more I look at this... I don't even think I want Peavy for the cost anymore. I'd rather resign Dempster to a fair deal and put money into a left handed right fielder and be done with it.

If Hendry can fleece KT without Vitters name being dropped... I'm ok with it. Once his name comes up, just walk away. We dont need 3 #1 starters in Peavy, Zambrano and Harden... Let's spend our money intelligently please.

Braves don't need Peavy, they should play next year, than try to contend in 2010. They'll have Hudson back, Jurrjens, Hanson, maybe another good pitcher, another pitcher that is atleast half decent pitcher.

Of course they're all talk. The rumors have the Cubs sending over a pile of crap.

SoleMaverick-

The Cubs may not be "all talk". What Lou said only means that he doen't care if we get Peavy, and that he hasn't talked to Hendry about it. The article states that Piniella THINKS the Cubs are all talk. And if this deal will require Vitters then don't do it. Just get the lefty bat, and I'm happy.

Hey arod13:

What part of Peavy doesn't want anything to do with New York City don't you understand? LOL @ Arrogant Yankees Fans!

slashieboy,

you hope the yankees get him because he's not worth it?

he is trade bait without any known demands made by the padres, so how the hell do you know what he's worth?

yankees need to step up to the plate for peavy. they need him. he's the real deal.

peavy said he would go to the Yankees. Not the Red Sox

siskel_god,

In every year Marshall has pitched his ERA and WHIP have dropped, his BB/9 has dropped, and his K/9 has gone up.

His last year as a full time starter he posted a 3.92 ERA over 19 starts. I'd certainly not call that crap, the Braves would kill to get that production out of their 5 starter, so let's hold your attacks.

Also, you don't know the Cubs offer, so you can't say it's crap. However, if it's Vitters/Ceda/Marshall/Pie/Cedeno, that is not necessarily better than the Braves offer.

If you want to make an arguement try using stats and not being a dick about it, you'll get further.

arod13 if the Braves dont hear back from the Padres by Friday then they are going after Demspter, Lowe and Burnett. Wren said he has no interest in Sheets due to his injury problems.

"Why do you people even respond to arod13? He is worse than that "RED SOX DYNASTY"

thats a little extreme. at least arod says his piece and leaves.

I honestly would not be shocked if the Yanks land Peavy. Its always the underdog who gets the stud.

I'm hopin' he goes to the Cubs, seeing as how they'd stack up to the D-Backs as having the 2nd best 1,2 punch in the league.

Can one person tell me why the Cubs need Peavy? They already have one of the top 5 rotations in baseball. They already have one of the best teams in baseball. If Marshall is as good as Cubs fans say he is, why is he in trade talks? Why is Pie in trade talks? Hill had one good year, which was his rookie year, he has sucked ever since.

Can one person tell me why Braves should not have Peavy? Their rotation was crap in 2008, it will be crap in 2009, unless they get two good starters. One person wrote earlier today that Vitters would be the best players in the both deals, if added. Here's a clue, Escobar is the best player in both deals.

Can one person tell why the Yankees need Peavy? They already have Chamberlain, Wang, and will get some good starters in FA. Whoever says Cano is a good player, go jump off a bridge, because you are clueless.

"I am no Cubs fan but Vitters is the best player in the deals being talked about.

Escobar is ML ready but ceiling wise, Vitters is a beast."

Thank you! You should have seen the discussion on this earlier...

"If Marshall is as good as Cubs fans say he is, why is he in trade talks? Why is Pie in trade talks? Hill had one good year, which was his rookie year, he has sucked ever since."

Marshall or Marquis < Peavy

Replacing one with the other makes the team better...but I agree, Peavy is a luxury for the Cubs, not a need. However, we do lose Marquis and Harden after this year, and Lilly after next...so Hendry is thinking how he is going to replace those guys.

Okay the cubs guy that said marshall is good and then listed his stats, go look at chuck james basically the same. would you trade for either of those guys? honestly i wouldnt unless it was long relief

Bdlugz

I am pretty sure that if a manager is going to go out and say that he has not talked to his GM about his team trading for the priemer starter on the market and thinks that the rumors are all talk, that is a story. Especially with Lou who has always been very involved in personal on every team he has managed. I would think in a baseball community like this one the relationship between a manager and his GM would be obvious...

I don't think anybody seriously argued that Vitters has the highest ceiling among the all the players involved in the Peavy talks. I'd also say its a complete joke to call Vitters the best player involved in the Peavy talks. I'll give you that he's the best prospect, but you can't seriously argue that Vitters, a 19 year-old prospect who has never played full season professional baseball and is 3-4 years away from the majors, is a better player than Yunel Escobar, who already has 800+ AB in the majors with a .303/.373/.420 line, a 109 OPS+, and the 2nd best +/- defensively among SS last season. I guess you could knock him since he is "only" under team control for 5 more years, but that's about it.

The argument about who needs Peavy is dumb because every team could use him. He would be the ace on about half of the teams. The argument that is trying to be made is that the Cubs have other more pressing needs and could use there money and prospects on other needs.

Braves Padres near Peavy deal

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270335/11665079

"I don't think anybody seriously argued that Vitters has the highest ceiling among the all the players involved in the Peavy talks. I'd also say its a complete joke to call Vitters the best player involved in the Peavy talks. I'll give you that he's the best prospect, but you can't seriously argue that Vitters, a 19 year-old prospect who has never played full season professional baseball and is 3-4 years away from the majors, is a better player than Yunel Escobar, who already has 800+ AB in the majors with a .303/.373/.420 line, a 109 OPS+, and the 2nd best +/- defensively among SS last season. I guess you could knock him since he is "only" under team control for 5 more years, but that's about it."

You don't? Vitters ceiling is easily higher than Yunel's, its just that he is much further away from reaching it. Yunel is not an MVP calibur hitter, nor will he ever be, because its nothing his ceiling. Thats the ceiling of a hitter like Vitters.

By the way, a 109 OPS+ is highly inflated from last year. This year, he had a 103, barely above average, and saw all the important numbers regress.

"I would think in a baseball community like this one the relationship between a manager and his GM would be obvious..."

The relationship between Lou and the media is a whole other story. Do you think before they signed Soriano he would have said, yeah, we are going to his hotel room right now to try and sign him....no. Lou hates the media and isn't going to give them inside information like this...especially during a conference call for him winning manager of the year.

Aduncaroo,

You literally quoted the post where BraunHolio said "Vitters is the best player in the deals being talked about" and said finally someone agrees. I figured you had read the post you were quoting.

You also just make a sweeping blanket statement about Yunel's numbers regressing without actually bothering to look them up. Which of his important numbers regressed other than his batting average? His walk rate went up significantly (7.8% to 10.3%), while his strikeout rate dropped from 13.8% to 12.1%. I guess he also saw a slight drop in his ISO (.125 to .113). The important thing to take away from that is his approach at the plate significantly approved, while his BABIP dropped pretty drastically.

Obviously Escobar is not the type of guy who is ever going to win an MVP. He is a young SS who is a pretty good bet to develop into an ideal #2 hitter that OBPs between .380 and .390 with an OPS in the 800-830 range in his prime. If you buy Dewan's +/- numbers, he also has elite range at SS. A great fielding SS that can post those offensive numbers is incredibly valuable and he's completely locked up through his prime (26-30). I think I'll take that over the possibility that Vitters reaches his (admittedly tremendous) ceiling.