Olney On Mulder, Benson, Peavy, David Wells

and quick...

I would love to see Peavy in Cubbie blue before pitchers & catcher report on the 13th.

What is the benefit of formally retiring?

Anna Benson is the one who dressed provocatively at a Christmas party thrown by the Mets several years back that little kids were at. Really classy lady.

Wow I just googled her. I remember now. Wow Tim can add that I will also be going to watch Kris Benson for the reason maybe his wife will be there

I would imagine that most, if not all, of Benson's audience would only be interested in offering him a minor league deal with a spring training invite.

Anna Benson she's a former stripper that you can find plenty of pics of on the internet.

Would you like to see Peavy in blue if it costs Vitters?

Yes, Peavy will be a Cub.

And yes, the Cubs will soon regret the trade (Vitters, Olson, Stevens, Cedeno plus one more).

Yes I believe Peavy is worth more then Vitters. Is there any chance of keeping Vitters in a trade for Peavy. I have read in a few different sources that it could be possible although I dont believe it is. Especially since Vitters is the #14 prospect in baseball and is the #1 3rd baseman prospect in baseball according to Keith Law from ESPN.

Hope Mulder bounces back. I always liked him when he was on the A's. Would love to see my dodgers take a chance on him.

uww1,

While I like Law's rankings, he has Hanson #9 overall and #4 among pitchers, you also have to take them with a grain of salt because he'll be the first person to tell you he's not a professional scout. As he mentions in the write up as well, Vitters still needs to make significant improvements in his approach or his ceiling will start dropping. Next year is going to tell us a lot about Vitters and whether or not he's going to start making the necessary adjustments.

As for the Cubs getting a Peavy deal done, I think it really depends on what they're willing to give up now. If there offer is only going to be Vitters, Olson, Stevens, Cedeno, and one more, that last guy is probably going to have to a fairly valuable piece. Something along the lines of one of the Cubs really young SS prospects like Lee, Castro, or Lake. Even then that deal might still be iffy.

I don't think the Padres are in nearly as much of a rush to deal Peavy as Cubs fans would like to believe. Unless Giles has flatly said he won't approve a trade anywhere, I think they'll attempt to wait out the Cubs on Peavy knowing they can deal Giles to get where they want payroll wise.

"Unless Giles has flatly said he won't approve a trade anywhere"

I'm pretty sure that this is a real possibility. Giles has said he doesn't want to go anywhere, and they have tried to trade him before to a winning team.

I agree with Nixa, Vitters has a very, very important year ahead of him. If he learns a little better plate discipline, he will shoot up the rankings...if he never does, Vinny Castilla becomes a comp...which isn't bad, but I'm hoping for even more.

I dont disagree nixa. but as of right now Vitters has a very high trade value. He should get a pretty good return. I think Law has it pretty close though. Its very close to what I have seen on other websites. I have seen tommy hanson as low as #15. I would say Hanson is the 4th best pitcher on the list is about right. He was 66 last year I would say that is quite a jump in one year.

There has been talk that Vitters could take Lee's spot at first

I hate to think that A-Ram will opt out of his contract. He took a home town discount for a reason because he loves chicago. Why would he want to go.

BravoFan - Rickey Henderson never officially retired, so it doesn't effect your HOF eligibility.

Will the Peavy deal get done??
Probably, for the following reasons.
1.This is not the Orioles and McPhail that want at least a 5-1 ratio of return on his players. McPhail robbed the Mariners (5 prospects for Bedard)and the Astros (5 prospects) for Tejada. Now it is possible that this may become a 5-1 trade for the Cubs, but unlike the Baltimore trades the Cubs are likely only to give up 1 top prospect.
2a.) Ownership, Cubs have new owners that are willing to spend for a player like Peavy.
2b.) Ownership, Padres are in the process of being sold, even tho there is a potential buyer it might take a while to sell the team, in the meantime the current ownership is stripping away the talent to get to a $40 million dollar budget.
3.) Peavy wants to win and with his current team slowly sinking into the depths of the NL west he could make it difficult for ownership.
4.) Expiring contracts and salaries.
The Cubs have 2 pitchers locked up as follows.
Zambrano 4/5 years left
Signed thru 2012
vesting player option 2013
Dempster 3/4 years left
Signed thru 2011
player option 2012
This is where it could get a litle messy for the Cubs.

Rich Harden 1 year $7 miilion
Signed thru 2009--If he has an injury free 15-20 win season, he will be looking for a Lowe/Burnett type of salary and quite possible could get it.

Ted Lilly 2 years $24 million
Signed thru 2010.
Lilly if he continues could hit the jackpot. He will make $12 million the next 2 years and he has made himself into a dominating lefty in hos 2 year with the Cubs.
59/57 4.54 before the Cubs 6 seasons.
32/17 3.96 with the Cubs 2 seasons.
So to conclude 2009 the Cubs dont need Peavy(loaded rotation) but in the upcoming years his slary is palatible.
2010-2012 3 years $52 million plus a $ 22 million club option in 2013 is cheap for a pitcher that is better than Lowe or Burnett.

im for sheets,but as it stands right now we have to many pitchers on our roster right now.we have to trade like2-3 of them b4 we could sign sheets,or trade 2-3 plus vitters and scrubs to get peavy.im for peavy,and i still think they pull the trade off in the next few days.im very excited to get ricketts as owner.his family has almost twice as much as steinbrenners,and more then cuban.as for padres,i read that moorad will not be taking majority control for 2-4 years,so as it stands they are over there payroll still by almost 5 million.they have to make a move.

Any team can never have enough pitching, esp with the injury issues with Harden. Now if the Cubs sign Sheets it will mean they Cubs would have 2 injury risk pitchers in the roatation.