Ryan Dempster held the Red Sox scoreless for seven innings in Chicago today and even picked up two hits to provide his team's offense with some assistance. Here's the latest on Dempster and his teammate, Matt Garza:
- Several contenders, including the Yankees and Dodgers, covet Dempster, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
- Two scouts at today's game said the Yankees prefer Garza to Dempster, David Kaplan reports (on Twitter).
- Dempster told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he doesn’t pay attention to the rumors, though it’s flattering to know teams are interested in him. “I’ve been itching to get back to the playoffs,” Dempster told Rosenthal. “I just wanted another opportunity. I never got it. And we’ve struggled since then.” Dempster is a clear summer trade candidate, as I explained yesterday.
- The Dodgers are interested in Garza, Rosenthal reports. Garza, 28, has a 4.04 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 71 1/3 innings for the Cubs this year.
It will be a long summer if these two get traded, but hopefully it will be worth it for the future.
Honestly it is going to be a long summer either way…might as well get some value with your trade chips
That is true, but it will be even longer running out a bunch #5 starters every day. But I will take the value for the future over the present.
I hope for Dempster he gets his shot at a ring. Class guy.
no problem trading garza and/or demp, but I shudder to think what theo and jed think is value in return. More like volstad, wood, stewart?
You can’t use those trades as what they think is value for Dempster and Garza. The trade that brought in Stewart was a change of scenerey for him and Tyler Colvin. Getting Volstad was to rid ourselves of Zambrano and his 5 anger acts this season that he would have had in Chicago, and getting Wood, Sappelt, and Torreyes was a solid deal so far. Wood is what is expected, Sappelt is a filler, and Torreyes could be something. It’s not like Marshall is excelling over in Cincy.
OK, seriously, you can’t honestly justify these trades. They were awful. We got terrible value. I agree with sheilendr. We have got nothing for the players we traded since Theo took over. Name one. Rizzo is probably the best 4A player out there, but that’s about it. Now that Dempster and Garza are performing well, we better get some value. I know the Theo worshippers will find some way to tell us how brilliant they were, but look at the stats, our record, and the record of our minor league teams. If Hendry made these deals, Cub fans would crucify him.
Value? Zambrano was a contract dump. We would have been just as happy with Volstad as we would have with a little plastic helmet full of soft serve.
As for Marshall- Why would a non contender hold onto a lefty bullpen guy? He brought back a starter with upside and a decent 2B prospect.
120-150 innings of Wood is more valuable than 25 holds and 5 saves from Marshall.
Making Marshall a starter would have been a better option than letting him toil away in the pen.
They sold high. That’s what smart teams do.
Rizzo? A 4A player? I really shouldn’t even call you out on this. Wrigley Field is pretty conducive to power hitting left handed hitters. 4A lables are for guys in their late 20’s.
Cashner was a young kid coming off some potentially serious, big picture arm problems.
This is all common sense.
A contract dump in which the Cubs saved no salary? Not a very good contract dump…
I loved the Marshall trade, and the Rizzo trade has turned out better than we ever could have hoped. But it’s okay to admit that the Zambrano/Volstad trade was a flop.
There’s a difference between a salary dump and a contract dump. There’s no denying that Zambrano had to go. Keeping him in Chicago would have been a disaster. By including as much money as we did, we were able to get something of some value (Volstand) in return for him.
I would have been really happy if Hendry had made any of these deals. Would you have preferred that we signed Fielder or Pujols in the offseason, saddling the team with yet another enormous long-term contract?
No Mr. Strawman, that’s not what I would have preferred. If you are going to dump players/contracts, get some better value. That is the definition of rebuilding. Zambrano did not “have” to go. Theo wanted him to go as seen by the fact that we are paying 15 million for him to pitch in Florida. Now we have a bunch of number 5 starters that have not produced. Theo has not gotten squat in any of the signings or trades. They have been disasters. I didn’t say anything about signing Pujols. Theo wants to rebuild, and so do I. But, he’s done a crappy job of it and I’d hope Cub fans would hold him accountable, and stop giving him idol status.
You’re judging Theo and Jed on less than a year’s time with a team that was a complete disaster under former management. Now they haven’t stuck gold but none of the signings or trades were that bad except maybe the Zambrano and Volstad. But either way Zambrano had to go. You can’t keep giving out chances when he just does the same thing over and over. It was addition by subtraction with Zambrano. There’s no way Zambrano would have pitched the way he has in Chicago.
Dempster’s quote is a nice way of saying please trade me
dodgers trade for garza. trade billingsley this offseason, sign hamels anyways (extend garza too).
boom. huge splash from new ownership
btw, not saying i dont like Bills. just in my my crazy scheme, he’s expendable with guys like Nathan Eovaldi and Rubby De La Rosa on top of lilly, capuano and harang. sure Garza might cost Eovaldi or De La Rosa, but both? idk
You can hand over Kershaw too while you’re at it.
Cubs couldn’t get Kershaw with their entire 25 man roster.
I don’t know. If the Dodgers aren’t convinced that Dee Gordon is the answer at shortstop, a Castro-Kershaw trade isn’t impossible.
its beyond impossible! kershaw is NOT getting dealt unless in a couple years the dodgers decide they cant resign him. while castro would be an improvement over dee, hes not worth kershaw…like East Coast Bias said hah
Sorry, I thought people knew I wasn’t being serious. But It could be possible if it was a Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, and another prospect maybe? I’m not sure, just a random thought. I don’t know if I’d do it though.
dempster wouldn’t probably cost both, but garza would.
Ned might be able to find a taker for Bills but it would basically be a salary dump with a low level prospect or two coming back. Can’t really expect much more at this juncture. You’d have to hope that he heats up down the stretch and performs well in the playoffs in order to warrant a juicier return. (if the Dodgers make it of course. Fingers crossed!)
Dodgers farm system is light on talent. Eovaldi most certainly will be in a trade for a SP.
Trading a starting pitcher to get a starting pitcher never made much sense to me, and even less so for either of two starters who are certainly no better than the player being dealt.
I am surprised the headline didn’t read like this instead:
Yankees Like Dempster, Dodgers Eyeing Garza, and the Orioles sizing up Soriano
Seriously, though Dempster has has some pretty lean years and others were sprinkled with success. I wonder what his new team will be getting if and when the Cubbies trade him? Plus, he isn’t cheap with his final contract year being at 14 million. Heck, Brett Myers is only 11 million. He could always be stretched out as a starter again.
PS If Kevin Gregg is “Captain Chaos”, Carlos Marmol is a General! Holy Cow!
Yanks will not get any serviceable arm, is my feeling. All teams are gonna ask for is the top tier pitching prospects. Years ago, when the Jays wanted Hughes or Joba for Halladay, they should’ve done it. You’d also want to say the same for Johan. However now, they need to sit tight, and ride this thing thru. They have the best record in the AL, after weathering the Joba, Mo, and Gardner storms, and it hasn’t even gotten hot yet.
I know the minor league stats for the Killer B’s haven’t been dazzling, but sometimes guys don’t flourish til they get the show. We need to stay the course.
Halladay is making $20M and Johan $25M. It would have been nice to get them, but it is a very steep price to pay in prospects and then paying market value. If the twins had taken the best package they would have been better off. Hughes and melky, or ellsbury and masterson would have been both better. But both teams didn’t want to give up prospects and cash.
I think that hughes and joba would have been better if not for all the funky stuff when they came up. Look how ian turned out, and he was the worst of the lot.
Agree on Halladay but don’t agree on Johan, and no because of how their careers progressed. Trading for Halladay was a time when nobody else was available and they sorely needed an ace. Cashman said himself he didn’t trade for Johan because he knew CC was walking the following offseason and would only cost money, money that would be coming off the books in the form of 81 million, hence adding Burnett and Tex too.
Dempster is a huge regression to the mean candidate I would be afraid of that especially in the AL East he has an xFIP of 3.75, for comparisons sake Garza is 3.54. Garza will obviously cost more however given his age/salary.
Ned, “We want Dempster and LaHair”
Theo, “We want Eovaldi + 3 top prospects”
Ned, “We want Garza and LaHair”
You always ask for more than you can get, and settle for less.
lahair and Dempster for de la rosa + A ball prospect
LaHair and Garza for De La Rosa + 2 AA prospects
If you have some scrub former top prospect then you can probably get either of these guys since Theo seems to be in love with those types.
And yes I’m fully aware that the Pirates have dealt with more than their fair share of these types as well.
What player of any value are you referring to that Theo has given up to get the type of player you described? Surely you aren’t talking about Tyler Colvin.
My best guess is this is an Andrew Miller reference…
I am a Yankee fan but I have to say, if they get Dempster I am going to be sick, they have a huge pool of the talent already. Its not even fun anymore when teams like the Royals, Mets, Padres don’t stand any change and every big name player goes to one or two teams. It takes the whole fun out of winning
I agree with your premise, everyone should have a chance.But I’m sure you don’t remember the years 1965 through 1976, or 1982 through 1996. Most Yankees fans don’t know or recall those years and think that Yankees dominance is a birthright or at least a given. I’ve lived with those terrible teams and know and appreciate how things are now.
Same thing for the older Red Sox fans that have suffered even more than Yankees fans. I’m a Baseball fan first and a passionate Yankees fan second, and it’s more fun when everyone competes equally, but I make no bones if my team continues to win when they abide by the rules.
You mean the CBS (NYY) and Haywood Sullivan/Jean Yawkey (Boston) were not the teams Boston and NYY fans want to recall 1st and foremost? I kinda’ recall some highlights from 1 CBS NYY team..
Bobby Murcer, falling into the RF seats at Fenway, as in ALL THE WAY and robbing Yaz of a HR.. Umpire ran all the way out to see if he had the ball and he wasn’t even up when the umpire got to him.. his legs were poking over the wall and nothing else was on the TV (Saturday broadcast back then Joe Garagiola.. u might even remember the game) and why the fenway faithful didn’t take the ball away from Murcer goes to show how gamesmanship at that time was 1st.. Now that guy would have been mobbed.
Frank Robinson did the same thing. Leaped high in the air to ‘steal’ a HR in the bottom of the 9th with two outs, one year. I was one of the 12,000 fans who was sitting not too far away in RF and could actually see Robinson feeling around on the floor for the ball after landing in the seats. Finally he came up with ball in hand and the ump made the out call to end the game.
Robinson left with a smile on his face accompanied by a chorus of curses and catcalls.But no one attempted to confront him physically, as in those
days, there was a bit more respect for the professional athlete. As you say, that doesn’t happen today.
That would be sick if it probably wasn’t so exciting to have been there ATM..
The game sure has changed in that regard.. Respect has changed. Think it began in the mid-late 70’s when people began throwing objects onto the field.. Remember at fenway they would throw things at Mickey Rivers after the Bill Lee injury during that huge brawl. Rivers in the paper had like a 5″ long bolt he brought in from CF that was thrown at him once. Then at Yankee stadium remember they used to throw raw hot dogs at him. That was when I (at least) thought the game started slipping from a professional point of respect amongst the fans and went beyond just booing.
Rivers started wearing a helmet at Fenway’s CF after that ‘bolt” incident.
@MaineSox:disqus , to continue on from here
“Until guys get enough innings for stats to stabilize WAR jumps around
because the stats can swing crazy amounts with just one outing. And
sorry, but did you use 2 years WAR because it makes your point better?
Generally speaking you would use 4 years, and over their respective last
four years Dempster beats Pettitte in WAR, ERA, FIP, xFIP, K/BB, and SIERA.”
And are you using 4 years becuase it makes your point better? I can use the past 5 and 6 years which would make Pettitte’s Much better (although 2 of those years are with Houston). You said the last few years which is usually 3 years and the last 2 years including this year (at their current rates), Pettite has been better than Dempster. It’s fair to say Dempster has been better over the last 4 years but Pettite has been better the last 2+ years. Just like how CC Sabathia has been better than Justin Verlander (26.4 WAR to 25.1 WAR) the last 4 years, but Verlander has been better than Sabathia the last 2 years (13.4 to 12.4)
I’m very sorry, but Ryan Dempster, a lifetime National League pitcher, is not an upgrade over Andy Pettitte, a lifetime (minus 3 years) AL East pitcher. There are stats that prove Dempster sucks against the AL (Over 200 innings and a 4.68 ERA).
And I don’t care if Pettitte is older, he’s a proven effective pitcher in this division and only ONE time in his 17 year history has he had an ERA+ below 100. Dempster has had an ERA+ Below 100 in 8 years.
Most of that came as a reliever for Dempster (they only made him a starter in ’08), so it’s hard to say that it is really all that relevant to him now, as a starter. And I used four years because it is a standard sample size to use, not for any other reason.
MaineSox….stick to your Red Sox, please. I would honestly not take Dempster over ANY of the Yankees top 5 starters. Now that Pettite just went down for quite some time, obviously, he would be an upgrade over Phelps, Garcia, or Warren. CC is obviously better as is Kuroda. I honestly feel like Kuroda gets nowhere near the credit he deserves, the guy IS a legit #2 starter. Nova is very young and frankly has been pitching great lately and I believe that he will only continue to get better. When Andy gets back there is no way in heck that I would take Dempster in a big game over him either. So, unless maybe you take Hughes out and put him back in the pen I see nowhere for this guy to go.