The Dodgers don't want to surrender prospects for a rental and are "very unlikely" to acquire Ryan Dempster, but Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago reports that they have shifted their focus to Matt Garza. Los Angeles had a deal on the table to acquire Dempster yesterday but it was not consummated.
Garza, 28, left tonight's game after three scoreless innings with tightness in his triceps. The team announced that x-rays were negative. Garza has pitched to a 4.02 ERA in 17 starts this year and unlike Dempster, he is under team control as an arbitration-eligible player next season.
Holding my breathe that he isn’t hurt
RT @PWSullivan: Garza out of game. No word yet on what happened. Flexing his right wrist for Bosio in dugout, appears to have hurt it.
*Theo throws a chair down his hotel window*
*follows chair throwing with darth vader-esque NOOOOOOOOO*
Followed by Jed walking away, crying, with his right hand gone.
Before any one wants to say, “they don’t have the prospects to get him”.
Yes we do, yet compared to a club that has a good farm system we would be left with nothing while a deeper better farm system would still be considered “good”.
Would take Lee, Reed, Gould and Pederson and then our farm would officially be the worst in the entire league.
The problem is, how much value does Lee have, considering he’s done nothing in the minors so far? Even at Single-A, he was rather average (3.68 FIP), and now he can’t get the FIP under 4.00. Gould’s 4.01 FIP is nothing to brag about either, but he at least was OK last season. Reed is averaging fewer than 3 IP per start in AA and has a 5.09 BB/9, and Pederson is doing decently at high-A, but the Cubs already have Jackson, Szczur, Soler, and Almora in the minors to cover the OF.
There just isn’t a good match between the two.
He is mostly seen as a 40-60 prospect, the only person that I have seen think he has front of rotation is keith law other than that the consensus is Lee is most likely a 3 and is very safe, that is still pretty valuable. And you are looking at the stats far too much, scouting reports matter much more. Gould is a wildcard, his mechanics need work but he has the best stuff of the dodgers system.
Scout Dustin Nosler said:
“For Gould, his success depends on his fastball velocity. During the 2010 season, his velocity sat more in the upper-80s than the low-90s, but in 2011, he was closer to the low-90s on a consistent basis. When I saw him live, he was sitting between 87-91 MPH with his fastball, and he threw his two-seamer in the 86-88 MPH range. He touched 91 MPH with his four-seamer and generally sat around 88-90 during his five innings of work. To be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with his fastball. He located it well at times, but it also got him into a little trouble during the game. His control was adequate, but he walked three batters in his five innings.”Hardly best stuff in the system. For best stuff look no farther than Chris Reed, who throws a lefty 93-95 and a nasty slider that impresses scouts. he has only average 3 innings per start due to the fact that he was originally a closer and now is transitioning into starter. Before you two make these assumptions please do a little more research.
That wasn’t Chad Moriyama, that was me. I saw Gould in person back in June.
Sorry about that please forgive me, i made the edit above. I enjoy your scouting reports often on that site. I do have a question regarding Gould. Since he does not nearly throw hard enough for someone his size, do you believe with the necessary fix in mechanics he can increase his velocity. I have heard that he has a delivery that is impeding him from reaching his full potential, mechanically rather.
I feel like i have to apologize twice here. Sorry again. All the hard work you guys do you deserve to be recognized correctly.
I’m not sure how interested I am in that. I guess I’d be all right with it, since it’s a 4-player package, but when you sell the guys you’re moving as a POTENTIAL #3 and as having bad mechanics, it’s hard to like the offer.
I honestly want nothing the Dodgers system has to offer. There is nothing there that equals the value Garza has, cramps and all. There is no reason ever to trade him to LA.
Garza has little value to begin with. He has had a mediocre year, attitude issues, and has played with the worst team in baseball. Not to mention his stats never suggest he should be worth top prospects only due to the fact that he was solid in the AL east leads us to this assumption.
The weakness of the Dodgers system is over played. In fact the Dodgers pitching in their system is far superior to what the cubs have to offer…
Well then call up Zach Lee to pitch you to the playoffs.
Good point, Garza will contribute now. However hitting is our greatest weakness, and giving up a very good right-hander who could be in our rotation for years seems like an overpay for the over-valued Garza who is simply a product of a weak pitching market.
Point taken, but a market is only overvalued if teams are unwilling to pay the price, and that remains to be seen.
Can you give me an example of a single attitude issue Garza has had this year? I mean I watch just about every Cub game, and all he does is shove shaving cream in players faces when they are interviewed after a game. I know he’s dealt with stuff in the past, but he seems like a great, and fun clubhouse guy. By the way, 2 other teams are having worse seasons.
TV and radio both saying tricep cramping. Hopefully that’s it?
triceps cramps
Keep in mind – Trading for an end of the year FA doesn’t garner draft picks under the new CBA. However, trading for a player with control after the year does.
Garza is going to cost a lot more. Maybe this is a ploy to drive down the Dempster value?
How would this drive Dempster’s value down? I don’t follow.
If Dempster leaving at the end of the year doesn’t generate a 1st and a sandwich like before, then giving up a couple of prospects with the idea of reloading is out the window.
Thus – the cost goes down. Unless you are crazy desperate, you won’t give up a couple of decent prospects for a rental (unless you get an extension agreement in place).
However – Garza is controlled this year and the year after. If they lose Garza at the end of 2013, they DO get a couple of picks. Meaning that they can afford the risk.
So if they go to Garza and start throwing out some mid-level prospects in possible deals, the Cubs have to realize their asking price is too high for Dempster and the cost goes down.
I still think Dempster goes to LA. And it won’t be a big haul at all (not bad, but not 2 good prospects).
I love this new rating system – getting down votes for a legit point > >
Just gave you a down arrow for that comment. 🙂
What you were saying was a bit confusing. I was asking how going after Garza would lower Dempster’s value for them, not how the new CBA would do so.
It’s pretty easy (and a normal tactic) – You move away from a deal and the team gets antsy. They start to think about taking a lesser deal (especially considering where the Cubs are and Dempster’s lack of future with them).
Except when there are 10 teams asking about him, that’s not NEARLY as likely to work. It’s not like they’re the only team in on Dempster.
Point still remains – Dempster won’t fetch the same this year as he would have last year. Dodgers have nothing to lose by looking at Garza and could actually help drive talks for Dempster.
At what point in the history of mankind did anyone say Dempster’s value this season is higher than it was last season? That’s never even been a point of contention in any report that I’ve seen? It’s completely irrelevant to this article, beyond involving Dempster and trading.
I brought up that the shift of focus (the article title) could be a ploy to drive down Dempster’s value in talks with the Cubs.
And it’s completely relevant to bring up the new CBA since it plays into the asking prices for pending FAs. Which affects both Garza and Dempster values in very different ways and ultimately could be the deciding factor for the Dodgers.
I’m not sure I get why you are so angry..?
I’m not sure where you got that I’m angry, just becuase I pointed out your being off-topic with Dempster’s trade value.
I just want to respectfully point out that my posts have been completely on topic. You might not understand them, but it’s false to say they are off topic.
Topic: The Dodgers shift their focus to Matt Garza.
You: Ryan Dempster’s trade value would have been higher last season.
… that’s what you got out of my posts? Good lord.
1) Dodgers shift to Garza
2) I say maybe this is to drive down costs for Dempster (also rumored)
3) Dempster value is lower this year due to new CBA (supplemental info to my point)
4) My point: Dodgers go into Garza talks low, throw out in public these talks, bring new CBA into fold back into Dempster talks to drive costs lower.
Back by popular request:
As the Dodgers slip down the standings…
Better do something befo….too late
4 Up and 4 Down, hardly popular request. Im surprised you believe that this post evokes such interest.
It’s this new thing called sarcasm.
If the Dodgers aren’t willing to give up prospects to get a pitcher, then a deal with the Cubs likely won’t get done.
It seems like they want to win, but they don’t want to give up good chips. It doesn’t work that way.
I’d much rather see the Cubs get deep into talks with Detroit, Washington, and Atlanta. Much deeper farm systems with the flexibility to lose a top prospect or two.
I would be incredibly disappointed if the Cubs settled on some garbage return from the Dodgers, but I think they’ll either squeeze them into giving up top talent (if they have any), or take their assets elsewhere.
This is a big moment for the Cubs, and could lay the foundation for the next 5 years or so, I doubt Theo and Jed will lay down. At least hope not.
The Cubs haven’t traded Dempster to any team.
Dodgers aren’t willing to give up prospects for a rent-a-player (Dempster). I believe they ARE willing to give up prospects for Garza (team control through 2013) and would work on extending him beyond 2013.
(Theo) Doesn’t get Dempster traded….. has worse outing in a month. Garza leaves tonight with an injury …. Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda gotta love the Cubs
“Doesn’t get Dempster traded….. has worse outing in a month” without taking into account that he hadn’t allowed an earned run since may, it wasn’t that bad of a start considering he settled down after the first
I think Levine got the name wrong. Dodgers may be looking at Maholm, but Garza is out of their reach. Just dont have the high value prospects Cubs are looking for.
“Looking for” key word. NO one is willing to give up what the cubs are asking for. Cub fans can get value for him but he is not worth a top prospect. Not going to get the Olt’s or the Bundy’s for him…
Obviously, Bundy is almost “untouchable” anyway. Cubs are looking for a major league ready upside pitcher. A trade that needs to happen is a Garza and Barney for Turner plus some others maybe. (Tigers fans – who else can the Cubs acquire and is this a fair trade?)
Read earlier Dodgers interested In Justin Morneau and or Jamie Shields. Not as interested in a “rent a player” Like Dempster or Hammels. Morneau and Shields both under contract threw 2013.