Yesterday we learned that ten teams have shown legitimate interest in acquiring Ryan Dempster, including the Dodgers, Tigers, Yankees, Braves, Indians, and White Sox. Here’s more on the Cubs pitcher plus other items from the NL Central..
- The Cubs will look to trade Dempster now in part so that his presence doesn’t affect their marketing of Matt Garza later this month, writes Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req’d). While the Dodgers once looked like the favorite to land the veteran, it’s now unclear if they can outgun the rest of the field to trade for him.
- After undergoing shoulder surgery, pitcher Kyle McClellan believes that he has probably pitched his last game for the Cardinals, writes Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. McClellan will be arbitration eligible for the third time this winter and says that he anticipates being non-tendered. The 28-year-old makes $2.5MM this year and would probably command upwards of $3MM in arbitration.
- Reds skipper Dusty Baker isn’t sure if the club will ask him to return for next season but he sounds like he’d be ready to move on to another team if the opportunity isn’t there, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. “At this point in my career, this point in the season, I have as much say about it as the organization does. And that’s not sounding cocky or arrogant,” Baker said.
Jayson Stark is reporting the Pirates are serious contenders for Justin Upton. They are willing to trade Marte but probably not Cole or Taillon. Crazy stuff!
Also the Cubs can really speed up their rebuilding process this year, as they are one of the only clear sellers. Things will be very bad for them the rest if the season of they trade Garza, Dempster, and LaHair, but they really can’t get much worse and they should cash in on both of their pitchers.
Am I the only one who thinks Tallion would have to be added to Marte along with maybe Lincoln to make a deal work?
The worse they do this year the better the better the draft picks next year. They’re not planning to compete the next two years anyway. Firesale is the smartest thing the cubs can do IMO.
Absolutely, it is the best decision by this franchise in a long long time.
Yeah if you aren’t trading taillon or cole you won’t get upton simply put, and if I was in the Pirates position I would offer something like Taillon/Locke/Osuna, Upton is worth it
Agreed.
No Cincinnati fan wants Baker back. He is terrible with younger players. The lineup’s he puts out there are terrible. I can’t wait for this guy to be gone. He is stunting the growth of our younger players.
They should hire Macknin. He may not have the name recognition, but he’s respected and even did well in Cincy as an interim.
As a Cardinal fan, I cringe at the thought of how good the Reds would be sans Baker. I hope he stays.
How much would you cringe if Walt talked LaRussa out of retirement to take over in Cincy next year? lol … not sure, even as a Red fan, that I’d like that move.
The Pirates look like an up and coming team in the NL Central – they will soon have a lot of young arms for Dusty to destroy.
I’m a Cubs fan. All I have to say is Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.
Yep. We have reason to be biased.
We had to see Neifi Perez everyday…
Im A Reds Fan And I Love Dusty Baker And Would Want Him Back…
He is really pushing it batting Stubbs in the 2-hole every game. We are lucky to be where we are in the standings with boneheaded moves like that.
With the way Ludwick is swinging the bat I thinks its time he takes over in the #4 spot, move BP back up to leadoff and Cozart back in the two hole.
Agreed.
agreed
I’d be ok with this. As long as Heisey gets the CF job and Stubbs rides the bench or is demoted or traded.
Consider that the starting pitching has been pretty phenomal this year. Everyone of them is 26 or younger except for Arroyo. Baker regularly plays 3 rookies (Cozart/Frazier/Mesoraco). How exactly is he stunting the growth of the younger players? Did I mention this is a first place team?
I will happily suffer the rest of this season to get better in the upcoming seasons. Farewell to Garza, Demp and hopefully Soriano!
Good! We don’t need old man Dempster.
save it for headley…
With one of the worst offenses in the league, you need all the pitching you can get your hands on.
From AZ point of view they want 100 cents on the dollar for Upton. He is under performing badly this year is to to get the big chuck of his contract next year. No team is going to give a a level prospect an more to ge him.
As a pirates fan I dont want to swap 6 years of Marte for years of Upton plus our 2nd best pitcher in the system for that.
I would look into getting dempster if if the cubs wold take Alderson, Locke and a throw in. Even if it meant taking 5 millof his 7 mill to make a deal. I dont trust Corriea and Bedard to hold up.
Resign Dempster with the money of bedard and Corriea that will be off the books and go with a Justin willson or Brad Lincoln as the 5th starter next season.
As a Cubs fan, the thought of Cole and Taillon atop a rotation is a very, very scary prospect.
Unless it’s the Cubs rotation! I can dream…