Ryan Dempster is scheduled to start in St. Louis against the Cardinals tonight amid rumors that his time with the Cubs will soon come to an end. The Red Sox are no longer in on Dempster, but the Dodgers, Braves and Nationals still seem to be involved, based on yesterday's rumors. Here are today's Dempster rumors, with the most recent updates up top:
- In addition to the Dodgers, there are six to eight other teams interested in Dempster, a source told Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. Even though a report yesterday suggested that the Red Sox are out on Dempster, Boston has made an offer, according to another source. However, it is unclear if the right-hander is willing to switch leagues.
- Dempster is one of four or five starters the Nationals are pursuing, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports (Twitter links). The Nationals would need to get creative to complete a trade and the Braves don't appear to be pursuing Dempster aggressively. They prefer starters under team control beyond 2012.
- A handful of teams are involved in trade talks and some proposals have been exchanged, ESPN.com's Buster Olney tweets.
- The Cardinals are monitoring every starter on the market, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. They aren't a likely fit for Dempster, since they're reluctant to part with prospects for a rental player.
- The Cubs would likely get one or two young arms in return for Dempster if they trade him to Los Angeles, Morosi tweets.
- The Cardinals have checked in on Dempster, Heyman tweets.
- There's a 50-50 chance the Dodgers and Cubs will complete a deal for Dempster, Morosi tweets. The sides are still discussing prospects, so there's time for another team to jump in with an impressive offer.
- The Nationals are said to be trying hard on Dempster, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The Braves are in as well, and one GM believes the Dodgers are the favorites to land the righty.
- The Tigers maintain interest in Dempster, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets.
- The Dodgers continue in "hot pursuit" of Dempster, Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com tweets. The Dodgers still have an offer on the table and are hoping to complete a deal as soon as possible.
- Trade talks could drag on for a few more days, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.
- The Dodgers and Cubs haven’t found common ground in discussions about Dempster, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports (on Twitter). Other teams are being aggressive.
Dodgers probably won’t give up someone like Lee, so Theo will just say I’ve got at least 5 more teams pushing after Demp and get better prospects. In another trade, I want to see a Garza and Barney trade to Tigers for Turner and others.
I hope not…
I don’t like Garza, too inconsistent for me… We already have to guess on Jekyll or Hyde with Scherzer and Porcello every start.
Barney is decent, but not a great hit tool… I wouldn’t mind him necessarily as he’s better than what we’ve got… But there are others I’d rather look at first
Like who?
Jose Altuve
Omar Infante
Altuve? Be prepared to deal Castellanos and Turner then.
You can’t seriously think Altuve is good enough to command both of those players. i’d want Altuve+ for Castellanos.
Heres a better question, why would the Astros, a rebuilding team, trade away an all star caliber 2nd baseman who’s only 22?
he can keep searching cause he wont get lee, maybe for garza but not demps.
Double post… Seems to be a few bugs in the system
If i know Colleti he will decimate the farm and those prospects will go on to be Hall of Famers(all-stars) SMH.
trade a demster for number one prospect and theo will enjoy a good meal like chicken
dodgers will give the cubs whatever they want, they are like the yankees,boston,philly aint no player too expensive.
I was hoping LAD would pick him up so Wren looks elsewhere.
this is a ploy, dodgers will get it done.
not if they are asking for lee or evaldi.
I don’t think Eovaldi is untouchable at all. Ely could also go home to Chicago in the deal if they are looking for majors ready pitchers.
Ely? Where do I sign up for that?
– Dodgers fan.
I’m not sure I get your comment. But Ely is having a great year in AAA and could be a nice trading chip. I don’t think the Dodgers see him as being a long term part of the rotation.
Lots of guys pitch well in AAA and can’t cut it in the big leagues. I think unfortunately that Ely is that guy.
Right, which I think is the Dodgers position. But his numbers, especially pitching in ABQ and the PCL might attract some other clubs.
You have a point there. Pitching in the western cities of the PCL is brutal, just brutal. Factor in that most minor league teams don’t field well-it’s an absolutely brutal environment to develop pitchers in. If a guy can crack a 5.00 ERA he’s a superstar! The best they can hope for is someone likes them and takes them the heck out of there.
He certainly seems like the kind of pitcher the Cubs should take a chance on. I say that being fully aware of Ely’s trial last year with the Dodgers and knowing that didn’t go all that well. He’s young enough and has enough talent to do better next time around.
Only problem is his dad, who lives in Chicago, would never go watch him pitch. As a life long Sox fan he refuses to go to Wrigley.
You forget, Eovaldi is currently in the rotation. Swapping one starting pitcher for another doesn’t make much sense.
No, I didn’t forget that. The Dodgers are counting on Lilly to come back in about a week. And if he wasn’t ready I’m sure they’d be comfortable with giving Fife another go. Or Ely if he’s still here.
None of which adds up to a net improvement. We’ve been expecting Lilly back for a few weeks already, and now Billingsley is sidelined for who knows how long. In this situation you don’t trade a starting pitcher for a starting pitcher. Makes no sense at the best of times and this is not one of those.
Billingsly is due to come back Monday. Eovaldi is simply filling in. It would not be the least bit shocking to see him traded.
Not shocking but not a good thing either. If Eovaldi goes, there goes the depth in the rotation. You’d better pray that everybody comes back healthy and on schedule and nobody is hurt from now until October.
Hope so.
Sometimes the team that wants the player the most, can’t offer the most. It’s no that they don’t want to offer the a lot, it’s just they don’t have a lot. The Braves and Nats can offer more.
I am not sure what the Braves have in their system, but I am sure they have some great pitching prospects!
frank wren will offer hinske and wilson for dempster and lahair
We’ll take Rendon for Garza.
Would either think the Braves giving up Minor or the Nats giving up Lannan will be part of the dealings. I think Garza and Barney go to the Tigers for Turner and a prospect or two or three.
Why would Cubs even want Lannan!? And I agree about Tigers part though.
From the Braves maybe Minor or Delgado? From the nats Goodwin or meyers or (unlikely) Rendon?
I’d find Mike Rizzo and kneecap him if he gave up any of those guys for Dempster.
keep dreaming
Let’s go! Hopefully one of those other teams jumps in and steals him away from the dodgers.
Your a Dodger fan and don’t want us to get Dempster??
It sounds like the cubs are asking for Lee and I wouldn’t give up Lee for Dempster.
Sounds like they won’t give up Lee for Dempster or any other rentals. I think Dempster would be a great addition to the rotation, but I agree with you that Lee shouldn’t be part of the deal.
i agree! Although starting pitching is always good, we need a freaking BAT!
What positions do they need? The Cubs have a couple of hitters that could be attractive and part of a bigger deal.
Soriano (The Cubs would eat like 80-90% of the contract), LaHair, Reed Johnson, Jeff Baker, Darwin Barney could potentially fill a hole, one or 2 of them, then maybe another prospect for Lee and a mid level pitching prospect
dodger will buy what ever they want like the yankees, boston and philly.
If Dempster makes this start, Cubs fans will have to consider the assumed risk as a small failure by the theo/hoyer regime.
Hope Demp lands in the NL, because he has a legit shot at the CY
No he doesn’t and he shouldn’t
If his wins were higher and R.A. Wasn’t doing what he’s doing, there would be a good chance.
Wins are meaningless, if he was actually pitching like an ace and not getting lucky he would be up there, but he’s not
I wouldn’t say it’s all luck. He’s been very good, and I’m pretty sure most teams don’t think he’ll post a 1.86 ERA the rest of the way.
He’s been good like a number 3. He has the best BABIP in the NL, and the highest LOB%, he has a FIP and xFIP both in the 3s. Strasburg, Greinke, and Gio Gonzalez should be the 3 main contenders right now.
I’m pretty sure voters don’t look at BABIP, LOB%, and xFIP.
If you want to say that a guy like Greinke will have the better finish, then I’m okay with that, but as a previous poster said, it’s about results, not about what should have been his results. Dempster won’t win it because he only has 92 innings and he’s obviously not going to have a 1.86 ERA the rest of the way. Strasburg is unlikely due to his supposed innings cap.
I’d probably go 1. Dickey, 2. Cain 3. Greinke
Yaknow, I’m usually pretty supportive of advanced statistics but this is silly. Now you want AWARDS to be based on what a stat says SHOULD have happened instead of what ACTUALLY happened? Sorry. Awards are for accomplishments, not hypotheticals.
That said, I still don’t know that Demp would (or should) win the Cy. There are a number of worthy options, like Strasburg and Cain (though Stras might be hurt by his innings limit). He would DEFINITELY be in the running though and he would definitely receive votes — and he should.
They aren’t meaningless, but batting stats and popularity are counted for a gold glove, is that right?
Why could he not win it?
Remember King Felix just a couple of years ago? RA is the only guy I see ahead of Dempster.
Dempster to the Dodgers please. Braves sign and trade for Greinke would make the Braves the best team in the NL right now.
They’d have to give up around Simmons and Minor. So you’d have to be sure that this is the team that can take them all the way.
No way the Braves give up Simmons in any deal. He’s the long term solution at SS.
Are you high? Even if they did land Greinke, they still have A LOT of work to do before they are even in the discussion for the best team in the NL. They have flaws in pretty much every other aspect of the team. The bullpen has been shaky and getting the ball to Kimbrel has been somewhat of an adventure this season, the bench apart from David Ross is downright terrible and possibly the worst bench the Braves have had in 15+ years, and Fredi Gonzalez’s managing of the team has been very questionable up to this point as well.
Breaking news….Dempster has been traded to Dodgers…they are just working on the prospects at this point. Dempster will not be pitching tonight.
Dempster has been traded and will not be making his start tonight. Trade details still pending….they are working on the prospects.
If Nats get Dempster, that could give them 4 of the top pitchers in the NL in Stras, Gio, JZimm, and Dempster. That’d be a sick rotation. Shut Stras down early and keep those 4 for the playoffs and they win the WS.
I think Dempster will make his start tonight. His next scheduled start is next Wed which still leaves plenty of time to trade him and still have enough time before the deadline to concentrate on moving Garza.
Cubs should pull what the Brewers are doing with Greinke and rest him until he’s traded. If Dempster gets hurt tonight there goes all your value for him. With how great he’s pitching there’s no worth risking a potential injury given his injury problems so far this year.
I totaly agree with you on that point. But, I think Dale Sveum is thinking “we want wins and Dempster is the the guy to help earn them.” Yes, the season is all but over for the Cubs, but they still want to win.
Well, I would hope they still want to win, no matter how unlikely it is. You know, professional pride and all.
Kind of ironic, but the Cubs have one of the best records in baseball the past month!
Please do something soon! I have been checking this site every 10 minutes for days hoping for a Dempster trade favoring the Cubs! I do not know how much longer I can hold out!
We will look for the puddle on the ground and say hello.
here dodgers are giving up kemp and furcal for dempster and lahair, what the heck they got all the money.
Furcal is on the Cardinals…has been for a year….
It would be hilarious if the Cubs pulled him an inning into tonight’s start to fake an imminent trade in an attempt to troll for better offers.
You gotta love those 50-50 chances. Either it will happen or it won’t — flip a coin and call it! Can I be a sportswriter now too?
Why would the Cubs allow Dempster to start at this point given the risk/reward factor. Do the Cubs believe that the package for Dempster will be greater with another solid outing?
I don’t think it matters if he goes out and throw a no-hitter or gets roughed up for 10 runs. His year so far speaks for itself and his value is pretty much determined. Jud just has to continue to play teams against each other till he gets the best deal in return.
dempster traded to STL. throws perfect game against cubs tonight. watch it happen.
Way to rip my heart out Kali-ma style
that would be the greatest thing ever
i bet right now stan kasten is holding colletti back from trading away the entire farm system for any/everyone over the age of 34. thank God mccourt is gone
well, frank wren finally got us some pitchers, yep, 1 kid from somalia, i kid from kenya, and 2 from burma, he said they all should be ready for the minors in about 5 years, hey, they looked good in their soccer tryouts! what more you want?