With just over 24 hours before free agency begins, the Padres and Braves are near a deal for Jake Peavy according to a report from Scott Miller on CBSSports.com. Miller's report late Wednesday night stated "the Braves are offering a four-player package of players and San Diego is expected to request that Peavy waive his no-trade clause so the deal can be completed."
Barry Axelrod has not spoken with Kevin Towers according to Miller "and if that conversation takes place on Thursday, it may still be a bit before the Padres and Braves receive an answer." Peavy is in Puerto Rico and scheduled to fly back on Thursday. The Braves "have been pressuring" the Padres for an answer by Friday.
Miller stated Peavy's "preference is said to be in Chicago with the Cubs."
The Padres would receive Yunel Escobar, Gorkys Hernandez, either Jo-Jo Reyes or Charlie Morton and either Blaine Boyer or one of two minor league southpaws and Miller reported one could be Jeff Locke. Hernandez was the Braves fifth best prospect according to Baseball America at the beginning of last season while Locke ranked eighth on their list.
The Braves, as mentioned, want an answer by Friday because they are intent on adding two starting pitchers this off-season. If the Braves land Peavy they could turn their attention to signing either A.J. Burnett or Ryan Dempster...or both if they lose out on Peavy.
Miller's report indicated that the Cubs offer of Felix Pie, Ronny Cedeno and Sean Marshall has been viewed by the Padres as "being nowhere close to that of the Braves."
A rather slow day on the Peavy front just became very interesting.
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I thought I heard someone singing, looked out the window and saw a really fat lady whose lips were moving. I'm thinking tomorrow we move on to other talent acquisitions.
Sorry JimK....I asked my ex-wife to stay away from everyone....but I guess she still doesn't listen...
Sounds as though Peavy is about to do the Tomahawk Chop.....
The stars are aligning so that Hendry can bring back the 08 team in nearly it's entirety. That's good news, because there is no chance for a team to stink in September and October for a 3rd year in a row. It's common knowledge that if you do the exact same thing over and over again, one should expect a different result. Right?
Well, whatever the Cubs were offering for Peavy should be plenty good enough to land McClouth.
Well said Gary...
Pitching wasn't really our problem last year. The Cubs should sign one of these guys: Dempster, Lowe, or Burnett. In addition to one of those you have Z, Lilly, Harden, Marshall, Marquis, Samardzja, Guzman, and Rich Hill to get 5 starters from. That rotation will win just tlike they did last year.
Also, the whole Peavy deal just feels a little dirty, like you know it's a train wreck waiting to happen. Anytime you hear about elbow and sholder problems, that's immediate red flags. Also you shouldn't trade good hitting for pitching because pitching is always more likely to break down.
If you are gonna trade away the farm get diffrence maker on offence and defence. Like a McClouth or Roberts. Or in a perfect world, both.
P.S. what's up with the naked guy? C-mon dude.
All the more reason now to get Burnett or Lowe...alas it will likely be Dempster... but why does anyone think the same rotation would do any better in a new playoff round. The Trib is headed for extremely tough economic times perhaps even default and it will be interesting to see how this affects the team they cannot now sell... at least at the price they need to meet their needs.
McLouth would be a good addition but only if he ends up playing in Left Field. I am aware that he just won a GG for his supposed outstanding play in center field but all advanced metrics have him down as a well below average center fielder.
Really!
Whats up with the naked dude!
The only way they trade McLouth who is a productive young player at low cost is for young high potential power pitching in a deal that blows them away. The Cubs do not have that to barter with and if they did why would they want to give it up.
I agree with many comments here:
1. Just sign Wood/Dempster and be done with it. We don't have much tradeable talent. We could probably trade Pie/Cedeno for a LOOGY, that's the direction I would go.
2. Giving up prospects, AND paying Peavy, that just seems like alot. Let the Braves have him.
3. The NAKED MAN ad is very disturbing. I don't want to read his story, I want him to get some fucking pants on!
Gary....re. stars aligning, I note your definition of insanity.
Joe S. When your ex stopped singing, she said your deal was a fair one. You drove her to eat, she drove you to drink and no one was merry.
Re. the naked dude....Next Neil will deny that Larry is a former fraternity brother and room mate who is now seeking employment as a flasher. Actually, Neil said that he wished he could control the Google ads on the CCO site--but he isn't able to. That sounds like another bad Cubs contract that we have to live with to me.
Here's a new thought on adding a power, lefty bat next year. Former Cub's system guy, Eric Hinske (31) is a free agent who made $800,000 last year for the Rays. His line of .247-20-60 with 10SB (overall) was better hitting right handers: .262 with 19 HR's. He had 47 W's and 88 SO's in 361 AB's. He only made 2 errors in 604 outfield innings and also can play 3B and 1B.
Hinske could be a good platoon option with DeRo in RF with Dome shifting to CF. DeRo would have near-everyday playing time by playing mainly 2B when Hinske started in RF. I am still hoping that Dome can be moved in something of a contract swap--because I'm not sure how his mindset will be with his "demotion".
I posted this under a different blog, but will re post here since much of it pertains to Jake Peavy.....
OK...not sure where to start with this, but there are some things that need correcting that I have read here.....
I think the best place to start is with the most ridiculous comment that Juan Pierre was a complete bust.....
That's a joke. Pierre was brought in to be a leadoff hitter for us and play CF and he did both very well. He played all 162 games in CF, never taking a day off...and played PERFECT defense....didnt not have a single error. As for playing all 162 games...do you know how many Cubs Players have played in all 162 games (or more) in the HISTORY of the team? That would be a short list of Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Sammy Sosa ans JUAN PIERRE. Pretty good company.
As for batting the guy hit .292 which was just about his career average and an improvement by 16 points from his previous season. He had 204 hits. That ranks 12th ALL TIME on the Cubs for a single season. With the exception of Billy Williams who had just one more hit (205) in 1970, the other ten players ahead of Pierre played prior to 1937!
He set a career high in doubles with 32, tied his career highs in triples (13) and homeruns (3) and also added 58 stolen bases as our leadoff man, which by the way was the highest total for stolen bases for a season on the Cubs in over 100 years!!
So just how was the guy a bust???
As for judging the trade, the Cubs knew he was signed for one year. He had one heck of a year as a leadoff man and centerfielder. The Cubs opted to let him go elsewhere as a free agent.
Yes, Ricky Nolasco had a very good year with Florida last year. But, will he sustain over the long haul? Thats the part of trades and giving up prospects. Some pan out and some dont. The also got Sergio Mitre from us....that didnt work out quite so well for them.
On to Jake Peavy and the points that were made:
His disabled list trips. He has not been on the DL 4 times. He has been on the DL 2 times. Once last year (May 20th, 15-day DL for a strained elbow) and once in 2004 (May 27th, 15-day DL for strained forearm tendon).
Petco Park is indeed a GREAT pitchers park. That's a fact. It's also a fact that his ERA is almost a full point higher on the road than at home. However, looking at his stats, the breakdown of the higher ERA can be attributed to the fact he gives up more home runs on the road because Petco is so large. 81 given up on the road compared to 37 at Petco.
It was stated that the NL West has been a weak division, that is true. What is not true is that there have been weak lineups. Without listing a ton of names, how about a sampling of NL WEST stars over the last 4 or 5 years:
Barry Bonds
Jeff Kent
Vinny Castilla
Todd Helton
Matt Holliday
Chris Young
Luis Gonzalez
Garrett Atkins
Adrienne Beltre
The problem with the NL West has not been the hitting it has been the pitching. Keep in mind several of the stadiums in the NL West are hitters parks. Colorado??? Arizona?? To a degree Dodger Stadium?? To point, Jakes WORST Road numbers are at those three Stadiums:
In Arizona 5.78 ERA w/ 17 HR's allowed
In Colorado 4.59 ERA w/ 8 HR's allowed
In LA 3.46 ERA w/ 8 HR's allowed
Jake has not faced weak line ups in the NL West and several of the parks are hitters parks.
As for why to dump a 27 year old pitcher and not build arouns him...this has been discussed many times. Simple answer...SALARY DUMP. They kept Giles with a 9 million dollar option to appease fans. But they are trading Peavy and probably letting Hoffman walk because they are cutting salary.
Peavy may have the advantage of Petco, but that doesn't affect his K's which are always up there. His walks are usually low.
In fact here's a stat: Jake Peavy ranks 8th ALL TIME on the WHIP leader board. (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) That includes Petco and EVERY other park.
He led the NL last year in WHIP with a 1.06. In fact he won the CY YOUNG last year and was a TRIPLE CROWN winner leading the NL with 19 wins, a 2.54 ERA and 260 K's.
In fact, since 1946 the ONLY pitching triple crown winners have been:
Jake Peavy
Randy Johnson
Dwight Gooden
Sandy Koufax
Steve Carlton
Roger Clemens
Pedro Martinez
Johan Santana
Pretty Good Company.
Other stats last year for Peavy:
2nd fewest hits per 9 innings 6.81
2nd W/L % .760
1st K's per 9 innings 9.67
3rd in innings 223.3
2nd in starts 34 (tops was 35)
The question of durability has been brought up. Note that last year he was 3rd in innings pitched and made only one less start than the league high. In 2006 he made just 3 less starts than the league high and in 2005 made 5 less starts than the league high.
Who knows if we get Jake, he may go to Atlanta. But I wanted to set the record straight that he is a top pitcher despite the fact he pitches half his games at Petco.
Great artcile here in todays San Diego Union Tribune talking about the teams fire sale and calling for the owner to sell the team...
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/nov/12/padres-canepa-dear-john/?padres
Hey Neil, this place looks great! First time I have been in since the season ended.
I like Peavy, but I don't think he is for us. I really feel we have enough pitching if we re-sign Dempster. I agree with Piniella....we need left-handed pop in our lineup. A McLouth or Roberts type hitter would make our line-up so much better. I wish we could get both of them.
Joe, you left out a couple of important facts on Pierre. One, his weak arm accounted for countless extra bases taken and runs scored. Two, his OBP was less than extraordinary, and when judging a lead-off hitter, the OBP should be the first stat you look at. And if I remember right, he was a very streaky hitter. There is a reason he was not resigned by the Cubs and relegated to the bench by the Dodgers.
You are right Gary, he did have a weak arm. But, many CF's have a weak arm and are there for their speed. Weak arm aside, he didnt commit a single error in 162 games.
His OBP for that year was .330 which isn't great, but it's right about what his career average is. You can't expect that he was going to do much more than that. He improved a few points from what it was the year before. Fact is, as I said he played every game, had no errors, most hits by a Cubs Player in a LONG time, tied or set careers highs in 2Bs 3Bs and HRs, and stole the most bases of any Cubs player in more than 100 years. He performed very well. His OBP is low because he doesnt take walks. But he's always been that way, so the team and the fans knew what they were getting. But he always makes contact as indicated by the fact he has only struck out more than 38 times in a season twice, and never more than 52.
Any criticism is just nitpicking. As for streaking hitting he was pretty consistant:
VS LH: .293
VS RH: .291
HOME: .282
AWAY: .301
He started the season slow but picked up as it went on. Struggled in May, but what player doesnt go through a slump in a 162 game season? Nothing out of the ordinary:
APRIL: .258
MAY: .226
JUNE: .283
JULY: .345
AUGUST: .304
SEPT: .328
UPDATE FOR PEAVY
"Ken Rosenthal talked to a Padres source who called Miller's report "totally inaccurate." The source says the Padres are not close on a Peavy deal"
THATS GOOD COME ON GUYS HOW WOULDNT WANT PEAVY ON THERE TEAM FOR A CHEAP CONTRACT!
Cubs traded Ceda to Marlins for Gregg
I just read an MLB Blog saying that the Marlins were in the middle of trading Kevin Gregg to the Cubs for Jose Ceda.....
The Cubs traded Ceda to the Marlins for their closer Kevin Gregg
ESPN WEBSITE
The Chicago Cubs have acquired Florida Marlins reliever Kevin Gregg for jose ceda
Joe S. - excellent post and very well thought out. I agree that Pierre wasn't a bust - it's just an example of a rental player for prospects trade that worked out better on the prospects end of thing for once.
The Cubs brought him in with the expectation of resigning him... and he chose the open market and we let him go - which with 20/20 hindsight is a great move LOL - his contract in LA is an albatross.
And I can't believe noone has mentioned the Ceda for Kevin Gregg deal yet.
Nice addition to the pen - he's not really the closer type even though he did well in the role for the Marlins a couple of years back - but he IS a solid innings eater type that works out quite well as a replacement to Howry.
I don't think this is a move that indicates anything one way or the other in regards to Wood - we needed this kind of guy in the pen either way with Howry leaving and Gregg is an upgrade over him anyway. Some reports indicate he'd set up for Marmol if Wood left - and he'd probably be in the mix for that but I don't think it's a matter of Hendry giving up on Wood - it's just a roster hole int he pen to fill.
LOL - ya'll beat me to the Gregg thing while I was writing my post :-)
Way to be on top of it CCO'ers
So Hendry just announced that Kerry Wood won't be back.
Sad to hear.
Brief article on www.chicagotribune.com
Wow, We just let Wood go and picked up a reliever whose stats aren't that impressive. And to boot, we traded one of our best propects (Ceda) to get him ??
Is it just me, or do you feel we just got worse today ? I don't get it.
Not too mention, Wood was a cub...his whole career. He was one of us. Ughh...
I hope JH has something else up his sleeve, cause I'm not liking this so far.
The only good thing are the extra draft picks we'll get for Wood.