well that stinks...i guess dreams never come true -crying- what could possibly be more important the getting an ace
this is two years in a row that the cubs disappoint me with trades that never happen

You see....too good to be true! That's why we have been jinxed for 100 years....excuse me 101. We haven't won a damn playoff game in 2 years, we have to give up whoever San Diego or the other teams want (whether it's Derosa, Marshall, Pie). Could you imagine:

Peavy
Zambrano
Dempster
Lilly
Harden

Peavy's a Cy Young winner and one of the best out there. MY GOD!

I'm going to go the other way Eddy - it was a matter of the Padres being backed into a corner by Peavy only wanting to be dealt to the Cubs... and then the Padres trying to figure out a way to demand 6 players in return (4 from Cubs - two from Philly if reports are right).

I'm with Hendry on this one even though I'm disappointed we didn't get Peavy.

He's been straight up all along - the priority for the Cubs this off season has been a lefty middle of the order bat. Plus there have been rumblings of trying to get a lead off hitter as well - but the lefty bat has been number one.

And he's said all along - that the Peavy thing wouldn't be his main focus until the lefty bat was signed.

....and then Towers comes out with the "it's this week or we're pulling him off the table - we owe it to Jake and our fans"

And although Towers went out and found teams and provided the Cubs with a scenario they thought would work.... apparently it included a player (DeRo) that the Cubs weren't that keen on including in ANY deal in the first place. So although he said "it's now in the Cubs hands - we have the names in place" it wasn't names the Cubs wanted to give up.

From an ESPN snippet prior to the report that the deal was off... "The Cubs' stance now, apparently, is that it should be up to the Padres to make a straight-up deal with the Cubs and then find a way to make the third team happy."

Actually to me this is a bravo to Hendry for not giving in to another team that's throwing around demands when that team (the Pads) have painted themselves into a corner.

While I would have loved to have Peavy... we still have the best rotation in our division without him. Our pressing needs (and there aren't many of them) lie in a table setter for the leadoff spot and a left middle of the order bat.

Still though - I await the Hendry bashing to begin LOL

I'm with Gary J. As it stands right now we have the best rotation in the national league. What we need is a left handed bat and a leadoff man. I'd much rather see the Cubs sign Abreau, Ibanez, or Bradley and then try to trade for someone like Roberts or Mclouth. By not getting Peavy that gives JH so much room to take care of immediate needs. I just hope they use that money they saved on Peavy and put good use to it.

It seems like Towers was getting greedy.
First of all, we don't have the farm system that produces the talent that he wanted in return. Therefore, another team had to be involved. We would weaken ourselves when Derosa would have to go along with Pie, Vitters, etc. We need a bat before we need another starting pitcher. Hendry has to unload marquis before even thinking of adding a Starter.

Im a little sad that they're not going to have the dream rotation if this report is legit. But...

It will probably end up better. We now know that Hendry is willing to look at big trades and sign a lefty also...perhaps sign the big lefty bat rightfielder and trade for someone like Brian Roberts? Hell if they don't want marquis they could trade him and sign Randy Johnson too. I think this will be a good decision in the long run. We can now improve the weak parts of our lineup rather thank making a good rotation a legendary one.

i wonder if we pulled out because we have found out that there is a possibility of aquiring roberts. with peole thinking w would trade dero. i would be open to letting go of dero if we could pull of roberts. as much as i love dero, roberts is the missing piece. bradley and roberts would sure up out lineup. this may be me dreaming but roberts would be a dream come true

A guy who might we worth watching is John Smoltz. Rumor in Atlanta is that the team likely will not offer an '09 contract. John should be ready by May after successful surgery, and the guy is a big time gamer, competitor and winner. He and Randy Johnson could be great one-year additions.

While a healthy Peavy would be a great asset it would hamstring the Cubs financial flexibility for years to come
and cost too much talent. I'm relieved they did not make the deal AT THIS TIME.
Let's address the true holes first...Lefty hitter/LeadOff/Bullpen and get rid of Marquis somehow.
My guess is Peavy will be traded this season...and he may still come to the Cubs...BUT the trade AT THIS TIME...with so many other questions to answer...didn't make sense.

How can anyone say that they're glad we didn't make that deal? I respect your opinion, but last years team needs some changes, I think we all know that it's obvious. Becuase some guys had a good year with us, and some prospect have potential and are doing well in the farm system doesn't mean we shouldn't mix it up a little. 4 guys is fine, even if they are young or left handed. Especially for a pitcher like Peavey. It just hits me when I had my hopes up for a guy like that and it's just a big disapointment. I just don't want to hang on to guys who we THINK is going to be awesome and turn out to be a big, again, disapointment. We've had that over the years in our farm system.

Its worth considering that Hendry, in spite of what Kenney is saying, does not have clearance to execute the trade or only has clearance if it is payroll neutral. After all, the organization is in Chapter 11 Bankrupcy with court oversight and its BS that the Cubs operations are not at all being influenced.

For anyone interested, the Rule 5 draft is over... results are up on the Baseball America site at http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1829

As expected someone picked up Veal (Pirates - 4th pick). Makes sense for them to take a shot given their whole "small market" thing.

Also of note - looks like the Orioles lost former Cub Rocky Cherry to the Mets in the second round.

Apparently we lost two players in the AAA round (which until I saw the results, I never realized even existed LOL) - they were named I hadn't heard before though and didn't really care :-)

If you're interested, they are included in the link above.

Peavy would be great but at what cost??? Glad to see this didn't go through. Peavy will be traded by the all-star break. And he has said all along that he wants to go to the Cubs. The Padres will be awful next season so Peavy will want out of San Diego. Glad to see this not go through. YET.

What does eeryone think about Milton Bradley??? I hae been against him because he's nuts but saw an interiew with him and he was saying that being around Josh Hamilton has really humbled him and he looks at things differently. He has great #'s but he has a checkered past.

Looks like Veal will stay with the Pirates all year. They need pitching badly and could just throw him in the bullpen all year. Don't see him coming back.

Just saw the Cubs traded for some reliever in the rule 5. It's on MLBTR.

I'm glad the Towers' circus has folded its tent. Hopefully, JH has been working on lefty bats, because they won't last long. My take is Teixeira signs within a week and that Ibanez will go to the Angels if Tex goes elsewhere. Abreu likely goes to the good team that can spare 3 and $35 mil (hopefully, the Cubs). That leaves Bradley and Dunn among the "names". Bradley could work out well and would certainly give us all something to worry about. I don't like Dunn's overall game.

A lefty bat that could help a lot is Koskie. He's more of a platooner, but he has played often in right and hit 18 or 19 of his 20 HR's last year against RH pitchers. Koskie can play 3B and 1B too. I think Hoffpauir gives us a good lefty bat, a replacement for Lee if Lee goes down and a marginal OF. Then there is the Teahen that others mention and my "adopted" son, aka Seth Smith who are available and would help.

So, let's get something done JH. Time and talent will start moving more quickly now.

so where does this leave us at?
i still don't want Marquis in our rotation...so, if we were to trade him we'd need another starter, unless we went with Marshall.
then there's RF, which we will probly end up going with Milton Bradley (tho he isn't my top choice)

---i think that hendry may be calling this deal off, but maybe he's thinking about how much DeRo is worth. Maybe, even tho i'm a huge DeRosa fan, he may thinking about trading him for our RF and Marquis for some salary relief.
Think about it, maybe then we could bring in FURCAL and platoon Theriot and Fontenot...I kindof like the idea.

Thoughts?

Peavy's agent said that Towers was asking for too much while dealing from a position of weakness.

Not many teams could afford his salary and they were clearly trying to dump Peavy's salary in the deal. Kudos to Hendry for having the balls to back off.

In my opinion, Towers saw the Cubs as his last real shot at getting a deal done and hyped up the public to try to force Hendry's hand. I kept thinking it was pretty rare for a GM to directly give up so much info to the media about a possible trade. Wouldn't be surprised if this strains relations between the two GMs.

I agree with most of you. Good move by JH. The cubs have all the leverage, there is NO reason for them to jump at whatever deal the Padres are throwing at them. And I still say that Peavy is good, but overrated.

We have other pressing needs with finite resources (money and prospects) in which to acquire them.

And just becuase the cubs say they are pulling out, it doesn't mean the deal is dead. There is still a looooong way to go before ST starts. Today's deadline was imposed by Towers, artificially. There is plenty of gamesmanship that goes on with this stuff. Don't forget, the Padres have a real need to dump this guy because of the money, and from a baseball standpoint, they are so far away from being a contender again, keeping Peavy will do them no good. Those are powerful incentives for them to dump him, and the cubs are the only team out there that peavy will go to. JH is trying to drive down the price. Good move.

Hilarious quote in this article about the deal...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-teixeiranegotiations121108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns&expire=1

"the Cubs remain optimistic that they can acquire Peavy, all but ignoring Towers’ self-imposed deadline"

Also about Marquis and a possible deal to the Mets from Heyman at SI...

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/31481-mets-cubs-talking-marquis-trade

...so basically Hendry continues to do what he says he'd do - find a taker for Marquis to free salary, get a lefty bat, and then finalize the Peavy deal when he's ready LOL

can't wait until next offseason when its back to roberts. He will be a free agent if the orioles don't resign him and everyone will expect the cubs to sign him after last offseason.

if we get roberts it would probably be next year if/when he hits free agency. WE havea 2 year window suposedly so if we get him next year and get someone like bradly for 2 years then we could free up money and get prospects after the 10 season.

It is too bad not to be able to get an ace like Peavy, but the main things is to fill the need we still have for power lefty. This also allows us to keep some key trade parts in case you know who (B.R.) becomes available again. Adding two lefties to our line up and the possibility of Koske turning it around will make the line up really balanced. I only wonder if Jim Hendrey decided the price was too high or if the sale of the team held up the trade? I continue to hate having the sale hanging over the teams head, I feel that is limiting things more than they are telling.

Couldn't have said it better CubbieBlue18. Another plus, we keep Vitters - this may have been the best deal we didn't make.

I don't see MIL or STL getting any stronger either.

David F....Thank you for rescuing me from a senior moment. I meant Eric Hinske of the Rays and not Corie Koskie. I was recalling my remarks about Hinskie from several days ago--and obviously not well at all.

He was .262-19-55 in 312 AB's against righties, stole a dozen or so bases and played mostly RF. I don't think he has re-signed, and at age 31 he could be an excellent platoon guy for a few years--maybe with DeRo in RF. I am recalling also that he also plays 3B and 1B.

Bad move by Hendry.
Stars make winning teams...not super-subs.

Saying DeRosa was untouchable in a trade makes as much sense as when I heard in the past that Angel Guzman was untouchable, as was Felix Pie, as was Rich Hill, as was Mark Prior.

blah

He is a legit Cy Young winner, and isn't over 30!

Hendry went and got Derrick Lee in a trade, that no one saw coming. 1B wasn't supposed to be a need that year, and Hendry stated he did it because young talent in their prime years should always be desired.

I am guessing Harden has a great year, and we lose him to free agency. Dempster was just overpaid by us, and Lilly could very well be bad in his final year, as age catches up.

Outside of Zambrano, this staff can get old in a hurry. Plus, Marquis is still our 5th at this point.

Why wouldn't you upgrade your 5th starter with an Ace/Cy Young winner, at the expense of your super-utility guy, and some unproven farm guys?!?!

You hope your farm guys become Peavy!!!
Peavy is what you want your farm to produce!!!

Insanity.

Now Hendry will go get the 37 yr old Ibanez, give him a 4 yr contract, and he will be bad his last two years, or, at best, he hits 20 hrs. Huh? Why do we want this mediocre talent?

Not seeing anything good this offseason so far: letting Wood go, got nothing for Veal (guess he wasn't all that), still have no CF, have no backup catcher.

Don't get me wrong...we are still a good team. I am just saying that this offseason has not been good so far.

Have to wait until ST to get the final verdict...a lot of Winter still left!

I am dying here...just read the Trib article, in which Hendry is said to have not wanted to part with Vitters, who SHOULD figure into the Cubs' future in 2011 or 2012, depending on what Aramis Ramirez does.

What?!?!?!

We are worried about 3B position in 2011?

Angel Guzman, Rich Hill, Felix Pie, Tyler Colvin...blah blah...all "untouchable".

Now it is the mighty Vitters who is too important, POSSIBLY, in three years, for us to trade for a Cy Young winner.

Hendry will give players away for a 1-yr of Juan Pierre, but not for a young Cy Young winner under contract for multiple years?

Huh?