-Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune says Peavy would prefer to stay in the National League and wants to play for a winning ball club. Jake's agent Barry Axelrod mentioned Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, LA, and St. Louis as cities that fit for Jake and his family. The Angels also intrigue Peavy but the AL still remains a longshot to land him. Since it Houston and St. Louis are in the mix for Jake then expect the Cubs to become even bigger players for the Ace. The last thing the Cubs need is for the Astros or the Cards to get their hands on the hard throwing righty. So the Cubs are guaranteed to get involved in trade talks in my opinion considering he would help round out the rotation and the idea of him on the a NL central ballclub besides the Cubs is scary.
- Len Kasper was on the score yesterday and he said he does not expect the Cubs to trade Lee nor does he think the Cubs got swept the past 2 years because of him. I do agree it is not completely the gold glove first baseman fault it was the entire team. I do think a trade for Lee will not happen but it is still a possible and it does help you have a guy named Micah Hoffpauier who destroyed the pitchers in AAA and did well in MLB in his short time there. So a trade of Lee could be handled a little bit easier now than lets say last year. Kasper also said he thinks Jim will be quiet this offseason with little changes to the team. This I do not agree with, we already hear names like Peavy, Dunn, Furcal, etc...and he thinks Jim will be quiet?!?! I doubt that Len!
4 comments:
Ok, lets make a huge swap with the Padres. Include Lee and whoever they want for Peavy and Gonzalez. He fills a need for a power lefty, and he would hit 40 dingers in Wrigley. This is extreme wishful thinking but it is nice to think about.
Also why does everyone assume that Micah is a proven MLB player. The guys got talent, but <100 at bats tells nothing about a player. Lets just get Gonzalez and Peavy and Sign Dunn for Right Field and Furcal at Short. Then we have a nice line-up.
Furcal
DeRosa
Gonzo
Ramirez
Dunn
Soriano
Soto
Fukudome
Love that Balance. Lets keep dreamin'! (This will never happen)
Anonymouses... please post a name at the bottom. I want to know who is who... its all part of the fun of this blog to hear peoples ideas.
I can see Len's opinion. Due to the ownership question marks the worst case scenario might be a quite off season, Hendry going into the 09 season as a lame duck, or even a purchase and the team being gutted and started from scratch. The last part is an extreme, but the first two are very realistic possiblities mentioned in chicagosports.com I think it was.
I also agree Lee isnt the only one to blame for the past two playoffs. In fact despite his double play ridden season my respect for him went up in Game 3 cause of the energy he showed after he got the late inning double, trying to fire up the team.
But lets face it, its becoming more and more obvious that his triple crown threatening season was a career year/exception than the norm. And that error in Game 2 stil bothers me. Lastly, he isnt a kick you in the A kind of team leader, but a quiet, lead by example leader. So I dont mind seeing him go.
Joe
Here is an interesting suggestion. I was poking around the stats this evening and was comparing the numbers at second base. It turns out that Soriano is just about the equivalent of Mark Derosa over there. So my thinking would be to move Soriano over to second again, this would further maximize his value as a hitter and he is actually really good at turning the double play. Move Derosa to right where he is actually a shade below Fukudome defensively. Then you would open up left field for Dunn if you choose to (I would). Then if you wanted to go ahead and make a play for Peavy and Gonzalez as previously mentioned go for it (although I highly doubt we have the pieces to land these guys). I like Furcal, but I think it is highly unlikely he signs elsewhere. We tried to get him three years ago and that didn't work out too well. So now if all goes to plan you have: Dunn, Fukudome/Johnson and Derosa across the outfield. Ramirez, Theriot(maybe Furcal), Soriano, Lee(maybe Gonzalez) around the horn. That is pretty good defensively(not any worse than last year) and a really balanced line-up. Then if all goes to plan the rotation would set up Z, Peavy, Harden, Lily, Dempster (in no particular order) with Marshall and Marquis as spot starters/long men. Get Woody back in the pen bring up a few young guys ala Ceda and hopefully Ascanio progresses, maybe sign a proven reliever like Dan Wheeler, Fuentes, Rafael Soriano, or Okajima (one of these guys) and we are in business. I like this, but tell me what you think (it is alot of wishful thinking). Please note that these are suggestions....
ACW i like your idea of Soriano going back to 2nd. He can't play any worse defense at 2nd then he does in the ourfield. But thats only if we can't get Roberts or Hudson to play 2nd.
I don't dislike Lee or think he's not a great player. I just think since we have a Hoffpauir and Lee makes about 13 million more why not trade him for something we need.
Furcal is going to resign with the Dodgers. I do like seeing everyones wish list keep them coming.
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