Peavy or Giles Will Be Traded!

UPDATE- 10:00am- Lee Hamilton reported on MLB Live Late Edition on Monday night that the Cubs and Padres have renewed trade talks for Peavy according to his sources. He said the Padres must "get pitching back for Peavy" and he is hearing Sean Marshall, Garrett Olson, Kevin Hart and Jeff Stevens to San Diego for Peavy. He said Josh Vitters may not be involved and his sources said the Cubs pulled out the first time because they do not want to trade Josh Vitters.

I still think the Cubs will have to include Vitters but that package above is very impressive. I hate to give up Marshall because he is insurance if a pitcher goes down. I would prefer Vitters, Olson, Hart, Hill, and Cedeno.


Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the Padres are 4-5 million over budget and need to trade Peavy or Giles to relieve payroll. The problem is that both have no trade clauses and Peavy will only go to Chicago and Giles seems to want to go no where. The obvious move would to trade Peavy to Chicago but the ownership situation needs to be resolved somewhat( which will be by midweek when we find out who the Tribune picks.)

The Padres need to also address other concerns in their field as well as farm system. They cannot add anymore players until one is dealt which means they need to deal Peavy or Giles soon and before Opening Day at the latest. Talks could be revisited soon but has not started yet.

Here is some quotes and tidbits from both articles-

"Right now, what we have projected is between $44 million and $45 million,” Alderson said Friday. Asked if that number is about $5 million above budget, Alderson said, “Right now, it would be."

The risk factors of floating salary in anticipation of making a trade are numerous. Injury, for one. “Poor performance is another potential factor,” Alderson said.

The Cubs remain the most likely trade destination for Peavy. Asked about the Dodgers, who also are among Peavy's preferred clubs, Alderson said, “I don't see anything there.” Since November, the Padres have considered the Angels as “lurkers” for Peavy.

I have had no discussions with the Cubs or any other club about Peavy since the winter meetings, so there is really nothing to update," Padres General Manager Kevin Towers said via e-mail last night. "Our position remains the same. We are not pursuing other clubs about potentially moving Jake and nobody has contacted us either since the winter meetings."

"Obviously, we took note of the trade that took place (Sunday)," Axelrod said Monday, en route to an appointment with Peavy. "You would certainly not be out of line to surmise from all of (the Cubs' moves) that they might be working toward something. But I haven't heard a word that anything is different."

Because Peavy's e-mail is overflowing, my interview request to the Padres' pitching ace bounced back unanswered last week. A subsequent voicemail message remains unreturned. Efforts to contact Peavy through the Padres finally produced a phone call from the player's agent, Barry Axelrod, Saturday morning.


Axelrod is a man of exquisite manners, but his answer, nonetheless, was no. Peavy can be expected to continue in cone-of-silence mode until he reports to spring training.

Where he will report, however, remains unresolved.



MORE ON THIS TO COME!