Hot Stove not so hot yet

With Ryan Dempster signed, sealed and delivered back to Wrigley Field for the next four years, it now appears the Cubs are not so eager to back up the truck for the services of Jake Peavy. Manager Lou Piniella made comments over the weekend that starting pitching is all set, but they will look for a veteran arm for the bullpen. 

Peavy would obviously be a top of the rotation guy in an already very solid lineup of Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Harden, plus Marquis/Marshall.  But from the rumors I’ve seen being a 5-for-1 trade involving Samardzjia, Cedeno, Hart, Marshall, prospect Donnie Veal and various others, Jim Hendrywould be giving up his entire inventory of tradable talent. Yes, if we knowthe Cubs would a) win the World Series, and b) do it in 2009, and c) achieve the championship due to Jake Peavy, then yes of course one would give all those guys up and more. However, if a trade like this were to happen and let’s say Peavy gets a sore elbow, then the cupboard is bare of trade bait. To me, not a worthy gamble. Obviously this has crossed Hendry’s mind too. 

Interesting to me that so few free agents have been signed so far this off-season.  Could this be a <gasp> market correction in MLB salaries at play? I wonder if perhaps Kerry Wood might even re-sign with his old team if the market did not prove all that lucrative after all?  Probably not, but the longer guys are on the market the less leverage they have. The baseball Winter Meetings will take place in lovely, beautiful, wonderful Las Vegas starting December 7th. Maybe some guys will get traded and start signing then?

Hot stove talk is fun, but so much of it is just talk generated by media types who need to talk about something. I pay attention to it all, but I don’t waste a lot of time on rumors during the off-season. If you want to read the best in the business at tracking rumors, you must see Tim Dierkes’ MLBtradeRumors.com he does an excellent job of collecting info from various credible sources.

Cubs GM Jim Hendry   Sweet Lou

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BallHype: hype it up!November 26, 2008   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella, observations, players, roster

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