Cubs showing interest in Bedard

[Sports Guy]

I don't see the Orioles waiting on Vitters until June...A lot can happen in that time frame.

The Cubs would have to come to the table with Pie, Gallagher, Hill, Marmol, Murton, Veal and take on a bad contract IMO.

[Sports Guy]

What are you talking about? It's been done before.

Are we talking just Bedard at this point or a package of Bedard/Roberts?

When?

I have never heard of this before....A team waiting designating a player right now and then waiting 6 months to take possession of that player?

What happens if he gets hurt? Dies? Gets into a car accident and goes into a coma?

Then, one of the key pieces in the trade, for 2 of your star players, is big time damaged goods or never plays for ever.

I just don't see that happening.

[Whistle Pig]

If the Cubs are interested in Bedard then the O's will keep them in the discussion even though the best deal is probably with Seattle. The Cubs interest is probably the reason that Roberts hasn't been traded yet. If the Mariners or Reds meet the price for Bedard then Roberts can finally be dealt to the Cubs. If the Reds and Mariners fail to meet the asking price then AM keeps the Cubs in the discussion and holds onto Roberts for a potential blockbuster.

[Sports Guy]

\

I will find an example. In the rare possibilities that you cited, I honestly don't know, but what's the difference of said player getting hurt in the Cubs farm system, as opposed to our farm system?

The difference is under our watch, we can monitor the player more.

Under another team's watch, you have no idea what they are doing.

[ACE]

I still think we get more value in the end by trading Bedard & Roberts in seperate deals. Everytime I see a Bedard/Roberts combo deal, we are getting a hyuuge quantity of players back. I can't imagine any GM stamping off on 5-8 player coming back with a good portion of the haul being highly ranked prospects.

[Rocky1983]

My thoughts are that AM is having his buddy Hendry leak some information in order to get more out of the Mariners, or Reds more likely. I do not think the Cubs have talent comparable to Jones from the M's and Votto/Bailey/Bruce from the Reds. I say this report is a leveraging ploy.

[davearm]

The Cubs are definitely in the hunt for another starter. A "premiere AL starter" to be more specific.

Bedard is one of the names on their radar. I can't say whether he's the top target, but he's one of a handful of guys they're looking hard at. Blanton and Burnett are two others.

Hendry feels he's got a nice inventory of tradeable parts, and most expect that he's got one and possibly two significant moves left to make.

All based on various media and "insider" reports.

[Sports Guy]

Now you're being silly. We aren't talking about a pitcher here. The one thing working against Vitters is the 6 month rule and the fact that he signed late. However, read this anyway and learn something. lol

http://www.mlb4u.com/wiki/index.php/Trading_Rules

What was this supposed to teach me?

That is obvious...No one is debating that.

I am just saying the risk is too great and I am not sure it has ever been done and for good reason.

It is one thing to trade Javy Lopez and get Adam Stern a few months later...It is another to trade an ace and not get the key to trade for another 6 months.

[LookitsPuck]

Can't imagine they include Hill in a trade for Bedard...Makes no sense.

Don't apply logic to this. You're talking about a team that gave up Scott, Cherry, and Novoa for 2 months of Trachsel (plus part of his salary, right?).

[Sports Guy]

Now you've heard that it can be done. Seemed like you didn't know it. I will educate you some more by citing an example. It has been done.

I knew it COULD be done but I never heard of it being done, at least not at this level of a trade.

[davearm]

My thoughts are that AM is having his buddy Hendry leak some information in order to get more out of the Mariners, or Reds more likely. I do not think the Cubs have talent comparable to Jones from the M's and Votto/Bailey/Bruce from the Reds. I say this report is a leveraging ploy.

Hendry is out to improve his team. It's not his style to mess around with leveraging ploys.

If Bedard is talking to MacPhail about Bedard, it's because he's serious about acquiring him.

The guys the Cubs have are a grade below the very top-shelf guys like Jones and Bailey, but what they have is a) much greater depth of valuable, "next tier" players, and b) a greater willingness to move them than most other teams seem to have.

In the end, MacPhail will have to choose between two "top-shelf" guys from the M's or Reds, or a package of 4 or 5 "next tier" guys from the Cubs.

I don't know which he will choose, but he does now have two separate significant 5-for-1 deals on his resume (Viola, Tejada), so the latter option is certainly in play it would seem.

[Hank Scorpio]

Hendry is out to improve his team. It's not his style to mess around with leveraging ploys.

If Bedard is talking to MacPhail about Bedard, it's because he's serious about acquiring him.

The guys the Cubs have are a grade below the very top-shelf guys like Jones and Bailey, but what they have is a) much greater depth of valuable, "next tier" players, and b) a greater willingness to move them than most other teams seem to have.

In the end, MacPhail will have to choose between two "top-shelf" guys from the M's or Reds, or a package of 4 or 5 "next tier" guys from the Cubs.

I don't know which he will choose, but he does now have two separate significant 5-for-1 deals on his resume (Viola, Tejada), so the latter option is certainly in play it would seem.

Which would you take?

[Sports Guy]

Hendry is out to improve his team. It's not his style to mess around with leveraging ploys.

If Bedard is talking to MacPhail about Bedard, it's because he's serious about acquiring him.

The guys the Cubs have are a grade below the very top-shelf guys like Jones and Bailey, but what they have is a) much greater depth of valuable, "next tier" players, and b) a greater willingness to move them than most other teams seem to have.

In the end, MacPhail will have to choose between two "top-shelf" guys from the M's or Reds, or a package of 4 or 5 "next tier" guys from the Cubs.

I don't know which he will choose, but he does now have two separate significant 5-for-1 deals on his resume (Viola, Tejada), so the latter option is certainly in play it would seem.

They may have a greater willingness but I am not sure they have the better depth. That is a close call IMO.

[UMterp08]

If Bedard is talking to MacPhail about Bedard, it's because he's serious about acquiring him.

How would that work exactly?

The guys the Cubs have are a grade below the very top-shelf guys like Jones and Bailey, but what they have is a) much greater depth of valuable, "next tier" players, and b) a greater willingness to move them than most other teams seem to have.

In the end, MacPhail will have to choose between two "top-shelf" guys from the M's or Reds, or a package of 4 or 5 "next tier" guys from the Cubs.

I agree with this mostly. The Reds do have quite a bit of depth to go along with their top teir talent. But we probably wouldn't be getting much of that depth back along with two top tier guys. So in the end I think you nailed it.

I think most people here would much prefer 2 top tier guys than 5 next-tier guys, and I've got to think that MacPhail agrees. You can only find room for so many guys in your organization. 5-for-1 made sense for Tejada, but it doesn't for Bedard.

I don't think there's any way to know how serious these discussions are. My gut tells me they are mostly a ploy though. GMs do it all the time, Hendry included I'm sure. It's just a way of putting a little pressure on teams to speed up the process.

[Sports Guy]

I would Clement, Jones and Tillman over a Cubs offer....And, if the Cubs put 5 or 6 guys on the table, i think we could get the M's to throw in another player(maybe Sherrill?)

The bigger question is, could we also get either team to back a guy like Huff in the deal?

I still like the idea of Clement, Jones, Tillman and Sexson for Bedard and Huff.

If we can eek out another player from the M's that would be good as well.