Post latest rumors on the Roberts trade here...

[WebLink21]

This is my first post here, but I've been reading all of the posts on Bedard and Roberts for awhile. I don't think there is any way you guys are going to get 4 players from the Cubs for Roberts. I'm not an "insider", but everything that I've read basically says Pie and/or Colvin won't be part of this trade. I think McPhail will have to pick from 3 of the usual names mentioned: Gallagher, Cedeno, Patterson, Marshall, Murton, and Marquis (if a veteran pitcher is desired). As for adding Payton or Sherrill to the deal, I would think Marquis would definitely be added to balance salaries. We would love to have Roberts for a variety of reasons, but Piniella and Hendry feel comfortable with DeRosa at 2B.

Hey, welcome to the board. I am not attacking you at all here, but you said that, "McPhail will have to pick from 3 of the usual names mentioned." No offense but AM doesn't HAVE to pick from those names. He can easily hold on to Roberts and I think alot of us would understand. I really think that we need to get atleast ONE premier prospect and if the Cubs will not even give up someone like Colvin then we just need to look elsewhere for a deal. My point here is that he doesn't HAVE to take below market players. I think we have all learned to trust AM a little more after the last few deals. If he wants to wait for something better now. I am waiting with him.

[WebLink21]

If they like Colvin (not saying I do) that much, throw them a young arm, who is a little ways off. A zach britton, Jeff Moore, or wilfredo perez who have upside but aren't pushing to be invited to S/T.

No way would I just "throw them a Zach Britton." I like Britton and think he will be good soon. Let's give him some time. Especially not for someone like Colvin.

[McNulty]

Hey, welcome to the board. I am not attacking you at all here, but you said that, "McPhail will have to pick from 3 of the usual names mentioned." No offense but AM doesn't HAVE to pick from those names. He can easily hold on to Roberts and I think alot of us would understand. I really think that we need to get atleast ONE premier prospect and if the Cubs will not even give up someone like Colvin then we just need to look elsewhere for a deal. My point here is that he doesn't HAVE to take below market players. I think we have all learned to trust AM a little more after the last few deals. If he wants to wait for something better now. I am waiting with him.

And Colvin does not qualify as a premier prospect. Keith Law thinks, at his best, he is a fourth outfielder. Good point.

[Oriolesfan2008]

I dont know how Colvin could simply get a deal done. It seems as if he has little to no plate discipline. I'm not too high on him...

[Lester Freamon]

Here's what I was told as of last evening:

For the most part the FO does not feel the Cubs are a great match a this time.

They like Gallagher alot and he will be included in any deal.

Any deal will most likely require Payton going to the Cubs.

Gallagher is really the only pitcher we would look to get for the Cubs. They Cubs are giving away Mutton and Cedeno for the most part. They would moist likely be included in any deal.

For the 4th piece we would be looking for a non 40 man roster player. Colvin is the guy we've wanted. After Reimold the minor league system is pretty weak concerning outfield prospects. We feel we already have over a dozen young pitchers in the system better than Veal who is projected to be a reliever by many.

No word on a 5th player.

Bottom line is if the Cubs would take a deal of Gallagher, Murton, Cedeno, and Colvin for Roberts and Payton there is a chance of it happening.

My guys personal opinion is Roberts remains an O and we try to extend him.

Read into this as little or as much as you want.

Interesting stuff. Thank you very much, as always, bigbird.

If Gallagher, Murton, Cedeno and Colvin are what McPhail is interested in, then I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Hendy will back off his demand on not parting with Colvin.

All of this just makes me wonder if, since we're talking about a 4th player being included anyhow, McPhail has any interest in Patterson being the 4th player, instead of Colvin? Again, I don't want to upset any Cubs fans who may be reading this - just thinking out loud since it appears that 4 for 2 talks may be happening.

All along I've been of the opinion that we should deal Roberts, and I liked the possibly proposed, and much speculated upon, Gallagher, Murton, Cedeno and Veal deal. That being said, the O's clearly do not need to trade Roberts and the Cubs are not the team in most dire need of him. So, I am going to start asssuming that nothing will go down here, as much as I'd like to see it happen.

[Peace21]

Here's what I was told as of last evening:

For the most part the FO does not feel the Cubs are a great match a this time.

They like Gallagher alot and he will be included in any deal.

Any deal will most likely require Payton going to the Cubs.

Gallagher is really the only pitcher we would look to get for the Cubs. They Cubs are giving away Mutton and Cedeno for the most part. They would moist likely be included in any deal.

For the 4th piece we would be looking for a non 40 man roster player. Colvin is the guy we've wanted. After Reimold the minor league system is pretty weak concerning outfield prospects. We feel we already have over a dozen young pitchers in the system better than Veal who is projected to be a reliever by many.

No word on a 5th player.

Bottom line is if the Cubs would take a deal of Gallagher, Murton, Cedeno, and Colvin for Roberts and Payton there is a chance of it happening.

My guys personal opinion is Roberts remains an O and we try to extend him.

Read into this as little or as much as you want.

Thats a fair trade for both sides.

[FO2020]

Hey, welcome to the board. I am not attacking you at all here, but you said that, "McPhail will have to pick from 3 of the usual names mentioned." No offense but AM doesn't HAVE to pick from those names. He can easily hold on to Roberts and I think alot of us would understand. I really think that we need to get atleast ONE premier prospect and if the Cubs will not even give up someone like Colvin then we just need to look elsewhere for a deal. My point here is that he doesn't HAVE to take below market players. I think we have all learned to trust AM a little more after the last few deals. If he wants to wait for something better now. I am waiting with him.

I could be totally wrong here, but I haven't heard much about any other team really being interested in Roberts, if there was competition for him, you could argue that any of these deal could be above or below market value. But it's like selling a house, if I list my house at $350,000 and the only offer coming in is for $250,000, then I'd say I have my expectations of what I feel my house is worth a little too high.

At this point, I think we could all agree that if the Cubs aren't willing to trade Pie, Colvin or Hill, and Andy isn't willing to trade Roberts for anything less, then to not make a trade seems perfectly logical. But the fact that neither side is saying they aren't going to pursue it further, in fact just the opposite, leads me to believe that some people on this board (either O's fans for settling, or Cubs fans for giving up a Pie or Colvin, etc.) are going to be very disappointed soon.

I use the term "soon" loosely considering the speed of the Bedard trade.

[WebLink21]

And Colvin does not qualify as a premier prospect. Keith Law thinks, at his best, he is a fourth outfielder. Good point.

Thank you. IMO the only premier prospects that they have would be be Pie/Hill, but I understand them not wanting to part with either. Then they just seem to have a bunch up prospects that COULD work out if things went right (Colvin, Patterson, Cedeno, Veal, etc). Although I really like Gallagher. I like him more as the #2 in a deal. I just don't see how we can match up with them, but I have been wrong before.

[ChaosLex]

Thats a fair trade for both sides.

Agreed. What are your feelings on the Roberts situation, Peace?

[WebLink21]

I could be totally wrong here, but I haven't heard much about any other team really being interested in Roberts, if there was competition for him, you could argue that any of these deal could be above or below market value. But it's like selling a house, if I list my house at $350,000 and the only offer coming in is for $250,000, then I'd say I have my expectations of what I feel my house is worth a little too high.

At this point, I think we could all agree that if the Cubs aren't willing to trade Pie, Colvin or Hill, and Andy isn't willing to trade Roberts for anything less, then to not make a trade seems perfectly logical. But the fact that neither side is saying they aren't going to pursue it further, in fact just the opposite, leads me to believe that some people on this board (either O's fans for settling, or Cubs fans for giving up a Pie or Colvin, etc.) are going to be very disappointed soon.

I use the term "soon" loosely considering the speed of the Bedard trade.

I agree with you and the house buying scenario was very well put. I haven't heard alot about other teams wanting him. The point I was trying to make though is that we dont HAVE to deal Roberts. We don't have to just TAKE players if they aren't up to par. We can keep Roberts for now and maybe a 2B on another team goes down the 2nd week of the season and they give us a call. I like Roberts a lot as a player. I would be really disappointed if we just got rid of him for the sake of getting rid of him. I don't want to be unreasonable to the Cubs. I just think that Robets is worth ONE premier prospect.

[ChaosLex]

Here's what I was told as of last evening:

For the most part the FO does not feel the Cubs are a great match a this time.

They like Gallagher alot and he will be included in any deal.

Any deal will most likely require Payton going to the Cubs.

Gallagher is really the only pitcher we would look to get for the Cubs. They Cubs are giving away Mutton and Cedeno for the most part. They would moist likely be included in any deal.

For the 4th piece we would be looking for a non 40 man roster player. Colvin is the guy we've wanted. After Reimold the minor league system is pretty weak concerning outfield prospects. We feel we already have over a dozen young pitchers in the system better than Veal who is projected to be a reliever by many.

No word on a 5th player.

Bottom line is if the Cubs would take a deal of Gallagher, Murton, Cedeno, and Colvin for Roberts and Payton there is a chance of it happening.

My guys personal opinion is Roberts remains an O and we try to extend him.

Read into this as little or as much as you want.

Thanks bigbird. I could live with the O's hanging onto Roberts. That being said, I still think it'd take more than a 5/40 extension to keep him.

[Peace21]

Agreed. What are your feelings on the Roberts situation, Peace?

I think that if the Chicago and Baltimore media is drumming it up, and MacPhail has his main focus on this deal now, that its a strong possibility that he gets dealt.

[Bloopandablast]

Someone asked in this thread if the author in the Trib today was a reputable source. My only caution would be is that Phil Rogers of the Tribune is known far better for his baseball prowess than Paul Sullivan. Paul, I think it was just last year, was rotated off of the White Sox and back to the Cubs and it was definitely a trade down in terms of quality reporting.

Don't really know if he has established good sources from those around Hendry. Would actually trust him much more still with info from Kenny Williams.

[ChaosLex]

I think that if the Chicago and Baltimore media is drumming it up, and MacPhail has his main focus on this deal now, that its a strong possibility that he gets dealt.

I also think MacPhail has proven in his last two deals (i.e., Tejada and Bedard) that it's going to cost the Cubs dearly, if they want to acquire Roberts.

[tywright]

After Payton goes then Millar needs to be dealt for the 2B/SS

Cedeno 2b/ss

Murton DH/LF

Markakis

Huff DH/1b

Scott LF/1b

Hernandez

Jones

Mora/Moore

? 2b/ss (Millar)

Gibbons, Bynum, Moore, Redman

Guthrie

DCab

Loewen

Albers/Patton/Gallagher/Liz/Olsen/Penn