More Gonzalez Trade Rumors

Wednesday December 30, 2009

There are more Adrian Gonzalez trade rumors floating around and this time they involve the Chicago Cubs in a 3 team deal with the Boston Red Sox.

The rumor seems to have started when Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune posted the following on the 27th of this month:

"Worth watching: If the Red Sox wind up with Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, the Cubs immediately would make a major effort to land Jacoby Ellsbury to fill their center field/leadoff hole, according to sources.

That scenario helps explain why the Cubs have been so patient in studying their options. The best way to do such a trade might be for GM Jim Hendry to facilitate a three-team deal that sends first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres to the Red Sox by packaging a group of prospects, possibly including one or two of their top ones, such as third baseman Josh Vitters, shortstop Hak-Ju Lee and pitchers Andrew Cashner and Jay Jackson."

There have been several blogs including Bleacher Report that have talked about Ellsbury going to the Cubs and Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox and the Padres getting multiple stupid packages. Almost all of the trades I have seen in those blogs involve both Anderson and Vitters, both of who the Padres don't need.

I have read a couple of  trade propositions on a Cubs blog that I thought the Padres might just say yes to.
They included :

Cubs getting Ellsbury and Lars Anderson.

Red Sox getting Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres and Jay Jackson or John Gaub from the Cubs

Padres getting Buchholz, Kelly, and Kalish or Westmoreland from the Red Sox and Cashner or Samardzija, and Hak-Ju Lee or Castro from the Cubs.

This trade probably has WAY too many moving parts to ever get done, but it would make sense for all 3 teams.

Buchholz moves into the Padres starting rotation immediately. Blanks then moves to 1B for the Padres. As far as the other pieces go, Castro could be a Padre before the end of 2010, but Kalish, Kelly, Cashner and Lee are all several years away from being major leaguers.

Ellsbury fills the Cubs hole in CF and gives them a true leadoff hitter. Anderson provides the heir apparent for Derrek Lee.

The addition of Adrian Gonzalez makes the Red Sox the favorite to win the AL East.

Is this a trade you think the Padres brass would move on?

Do you think a package of those players would improve the Padres team enough to justify moving Adrian Gonzalez now instead of at the trading deadline?

Mat Latos starting to show signs of wearing down

Wednesday August 19, 2009

Promising San Diego Padres prospect Mat Latos is showing signs of tiring after throwing 109 2/3 innings this season over 3 levels of baseball from A ball to the majors.

Tonight he gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks through 3 2/3 innings in the Padres 7-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park. He consistently left his pitches up in the zone and even though he was consistently hitting 96-97 mph on the gun, he got pounded in the 3rd and 4th innings.

With the Padres publicly saying they don't want him to go any more than double his 56 innings pitched in 2008, this was probably the last we will see of Latos starting for the Padres in 2009.

We may see a couple of outings from him coming out of the bullpen, but I doubt the Padres are willing to take a chance on him injuring himself just to extend his stay in San Diego in what is pretty much already a lost season for the team.

I would presume that after what we saw in his first 4 starts, Latos WILL be back in a Padres uniform to start the 2010 season.

Sean Gallagher is about ready to join the team and Carrillo redeemed himself in last nights start after a shaky 1st start, so Latos does not need to pitch just to fill a slot in the rotation.

Poreda may also be called up to fill his spot in the rotation.

WOW! Two Milestones in one game!

Tuesday August 18, 2009

In a 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs tonight at Petco Park, San Diego Padres players had two milestones.

Cesar Carrillo recorded his first Major League win and Kyle Blanks hit the Padres first inside the park home run at Petco Park.

Kevin Kouzmanoff went 3 for 4 with 2 rbi, Everth Cabrera continued to be hot going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored, and Adrian Gonzalez added his 33rd home run, a solo shot in the 5th.

With the win tonight, the Padres have now won 3 of their last 4 series.

Wondering what E Amus Catuli really means?

Monday May 25, 2009 - Memorial Day - Hug a Sailor, Marine or Soldier today!

If you were wondering what the scoreboard signs welcoming Eaumus Catuli or the t-shirts on some Cubs fans that said Eamus Catuli meant, here is the REAL stroy.

Some Cub fan a few years back that failed latin started a story that it means Go Cubs. You can even see signs on buildings around Wrigley that say Eamus Catuli.

Let me correct them.
1st off it is e amus catuli.
E amus means to go or to walk or to march.
Catuli means young dog or puppy.

So the saying "e amus catuli" literally means to walk the young dog.

I guess it is fitting. The Cubs have been playing like dogs lately and Cubs fans always like to think of them as underdogs since they have not been able to get to or win a world series.

Update:
For those angry Cubs fans who have emailed or posted comments:

From the University of Notre Dame Latin-English Dictionary

catul.i              N      2 1 GEN S M                
catul.i              N      2 1 LOC S M                
catul.i              N      2 1 NOM P M                
catul.i              N      2 1 VOC P M                
catulus, catuli  N  M   [XAXCO] 
young dog, puppy, whelp; dog (any age); young of any animal;

catul.i              V      4 1 PRES ACTIVE  IMP 2 S   
catulio, catulire, -, -  V  INTRANS   [XAXEO]    uncommon
be in heat, desire to mate; (e.g., a bitch);

Padres Sweep the Home Stand!

Sunday May 24, 2009

Today San Diego Padres fans got the chance to witness something that the Padres had never done before in 40 years as a franchise.

With a 7-2 win over the Chicago Cubs today, the Padres swept a 9 game home stand!

That is amazing!

In the 1200+ games I have attended in San Diego over the last 24 seasons I thought I had seen everything with the exception of a Padre no hitter or a Padre hit for the cycle.

I was wrong.

So are the no hitter and cycle coming soon?

Chris Young took a no hitter into the top of the 5th, but a single by Mike Fontenot to CF broke it up. Young has taken 2 no hitters into the 8th inning in the past 2 seasons. Will he be the one to finally get a Padres no hitter? Or will it be Jake Peavy who has been lights out in his last two outings.

Today's game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 5th and was shaping up to be a low scoring pitchers duel. Then after a fly ball from Nick Hundley for the 1st out, the Padres strung together a single, double and an intentional walk to load the bases for pitcher Chris Young.

Young came through with a single to center to drive in two runs. The next batter, David Eckstein laid down a suicide squeeze that scored Josh Wilson and Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly threw the ball away so everyone was safe.

The Cubs never seriously threatened even after Reed Johnson hammered a two run shot to deep left field. It was the Cubs 7th straight loss.

Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in 4 runs with a double in the 6th and a 3 run shot to left field in the 7th that put the final nail in the Cubs coffin.

With this win the Padres have fought and clawed their way back to .500 on the season.

The 2nd place Padres are now just 7.5 games back of the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers and just 4 games back in the wild card race.

So folks, its time to take a sip of the kool aid and start to believe.

Giles drives in two again to pace Padres 8th straight win!

Sunday May 24, 2009

Wee hours of the morning.

It is soooo much fun to watch the Padres beat the Cubs at Petco. Cubs fans come out in numbers only seen when the Dodgers are in town and try to make themselves at home in our house. They can be arrogant and more than a little obnoxious.

When the Padres beat them it is awesome to be able to throw it back at them.

Tonight Brian Giles drove in two runs for his 2nd straight game and the San Diego Padres defeated the Chicago Cubs 3-1 at Petco Park.

It was the Padres 8th straight win on the home stand.

Josh Geer pitched 6 2/3 innings for the win, giving up 5 hits and just 1 run on a Derrek Lee home run in the 2nd. Geer struck out 7 and walked none. Geer has been either outstanding or terrible in his 6 starts this season. Tonight he had pin point control and the result was a great outing.

Cubs rookie starting pitcher Randy Wells came into the game having not given up a run in 16 1/3 innings on the year. He went 7 innings giving up just 5 hits, but was stung for 3 earned runs.

Alfonso Soriano took the night off and there were rumors he argued with Cubs manager Lou Piniella after going 1 for 5 with 3 strike outs in last nights game.

Sunday's game will see Chris Young going for the Padres 9th straight win and 3rd straight series sweep.

7 in a ROW and 2nd place too!

Saturday May 23, 2009

7 Wins in a Row and the Padres move into 2nd place in the NL West.

Just home from the game and it was a beauty! Jake Peavy threw his second straight gem and the bullpen once again shut the door as the San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs for their 7th win in a row.

In his first start as a Padre, Tony Gwynn Jr. led off the game with a walk and doubled in the 5th inning, scoring both times. Gwynn's first two plate appearances as a Padre resulted in a walk and he eventually scored a run both times.

Brian Giles went 1 for 2 with a walk and drove in two runs. For a guy that is hitting only .166, it is amazing that he already has 17 rbi.

Adrian Gonzalez broke out of his slump on this home stand with an opposite field blast in the 7th. Gonzalez is tied with Raul Ibanez for the major league lead in home runs with 16.

Peavy threw 6 innings of shutout ball allowing just 2 hits while striking out 10 in a dominating performance for his 4th win of the season. After the failed trade attempt earlier in the week, Peavy showed amazing poise and focus. Peavy lowered his era to 3.48 for the season.

Luke Gregerson pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Edward Mujica went 1 full inning without allowing a run before giving way to closer Heath Bell with 2 out in the 9th after giving up a pair of singles to Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot.

Bell walked Kusuke Fukudome before inducing a pop foul to the 1st base side from Cubs 1st baseman Derrek Lee for his 12th save of the season.

There was a scary moment in the 1st inning when Eckstein squared around to bunt and was hit by a Zambrano fastball in the upper chest. Eck stayed down for several minutes before getting up and taking his base. This was the 2nd game in a row that he was hit by a pitch after taking a 97 mph fastball in the arm from Giants closer Brian Wilson last night and he was replaced in the field by Edgar Gonzalez in the top of the 2nd.

Peavy plunked Cubs 3B Bobby Scales in the leg in what appeared to be a retaliatory fashion to start the 2nd inning and both benches recieved warnings, but there was no escalation or altercations.

Carlos Zambrano, in his first start since returning from the diabled list, went 4 2/3 innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 7. It was Zambrano's 2nd loss of the season.

Happy Easter! What did the bunny leave in your egg?

Sunday April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny delivered the San Diego Padres a Right Handed SP/RP in former A and Cub Chad Gaudin.

Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that the Padres signed Gaudin to a minor league yesterday.

The 26 year old Gaudin had a 3.59 era in 26 appearances (6 starts) for the A's and a 6.26 era in 24 appearances for the Cubs after being traded in early July last season as part of the deal for Rich Harden. Overall Gaudin was 9-5 with a 4.40 ERA in 50 appearances in 2008.

In 2007 he made 34 starts for the A's and had an 11-13 record and a 4.42 era over 199.1 innings.

Since he was used only as a reliever last season and in spring training by the Cubs, Gaudin would have to begin in the pen or spend time in the minors to build up his arm strength to start for the Padres in 2009.

Expect to see him join AAA Portland until the Padres have an injury or see ineffectiveness in the pitching staff. So far there is no spot for him on staff that is already overmanned with few pitchers having options.

Why the Cubs Need Jake Peavy

Why the Cubs Need Jake Peavy.

January 26, 2009

The Padres and the Cubs have been kicking around the idea of a Peavy to the Cubs trade since the Winter Meetings.

There have been discussions set forth that argue pros and cons of Peavy being traded and from both sides of the issue Cubs and Padres).

I am going to set down here why I think the Cubs NEED Peavy broken down into 3 issues or areas.
1) The Cubs team shortcomings in 2008.
2) The Cubs team shortcomings in 2009.
3) How those weaknesses were exposed in the 2008 playoffs.

Then I am going to tell you the one critical skill Jake Peavy brings to the table that will help the Cubs finally win a World Series regardless of their other weaknesses as a team.

1) Cubs shortcoming in 2008

While the Cubs had a nice regular season in 2008, they proved that they did not have the dominating pitching necessary to shut down a good offensive team and their mediocre defense was exposed under pressure.

The 1st problem was pitchers unable to go late into games.

Throughout 2008, Dempster consistently collapsed when forced to pitch with a high pitch count. For the season, after 90 pitches his era increased to 4.50 and over 100 pitches it increased to over 6.00. Career its even worse with an ERA of 4.90 after pitch 90.

Lilly was even worse in 2008, with an ERA of 10.18 after the 90th pitch.

In game One of the playoffs, Dempster completely collapsed when he got close to 100 pitches and gave up 4 earned runs and got only 2 outs in the 5th inning.

In game Three, Harden could only go 4.1 innings and the bullpen had to pick up the slack.

With Harden injured and likely to only make half his starts in 2009, this problem figures to be worse.

The 2nd problem was head to head.

Dempster and the other Cubs pitchers not named Zambrano were not able to step up their game and be better than the other teams best, the other teams Ace. Overall Cubs pitchers other than Zambrano had a .372 winning percentage against the other teams #1. Not good.

In the playoffs you are facing the other teams best.

In games One and Three of the 2008 playoffs a good pitcher was unable to step up and be a stopper. That was the whole problem. Good pitchers, not great pitchers, were not able to step it up a notch against the superior competition you find in the playoffs.

The defense gave up a 3rd game.

That brings us to the 3rd weakness of the Cubs in 2008,

A mediocre defense up the middle. Under playoff pressure mediocre can easily fall apart and become real bad.

Exhibit #1. In game Two of the playoffs DeRosa and Lee committed errors at critical times in the 2nd inning and Theriot threw one away in the 9th and gave away 5 unearned runs. The defense was not able to step up, and the Zambrano was not able to recover from 4 unearned runs in the 2nd inning.


2) Cubs Shortcomings in 2009

Pitching.

You are probably saying, how can he say that? Easy.

After the 2008 season Rich Harden had a choice to make. Have surgery or rehab his shoulder. He chose rehab. He will

be lucky to get half a season in with 15-18 starts being an educated guess (from Peter Gammons and CHONE projections) as to how many starts he might get in 2009. So who picks up the other 15-18 starts?

Marquis and his 30+ starts are gone.

Sean Gallagher is gone.

That is 55 starts gone.

Who picks up those starts? Marshall? Hill? Olson? They may throw the starts, but more than likely not as effectively as Harden and Marquis.

Dempster in his 11th major league season had a career year. His ERA was nearly 2 points lower than his career average of about 4.7 going into the season and he pitched 140 more innings. Chances are he doesn't repeat 2008, but falls back closer to his career average for ERA in 130-140 innings and struggles to win 10 games.

I can count on one hand the number of guys who came back out of the pen and had two consecutive sub 3.00 era seasons. Do you really think that Dempster is going to be one of them? Not likely.

Normally what happens when a pitcher has that huge of an increase in innings is that he gets hurt the following year and sees an increase in his ERA of at least a full point. That is far more likely an outcome for Dempster in 2009 than to throw 200+ innings with a 2.96 ERA again.

Weak Defense all around.

Uber Utility Man Mark DeRosa, and his -4.2 UZR at 2b and +0.1 UZR at SS and +4.5 in the OF, is gone. In his 7 seasons, DeRosa had a career UZR at 2B of -4.9, -1.4 at SS and +13.9 in the OF.

Now Aaron Miles will be patrolling the middle infield and subbing in the outfield. Last season Miles had a 1.1 UZR at 2B, 1.0 at ss, -0.9 at 3B and 0.0 in the OF. Over the 6 years of his career he has a -9.7 UZR at 2B and a -10.9 UZR at SS, the 2 positions he will be asked to play most in 2009.

For UZR, league average is 0.0 Numbers above zero are better and below zero are worse.

Overall I can't say that they have gotten better defensively at the Uber Utility Man position, only held steady in age.

Aramis Ramirez reverted to his normal defensive form in 2008 with a -3.3 UZR and a .945 Fp and 18 errors. This is more typical of how he plays the field than 2007. Expect him to stay close to those numbers in 2009.

Theriot was the Cubs main SS in 2008 and defensively he recorded a below average -0.4 at the position.

Bradley the oft injured now mans RF. He has played more than 100 games in the field only once in a 7 year career. Last season he recorded one of the lowest fielding percentage in the game for any position in the 20 games he played in RF. Granted he was returning from anterior cruciate ligament surgery in the off season, but it didn't get better late in the season, it got worse.

The best fielding starting outfielder on the Cubs team, Kusuke Fukodome, will be patrolling the bench as often as not in 2009 while playing in a CF platoon with Reed Johnson. And Pie is gone. No young guy to come in and be a defensive replacement late in games.

The OF as a whole will be below league average defensively.


The biggest reason the Cubs must have Peavy.

Peavy is not only a true Ace, Peavy is a stopper. The guy you can hand the ball to and expect that he will step up and be better than the other guys best. In his career Peavy has consistently stepped it up when its the other teams ace on the mound recording a .702 winning percentage for his career in those situations, better than his overall win percentage of .581.

THAT is the ultimate thing you look for in a playoff pitcher, the ability to step it up and consistently be better than the other teams best pitcher.

Late in games Peavy has been good too. Career he he has a 3.86 ERA after pitch 90 & 4.58 after pitch 105. In 2008 he was even better with a 3.24 era after the 90th pitch.

Peavy has averaged 30.33 starts since 2003 when first he started the season in the ML. In 2008 the Padres held him out only because the team was already so far back in in the standings in late May. According to news reports in the San Diego Union Tribune at the time, Peavy didn't feel he needed to go on the DL, but the team erred on the side of caution because the team was playing so poorly.

You can count on him taking the ball. He has a warrior mentality and he does better when the competition is better.

Those are the reasons the Cubs NEED Jake Peavy if they are going to make a run at winning a World Series in 2009.

Cubs making room for Peavy?

Sunday January 18, 2008

Today the Cubs made a trade of Felix Pie for Garrett Olson of the Orioles.

Olson was rumored to be part of the 3 team trade that would send Jake Peavy to the Cubs.

Originally we heard and read that in exchange for Peavy, the Cubs would send the Padres a package including Olson from the Orioles, Josh Vitters, Sean Marshall/Jeff Zemarzidja, Ronny Cedeno and others.

Does today's trade presage a heating up of the Peavy trade rumors?

Peavy trade is NOT dead!

Tuesday November 18, 2008

I keep hearing rumors that the Peavy trade is dead. That he will be a Padre next year.

I don't think anyone who follows baseball closely thought Peavy would be the first deal of the year. So why are so many lamenting or celebrating the fact that he hasn't been traded already?

Of the big deals to be made CC will sign undoubtedly first and set the tone and ceiling for all the other signings and trades.

Once CC has found a $140+ million home, then all the other guys will have an idea of what they can ask for.

Burnett, Lowe and company will have a better idea what they are worth in this market once Sabathia is signed. Once those guys get serious offers and the Braves/Cubs/Mets/etc... can't match them, THEN Peavy will be traded to the Braves or Cubs or whomever.

I read that Wren said they were not actively pursuing a trade for Peavy.

I read where Towers said the trade with the Braves was dead and that the Cubs were the only option.

Do they all think we are stupid?

Of COURSE Atlanta is still in the running for Peavy. They are POSTURING! They are trying to say, "we have other options to pursue" so we won't give as much as you are asking for.

Well, unless they are going to outbid the Yankees, then they are not going to sign Sabathia, Burnett or Lowe.

Who else could possibly be an option that would preclude trading for Peavy? No one!

We know the Braves don't WANT to give up top prospects, who does, but they WILL give up top prospects for a pitcher of Peavy's caliber when push comes to shove.

With the recent signing of Dempster and the offers we have seen from the Yankees to Sabathia and Burnett, it is highly likely that the Braves will break down and give the Padres what they are asking for, regardless of what Wren is trying to feed the media.

Dempster signed for 4 years at $13 million per year.
Sabathia was offered 6 years/$140 million earlier this week.
Burnett was offered 5 years/$80 million today.

So what is a CY Young winning, 27 year old pitcher worth over the next 5 years? Certainly more than the $78 million contract he is currently signed to.

I would guess more than the Braves were offering the Padres for him prior to the start of free agent players being able to negotiate with every team on the 14th.

And I am not the only one that thinks that that a trade for Peavy will eventually happen before teh start of the 2009 season.

Petter Gammons seems to think so.
Frank Wren apparently told Peter Gammons he thinks the Braves will get the trade done. Yes the same Braves GM Wren who said just 3 days ago that active negotiations were over.

In a conversation with Corey Brock of MLB.com, Kevin Towers said that he wasn't ruling out continued negotiations with the Braves.

So please, no more about this trade being done. Its still November. We won't even see pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training until February. If you see Peavy reporting to the Padres camp in Peoria, then it may be dead. until then it is very much alive.