Gather Round the Hot Stove: Updated with New Milton Bradley Rumors!
I know, I know. It's hot enough in here already. This is because there are too many boys in here. You guys act as walking heating units even on the coldest of days. However, it IS hot stove time, and so we are obligated to have a hot stove.
The GM meetings started this week in Chicago, and rumors already abound. Feel free to post any rumors you come across below, or make up your own. Either way.
I'll start.
The diminutive Ken Rosenthal continues to assure us that we would be shocked (SHOCKED!) at the level of interest in Milton Bradley. Uh. . .no we wouldn't. He's one of the best hitters in baseball. So thanks for the condescension, Ken.
Multiple teams are in contact the Cubs about outfielder Milton Bradley, with one source saying, "You would be shocked at the level of interest."
The Cubs remain confident that they can trade Bradley without assuming the vast majority of the $21 million remaining on his contract over the next two years.
New owner Tom Ricketts has set a limit for how much money the Cubs will include in a deal, one source says. The Cubs can take back a contract but pay only a fixed amount of cash.
In other hot stove news, the Dodgers have dropped out of the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes, those of you who want Roy Halladay are going to have to fight the Great White North for him (eh?), and Scott Boras once again ruins my plans for happiness:
If the (Cardinals organization) believes it can retain Matt Holliday for $17MM annually, they're likely to be disappointed because Scott Boras "is believed committed to finding a far more lucrative deal for Holliday than the eight-year, $136 million deal left fielder Alfonso Soriano accepted to sign with the Chicago Cubs in November 2006."
A million thanks to mlbtraderumors.com, whom we would surely perish without this time of the year.
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63 Comments
Umbra said:
I heard the Cubs were looking to trade Micah Hoffpauir for Jody Gerut.
Doc Blume said:
Wow...that would achieve, well, nothing.
baturkey said:
I heard the Cubs were looking to trade Koyie Hill for Jody Davis.
flyball said:
I'm all for that
(sorry Koyie Hill, it is Jody Davis
Doc Blume said:
Why would the Cubs need to trade for Jody Davis? He's already in the organization.
flyball said:
stop bringing reality into this
Doc Blume said:
oh...sorry.
Koyie Hill a is far superior backup catcher than Steve Lake.
thisyearcub said:
Is that a new Rosenthal post/quote about Bradley or a repeat of like two weeks ago? Does that mean more teams are involved?
cubbiejulie said:
I'm trying to find things for us to talk about. I believe Gordo said today that three more teams had contacted the Cubs.
Doc Blume said:
But those three teams were in the California Penal League.
cubbiejulie said:
Yep---here we go:
"Is Milton Bradley still here?
Yeah, and he's holding up some of the decisions the Cubs might make as the hot-stove season gets started in earnest with the general managers meetings this week at the O'Hare Hilton.
But the flip side for the Cubs is that (1) their to-do list isn't particularly long, and (2) the lack of a Bradley trade should not be confused with a lack of interest. According to a source, at least three more interested parties contacted the Cubs in the last week or so."
So sayss Gordo.
Doc Blume said:
I can't wait for Jim Hendry to find a team that will take Bradley and most of his contract, and then the jerk invokes his no-trade clause.
thisyearcub said:
Oh, I was just wondering, trying to keep up. So I guess no.
cubbiejulie said:
Well, the only reason I quote Rosenthal instead of Gordo right out of the box was because I couldn't remember if Carl quoted Gordo in today's headlines or not. I thought it would look stupid to put up a new diary re-quoting something that was in the headlines.
thisyearcub said:
Grfotcha.
FrankS said:
Milton is one of the better hitters in baseball, but I think it's a stretch to say one of the best. He has had three fantastic seasons in his career plus two pretty good ones, but his other seasons are pretty much average. On top of that, he's hurt every season. And GM's are going to paying more attention to his OPS+ of 101 last season than the 163 of 2008.
cubbiejulie said:
I'll revise. He's one of the most disciplined hitters in baseball. And he might have the best eye in baseball, which gets him in trouble from time to time.
FrankS said:
I'd like this one explained to me. If people are happy that Ryan Dempster pitched like he did last year for $14,000,000 for the season, why were people always so pissed off at what Jason Marquis made? And last year Marquis and Dempster put up very similar numbers and Marquis was league average during his stay in Chicago. Is the "21" cursed?
Doc Blume said:
I'm not happy that he got $14 million a season for having a career year.
I still don't think he had a bad season. Was it worth the $14 million he got? No. But he isn't a $14 million pitcher.
I don't think we will ever see Dempster have a season like he did in 2008 again.
As far as Jason Marquis...he had a snobbish attitude about him and asked to be traded when it was suggested he move to the bullpen. On top of that, Marquis was an inconsistent pitcher.
And the fact that Jim Hendry signed him for as much as he did after the Cardinals took him off their playoff roster the year before was just ridiculous.
It comes down to the fact that when the Cubs signed Marquis, his value was low and people questioned his effectiveness as a starter, yet the Cubs still gave him $20 million contract. That was completely unnecessary in both dollar amount and years (3).
Dempster was coming off a career year and it was obvious the Cubs didn't want to lose him in free agency. And that was the cost to keep him...and I feel Jim Hendry was rewarding him a bit too for the job he's done for the club over the last many years, pretty much doing everything they've asked of him.
FrankS said:
Other than Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax in their primes, all pitchers are inconsistent. I think every starter on the Cubs' staff had a 4-inning start or two last season.
As far as Marquis asking to be traded, was there a formal request made for a trade or was it something that Marquis said in a fit of pique that should have never been released to the press? The guy wanted to pitch. I'm sure it would have made more people happy if he said something like "Give me another start and I'll show you why you need to keep me in the rotation." It would be less whiny.
Why blame Marquis for the contract he signed? If your employer offered to pay you twice what you were worth, would you say no? If people should have been mad at anyone, it should be with the person that offered the contract on behalf of the Cubs.
Doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense to me. As for Ryan, there was one season where the Cubs paid him twice as much money as anyone in baseball would have been willing to give for him to rehab his arm. Who really owes whom here?
Umbra said:
Uuuuuuuuugh! Let's go over a few things:
1. He's getting $14 million a season? According to this, he's getting $8 million for 2009, along with a $4 million signing bonus. I've also seen 4 years, $52 million floating around out there. I'm not sure which is right, but I've never seen $14 million. Where did you get this?
2. Whatever his true salary, fangraphs has him as being worth $16.4 million this year.
That deal for Dempster was a steal. Jim Hendry should be lauded, not criticized for it.
thisyearcub said:
Correct Umbra. Baseball contracts can be a tricky thing; it's not always just dividing x and y.
Dempster got $52 million over four years, which included a $4M signing bonus. For 2010, he will get $12.5 million. Only in the last year (a player option, which Dempster would be an idiot not to pick up), would he make $14M.
Considering Dempster's performance, this isn't that bad of a deal.
Doc Blume said:
MLB Trade Rumors is probably the hardest working baseball blog out there. Between them and MLB Network, I think this winter won't be too bad.
flyball said:
the O'Hare Hilton? there is a nice Hilton right on Michigan Ave downtown, and they choose to hang out by O'Hare?
um, that does not make me think better of the GMs
Doc Blume said:
The OHare Hilton has the nice convention center there...so it is not a bad choice, though I would have picked a more tropical environment.
carlheartscubs said:
And it saves on cab fare.
gravedigger said:
Holy shit. I need to pay attention to more than just the Cubs and liquor.
I had no idea until I just looked at his stats that Matt Holliday has been an outstanding hitter for more than 5 years. Where have I been?
carlheartscubs said:
I think the better question is, where was Matt Holliday? And he was in Colorado, so it's hard to get a real gauge on how good he really was, till he left the thin air. And there's just not very much national media attention surrounding the Rockies.
KY Cub Fan said:
I heard about a trade that Hendry is pondering....Koyie Hill & Soto for Crash Davis!!!
Doc Blume said:
Now that is a trade I think we can all agree to!
AndCounting said:
Interesting excerpt from Jerry Crasnick's report from the GM meetings:
Which player is more difficult to trade -- Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley, because of his reputation and other baggage, or Blue Jays outfielder Vernon Wells, because of his contract?
Responses: Wells 20, Bradley 0.
After signing a three-year, $30 million contract with the Cubs, Bradley posted a lower slugging percentage (.397) than Marco Scutaro and Ryan Sweeney. He alienated his teammates, manager and an entire fan base to the point that the Cubs couldn't wait to send him home in September. He has a lengthy inventory of antisocial outbursts in his past, he's played for seven teams since 2001 and he's owed $21 million during the next two seasons.
And still, this one wasn't close.
Wells is a nice guy, model citizen and one-man charity machine, but the double whammy of his contract and middling production since 2006 make him virtually impossible to trade, in the estimation of the executives surveyed.
Wells will make $12.5 million in 2010, at which point the big-money portion of his deal will kick in. He'll make $23 million in 2011 and $21 million in each of the next three seasons. Wells hit 15 homers with a .711 OPS in 158 games this past year and is about to undergo surgery on his left wrist.
"That may be the worst contract in baseball history," a National League official said. "Worse than Barry Zito."
An American League assistant GM was only slightly less depressing in his analysis. "I believe that Vernon Wells' contract makes him the most difficult player to trade in the entire major leagues," the assistant said.
Although Bradley obviously has made Chicago GM Jim Hendry's life more complicated, the consensus is that he's movable if the Cubs: (a) eat most of his salary; or (b) take on somebody else's overpaid headache in return. The Jays don't have that luxury with Wells.
"You always see baggage guys moving team to team," an NL official said. "You can't trade a player with $98 million left on a contract unless that team takes back close to that amount in a bad-money deal. That's a lot of bad money to expect Vernon Wells to get moved. Throw in his wrist surgery, and he's not going anywhere."
Doc Blume said:
I've said this elsewhere but I don't think here...
If getting rid of Bradley means taking on the contract of Vernon Wells, then I'd just keep Bradley and DL him for the next two seasons and pay him to just stay home...because that would be cheaper than paying Vernon Wells to get booed at Wrigley for the next 5 years. We've already got that in left field.
The only advantage is that Wells is a good teammate. But I'd rather have Bradley sit home with us paying him for 2 years than have a good teammate making $20+ million for the next 5 years batting 8th and hitting .220.
AndCounting said:
The Vernon Wells contract is making me wonder how in the world the Yankees managed to get A-Rod for all those years with Texas paying his contract. I mean, that was A freaking hyphen freaking Rod. How could Toronto ever expect anyone to pay any of Wells' contract?
I definitely don't like the (a) (b) options mentioned above, and my (c) would be to keep Bradley and actually let him play. I guess I'm naive enough to think the Wrigley fans would give him a break after an offseason's worth of eternally springing hope refreshes them. And the media . . . hey, I've got an idea . . .
cubbiejulie said:
I definitely think Bradley is very movable, I just think we're going to eat 90% his contract.
Dmband said:
Holy Crap, I had no idea V. Well's contract was that bad.
I'd rather keep Bradley in street clothes for 2 years than pay that.
Holy CRAP!
Doc Blume said:
Ditto.
millertime said:
I hope Hendry is soooooooooooo bad at what he does, that he sucks at trading Bradley, and isn't able to do it. That would be the best mistake ever. And then he accidently signs papers agreeing to give Rich Harden money to play baseball for the Cubs.
millertime said:
I heard the cubs might trade Fox and Theriot for JJ Hardy and a player to be named later.
Umbra said:
PTBNL: Carlos Gomez.
Doc Blume said:
um...bad idea.
Fox is our first baseman after the Cubs trade Derrek Lee this offseason.
millertime said:
We're going to trade for Pujols. Duh.
AndCounting said:
Do you think the Cubs could hire a translator for Milton? It could kinda take the sting out of his responses and stroke the egos of the media in the locker room. It would go something like this:
Milton: What?
Translator: Does anyone have any questions? I look forward to answering them to the best of my ability.
Sullivan: Do you think you can be less of a distraction this year?
Bradley: Do you? I'm the same guy I was last year. You go and print whatever you want, and the idiots can say whatever. What am I gonna do about it?
Translator: This is going to be a better year, I can feel it. There's a positive atmosphere in the clubhouse, and you guys are gonna take it easy on me, right? wink, wink, smile
Levine: Do you think the fans here are forgiving?
Bradley: *grunt* Maybe you should ask Bartman and the goat that question. Ask Jacque Jones and Dusty Baker if they've forgiven the fans for the hate mail. Next?
Translator: These are the greatest fans in the world, and I wouldn't let a few isolated incidents speak for the fan base as a whole. I'll definitely try to reach out to them a bit more, let 'em know I'm sorry for some of the things I said, and I fully believe they'll respond to that. I'm still going to be me, you know, but I want to prove to them that last year wasn't representative of who I really am. Let's move on and win a World Series for Chicago.
I really think this could work. Milton, if you're hiring, look me up.
Doc Blume said:
Hiring a translator doesn't change the fact the guy is a jerk.
But maybe you can get a good chunk of that $21 million that he'll get for being a jerk over the next two years.
AndCounting said:
That's it. If I can translate Milton's Jerkese into PR-BS, media-brown-nosing Spinish, I could make a fortune. Plus I'd rather have the Cubs employ a jerk in right field than allow his jerkiness to make the team worse via a bad trade. If nothing Milton said (or was said to him) ever reached the media, there would be no discussion of trading him, certainly not under the terms being rumored right now. Obviously he needs to play better, but there's no reason to expect he won't.
thisyearcub said:
I'll go on record and say probably 90 percent of this won't come true, but here's mlbtraderumors' predictions for the offseason, including Harden to the Red Sox and Wagner to the Cubs. Didn't have Bradley on there.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/2010-top-50-free-agents.html
flyball said:
ok, why do the Red Sox need Harden?
Doc Blume said:
why do the Yankees need Lackey?
But seriously, Billy Wagner to the Cubs? That's just not even close.
I like MLBTradeRumors...but they just pulled a lot of that shit out of their asses.
flyball said:
I asked first
millertime said:
I heard the Cubs might trade Soto, Lee, Dempster, Zambrano, Soriano, Bradley, and Ramirez to the Twins for Joe Mauer.
flyball said:
thats a good trade, they should so do that
but add the Mary Tyler Moore statue into the deal too
Doc Blume said:
I want Boof Bonser in the deal too. I just love that name...I don't really care if he sucks.
millertime said:
The Brewers are currently trying to work out a deal that as additional consideration for the James Jerry deal, all Paul Bunyan related merchandise is removed from Minnesota and given to Wisconsin.
They might as well anyways, not like they're going to be seeing that Axe anytime soon.
millertime said:
I heard the Cubs might have a multi team deal going on in which they trade Ted Lilly and end up getting Alex Rodriquez, CC Sabathia, Albert Pujols, Ryan Braun, Tim Lincecum, Hanley Ramirez, Chase Utley, Joe Mauer, Josh Becket, and a PTBNL. But we might also have to give up Samardzija. and Possibly Reed Johnson, after we resign him. However, if we throw in Marmol, there's a good chance we also get Wood and DeRosa. And the Yankees pick up all the salary.
If Jim Hendry doesn't get this deal done, he should just leave Illinois and never come back. This deal feels like a no-brainer to me.
Dmband said:
Trade rumor between the Yankees and Tyson chicken...
"I get Constanza, and in exchange, I convert all your concessions into chicken products....Instead of Pretzles, Chicken Twists...instead of Beer.... Alcoholic Chicken"....
"How do you make that alcoholic chicken anyway..."
"it ferments...like anything else"...
millertime said:
I heard we might have a three way trade going with Fox and a remote weather station in Alaska. The way it works out, Len and Bob spend Saturdays doing games for Fox, Joe Buck works full time at the weather station and is not allowed to be in contact with anyone ever, and the weather station people get 10% off hot dogs on Sunday Night games at Wrigley up until the 4th inning.
gravedigger said:
There's a weather station I visted in Barrow, and I swear to Christ I thought it was a prison.
Dmband said:
Can we actually credit Artie Lange for personally bringing down the Joe Buck Live POS show that HBO started..
Or is that coming back....god I hope not.
Because that is AWESOME if they decided not to do any more episodes after that....THANKS ARTIE!!!
Umbra said:
I credit Artie with being the STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD!
AndCounting said:
And here's what Hendry had to say about the Milton Bradley situation, reported by PWS:
"A lot of people have had worse exits at the end of the year than that and have returned," Hendry said. "There will be a lot of things that change personnel-wise over the winter I'm sure. And the goal will just be to do the best we can to put a good club on the field by spring training. Until people aren't here, as a general manager, I approach it like they are here."
AndCounting said:
Not exactly what I was predicting here, but Jim's getting closer.
cubbiejulie said:
The latest from Ken Rosenthal
"CHICAGO - The idea, while described as a longshot, is at least one way for the Cubs to trade outfielder Milton Bradley.
Bradley to the Blue Jays. First baseman Lyle Overbay to the Mets. Second baseman Luis Castillo to the Cubs.
The teams indeed have discussed the framework of such a deal, though not in direct fashion, according to major-league sources.
The Cubs spoke to the Mets about Bradley-for-Castillo, while the Mets spoke to the Jays about Bradley-for-Overbay, sources say.
The Rays, however, remain the club most interested in Bradley, sources say, proposing an exchange of outfielder/designated hitter Pat Burrell for Bradley.
Burrell and Bradley each will make $9 million in 2010. The Cubs would need to pick up a significant portion of Bradley's $12 million salary in '11 to make a deal to work.
The three-team possibility, according to one source, has "some legs, but not much." The Jays are opposed to the deal, one source says — perhaps because new GM Alex Anthopolous does not want a trade for Bradley to be his first major move."
millertime said:
I heard we might trade Bradley and Marmol for Andre Ethier.
Doc Blume said:
Tomorrow at C.D.E.:
The inaugural Honorary Michael Barrett "Dumb-ass Of the Week":
Who will it be?
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