Jake Peavy wants to be a Cub. He wants to be a Cub so badly, he signed an autograph for a fan this way:"Go Cubs Go, All The Way in 2009, Jake Peavy, 2007 Cy Young Award Winner"
Could he be any more blunt?
Normally players are tight lipped about their plans, except for maybe LeBron James and his apparent future with the New York Knicks. But Peavy made it abundantly clear where he wants to be next season here at the Winter Meetings. Apparently he was even singing "Go Cubs Go" in the bar in the Bellagio this week.
I understand trades are more complicated to execute than people think they are. It's not as though Padres GM Kevin Towers and Cubs GM Jim Hendry are just going to pull up a couple of chairs at the end of the bar and get it done in a half an hour.
There are obvious salary implications with any deal that could be made for Peavy. The Padres ace is owed 61 million dollars over the next four seasons. Jason Marquis, who seemingly must be dealt to absorb Peavy's salary, is owed 9.875 million dollars next year. And Marquis, from all indications is the only player holding up the deal as we speak.
The Cubs need to deal Marquis to make way for Peavy's contract. I get that. They need the money they saved by not bringing back Kerry Wood. That saves them probably ten million dollars figuring what he likely would have been awarded if he had been offered arbitration. Couple that with the nearly ten million dollars the Cubs would dump when unloading Marquis, and the Cubs have a twenty million dollar cushion to absorb Peavy's deal and any other deal they make this off-season. After all, they have already made it clear that they want a left handed hitting outfielder.
But is Jason Marquis that bad that nobody will take him for one year? Apparently, but GM's across baseball are failing to see Marquis' value.
Let's look at the facts. Marquis went 11-9 this past season with a 4.53 ERA. He struck out 91 hitters while allowing 70 walks. Those numbers are fairly pedestrian. On the surface, they're not worthy of a ten million dollar sum.
But here are the positives. Marquis has pitched at least 191 innings in four of the last five seasons. He has made at least 30 starts four of the last five years. He had just a 3.46 ERA away from Wrigley Field this season as opposed to a 5.53 ERA at home this season. He's also a good fielder and one of the best pitchers to handle the bat in the National League. He's a pinch runner off the bench, or a pinch hitter occasionally.
Couldn't someone stomach having him for one year?
Marquis has value. He might not be the best way to spend ten million dollars, but he's a pitcher good enough to help a team and not hurt them if put in the right spot. Most teams would kill to have a guy that can be reliable enough just to make a start every five days. With the fragility of pitchers in this day and age, sometimes people overlook the value of a pitcher that can be counted upon to stay healthy year after year, despite average results.
Both teams obviously want this deal to go down. The Padres want the prospects the other teams in the deal can give them, and the Cubs want the ace to pitch atop the rotation. Peavy is already dreaming of taking the mound at Wrigley Field wearing blue pinstripes. The two teams have played cat and mouse for weeks now as they try to get it done.
So why let Jason Marquis get in the way? He might be a pleasant surprise for the team that gets him.
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