Braves Seemingly Have Not Traded For Ryan Dempster (yet)
July 23, 2012 at 2:41 pm by Franklin Rabon under Atlanta Braves
*UPDATE* 8 It is seeming more and more like the Braves were given the impression from the Cubs that Dempster had already given approval, only to be later blindsided when he needed ‘time to think’ about it. It is unclear what Dempster needs to have happen in order to approve the trade, but contrary to what Sveum is claiming, it seems to be the case that the Braves believed that a trade only needed rubber stamps from MLB (on the money) and Dempster (just formal approval of something he had already approved). It seems that the terms of the deal are all in place and are only waiting on Dempster, but it is unclear how long the offer will be on the table, as obviously the Braves must move on if they need to go after another starter.
It is unclear whether Dempster had told the Cubs he would unconditionally approve a trade to the Braves and then backtracked or if the Cubs overstated what Dempster had approved in their rush to get Randall Delgado.
*UPDATE* 7 Fredi Gonzalez says that they are in a ‘holding pattern’ with regards to the Dempster trade, seemingly confirming some reality of the deal in some way, shape or form. Meanwhile, the Cubs have called the reports a ‘fabrication’ and a product of ‘the internet’ despite the trade being broken by a MLB reporter, and confirmed by national beat writers. Something is amiss.
*UPDATE* 6 According to a MLBNetwork reporter live from PNC park (missed the reporter’s name) Dempster has said “he has some things to think about” but wouldn’t confirm anything else other than “his phone blew up when he awoke from a nap.”
*UPDATE* 5 It appears that the trade has fallen through (or never was), despite reports from multiple generally reliable sources (Mark Bowman and Keith Law). It is unclear if the trade was ever actually on the verge of being completed, or simply a misinformed leak that got out of control. Ryan Dempster is in the Cubs’ clubhouse and Randall Delgado’s agent has said he has not been informed of any trade. That does not mean that no trade will happen, but it is becoming clearer that a trade has not happened at this juncture.
Multiple sources are confirming that a deal is in place that will send Ryan Dempster to the Atlanta Braves. At this time other details of the trade are not available.
Official beat writer Mark Bowman earlier tweeted that he thinks it is possible Randall Delgado may be in the deal going to Chicago, though no sources were cited and he didn’t sound particularly confident. That seems to be the ultimate source of all the further tweets saying “reports are saying it may be Delgado.” At this point I would think of that speculation as an informed guess.
We will update this post as details emerge.
*UPDATE* 1 Keith Law has stated “if the Dempster trade is completed, Randall Delgado is in it, as well as something to balance the money” via Twitter. Kevin Goldstein has also stated that Delgado is in the trade, though it is unclear if his source is also Keith Law. But it definitely is looking increasingly like Delgado is included.
*UPDATE* 2 The trade is currently being held up, though it could be just waiting for MLB to approve the (apparently large) amount of money the Cubs are sending to the Braves in the deal.
*UPDATE* 3 Ryan Dempster’s foundation twitter account (which seems to be legitimate) seems to indicate that he believes he has not been traded.
Something that occurred to me is that perhaps Dempster, who has 10/5 veto rights, did say he would approve a trade to a contender, but may now be holding up the deal trying to demand an extension from the Braves in order to approve the deal. In which case, I think you absolutely would take Delgado off the table from the Cubs. No sources on that, just me speculating.
*UPDATE* 4 Apparently Ryan Dempster just walked into the Cubs clubhouse according to Cubs beat writer Carrie Muskat.
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FR,
What would you see as a fair exchange piece in this trade?
Honestly?
Dempster and Reed Johnson for Delgado and a low level guy
A few thoughts:
1. How often does a playoff team acquire its #1 and #2 starter mid-season?
2. Delgado would be an awful lot to give up for 2 months of Dempster. They almost have to re-sign him.
3. Bye-bye JJ. You won’t be missed.
Re-signing Dempster doesn’t really do anything to change the value of the trade unless for some reason you think he will offer the Braves a discount. (Overpaying for additional years in a hypothetical extension would be significantly worse than just letting Dempster walk after the season ends.) It does seem more likely that the Braves will target a FA pitcher this off season, but it still probably makes more sense to target Greinke.
The Braves needed a another starting pitcher in order to be competitive in the stretch run and playoffs, and I think Dempster is a shrewd pickup. But if this was a straight up Delgado for Dempster/cash, it was a poor trade considering the years of team control Delgado has.
Dempster for Delgado would be awful. 2 months of a slightly better than average pitcher for 5 more years of Delgado? No thanks.
Totally agree. I still can’t believe we’re willing to give up a top 50 prospect for an old rental who doesn’t strike anybody out. It’s not like our system is overflowing with Delgado-level prospects.
Glad to have Dempster join the rotation. Solid pitcher. Not nearly as good as his numbers have been this year, but he’s still a good pitcher that will make the Braves better.
With that said Delgado is a lot to give up for a potential 3 month rental that is 36 and due for some regression in those numbers. JMO.
I would have preferred to have sent Spruill and some lower level guys instead of send Delgado. He COULD end up being a #2 or 3 caliber starter for the Cubs for the next 5 years. He was inconsistent this year, but most 22 year olds are.
I agree Delgado seems to be a lot to give up. Which is why I’m speculating that there may be more to this than has been initially reported.
I’m really sad to see Delgado go. At the same time, Frank absolutely had to make a move, and if Delgado was the price, then I guess that’s how it had to be.
Ugh Dempster isnt much better than Delgado and is only signed for 2 months at a higher cost. I dont like this at all.
IF the deal is Dempster for Delgado straight up, the cubs must be covering darn near all of Dempster’s salary this year
I think Jurrjens totally crapping the bed really put the Braves in a bad spot and absolutely killed any leverage they may have had in negotiations. It became apparent that the Brewers’ asking price for Greinke was wildly unrealistic, and the Braves DID NOT want to go below Dempster. As he’s probably the last option that would actually improve the team.
I could see Dempster getting a one year extension, simply as a way to get the compensation picks plus give Gilmartin and Teheran some breathing room.
Wonder if working out a one year extension is the reason that it is taking so long for the $ aspect of the deal to be released.
Shoot. I was hoping Dempster wouldn’t pan out and we might go for someone like Edinson Volquez instead.
And if we give the Cubbies Delgado, I will be very unimpressed with Wren on this one.
shoot again! I was coming back to post what Franklin just said: it would suck to give up Delgado but the Cubbies had all the power in this negotiation after JJ’s start yesterday….that soft-looking little bastard.
Awful, awful trade. Delgado is under team control for half of the next decade, while Dempster is barely an above average pitcher when examining his metrics.
3.28 FIP is well above average. Maybe he can’t sustain that, but if he performs in line with his peripherals for the rest of the year, he instantly becomes the Braves’ best pitcher and is a top 15 pitcher in the league.
SIERA > xFIP > FIP.
His 3.92 SIERA is about league average for a Starter. (4.01)
Yeah… no. SIERA is a garbage stat (which is to say, tons of complexity but no value added over alternatives), and xFIP is fine, but everyone recognizes that its key assumption is an oversimplification.
it depends based on the sample size.
For really small samples SIERA > xFIP > FIP > RA (simple runs allowed per 9)
over really large samples
RA > FIP > xFIP > SIERA
“it depends based on the sample size.” hmm, interesting thanks.
I’m sorry, Delgado for Dempster would be a horrible trade. Dempster is the guy I was hoping the Braves would land but not at a Delgado price. Basically unless we win a World Series this year then this trade is crap. I had a feeling this type of trade, if true for Delgado, was coming with it being Chippers last year and all but damn. I suppose Wren is feeling pretty comfy with his job security for the long term.
I really hope we get someone else in the trade with Dempster if the Delgado update is true.
Disagree on Wren. I do agree it would be a downright horrible trade but I feel the exact opposite on Wren’s job security. The Braves are obviously in a win now mode and Wren’s seat must be hotter than the surface of the sun if he’s going to give up 5 1/2 years of team control of Delgado for a 2 month rental of Dempster.
Dislike Delgado for Dempster if that is in fact the deal.
Dempster’s been a 3 win guy for a few years now, combine that with his 3.28 FIP this year, pitching in front of a better defense in Atlanta…etc i see no reason to think he’s going to crash and burn or anything. If he can come give the team 6+ innings and 3 or less runs a start, I will be pleased, and the team will win more games than they would have.
I’m happy with this trade. If we’re going to have a shot at going far this year, we need some established talent. This will take pressure off Hanson and Hudson to carry the team. This will also take some pressure off of Minor. Keep in mind that Beachy will be back next year and Teheran continues to develop. I also personally think that Minor has a little more upside than Delgado.
I agree about Minor, I have always thought that he would end up being the better pitcher long term than Delgado. Though, I hate to see Randall go….. who know, maybe somebody like Reed Johnson or Baker or Camp is coming along too.
Yep take the pressure of the young guys. Now they know if they don’t perform well enough we will trade them to a crappy team. No pressure.
Why do you think Minor has more upside? Delgado is 22 Minor is 25, that is 3 years difference and Delgado has already had success in the majors. I see no reason why Minor would be better and I like both pitchers. Just wondering, not being a jerk here.
I think the upside is basically that he is still young, but has more experience than Delgado. He does last longer into games. While many will probably argue that this is a stupid reason, but it helps that he’s left handed. I’m no scout, but I would say his stuff is just as good as Delgado. They both seem to get their feathers ruffled a bit. It just seems that Minor’s stuff, experience, something does allow him to last another inning or two longers than Delgado
You need to remember that we have other prospects ranked higher than Delgato. I assume that JJ will go back to AAA and will need surgery again. His trade value is zero. Good move if the Braves want to win this year. Next year will bring too many questions — who replaces Chipper (not at third, his leadership), how much longer can Huddy be #1 pitcher, how much longer can McCann be productive,will Frediot be here, can they afford a power OF bat, etc,
Anon21: I was speaking over his career. A 35-year-old pitcher have a single, random great season.
You’ll have to provide some reason that we should weight his prior career more heavily than recent performance. You don’t want to overweight recent performance, but it is the case that current year performance is the single best predictor of performance going forward, while the value of past years’ data tails off very quickly.
no. half a season of data is not a particularly good predictor for a pitcher especially. All kinds of sample size issues.
I mean, it’s a matter of degree, but a change in performance level gives you new data on which to base an evaluation and prediction. You don’t just say, “well, he’s his career average” when you see a big positive change in controllable peripherals.
If dempster performs for the rest of the season at a comparable level to his current play now, and then we sign Greinke in offseason and unload JJ’s contract, then, and only then, will this trade be worth it. Let’s just say we win the pennant this season and Dempster pitches well. Then the trade is considered a success.
Subsequently, we sign Greinke, and here’s our pitching rotation of the future:
Greinke, Hanson, Teheran, Minor/Spruill/Gilmartin/Vizcaino.
I dunno…not bad
I don’t think this trade gets made under normal circumstances, but this is Chipper’s last shot at a ring.
don’t forget Beachy!!
Spruill doesn’t have a future in Atlanta. He’s more likely to get traded than he is to even get a cup of coffee for the Braves.
Delgado for ten weeks of Dempster is the type of trade I’d make fun of the Mets for.
Oui, oui, oui.
I mean, it sucks that Wren wasn’t able to fleece the Cubs with a package of Spruill and Terdoslavich, but this is probably a reasonably fair trade. This doesn’t really change the long-term rotation picture – particularly if the team plans to add someone like Greinke this offseason. Hanson, Beachy, Minor, and Teheran may all be better than Delgado over the next two or three years, and with another year of Hudson, plus Vizcaino and Spruill and Gilmartin as depth, starting pitching will remain depth. I wish Delgado could have been used to fetch something a bit more compelling than Dempster, but it’s really not a terrible trade.
If Dempster pitches a quality start, can we call it a Dempster Fire?
No Dempster Diving zone.
The word was the Cubs were looking for a B-prospect or would foot Dempster’s salary for somebody a little higher-end. Perhaps Wren took the cash because they plan on adding another player before the deadline? Or perhaps payroll’s even tighter than we thought.
Realize that this is totally unlikely as well as off-topic, but if the Braves were given a window to negotiate an extension with Greinke, would you consider offering Tommy Hanson?
At this point, yeah. Hanson worries me more than anybody else in this rotation.
You’re not worried about sheets?
Hell, Sheets has already exceeded my expectations.
I’m worried about all of them, but Hanson is probably the most crucial member of that rotation and the drop in velocity and strikeout rate indicate he’s not the guy we were expecting. I’m afraid last Friday’s start will be closer to the norm for him.
At this point, you have to consider it. I really believe Hanson screwed himself by not getting hia shoulder completely fixed.
Agreed. Wren needs to trade him this offseason for the best package he can get. Prospects or a young MLB player, it doesn’t matter. Hanson is going to get expensive soon and he is a ticking time bomb.
I realize it doesn’t mean a whole lot but here are their respective career numbers (Era / Fip / xFip):
Dempster (4.31 / 4.22 / 4.00)
Delgado (3.98 / 4.40 / 4.40)
you can’t really compare Dempster’s numbers that way as he was a bullpen arm for much of his career. You really need to look at his numbers sine he was converted to a full time starter a few years back
He has been a starter for most of his career. He was only a reliever for 4 years. This is his 15th year in the league.
It’s incredibly hypocritical to cite Dempster’s lengthy career as a proper sample size, yet cite the only 25 or so starts of Delgado as equally proper.
Looks like a Doyle Alexander for Smoltz move. 36 year old vet helps team to playoffs (no ring) for a promising young pitcher who had a couple issues that season. Except now its the Braves turn to be screwed. For knowing we are going to have a low payroll for years to come Wren sure acted like an idiot here. I think we already had the talent to make the playoffs and catch the Nationals (especially once Strasburg is shut down, hopefully). And playoffs come down to who is the hottest come October and you only need a 4 man rotation. I know we want to win one for the Chipper but I would like to see the consecutive dividion titles and a team grow together like the Braves of the 90′s.
You’re assuming Delgado turns out like Smoltz. Doubtful.
Oh come on. Do you know how many top 50 pitching prospects turn out to be above average MLB starters? And now we are comparing Delgado to John Smoltz?
Well, we clearly did not have the talent to make the playoffs (the real playoffs, not the goofy play-in game) with Jurrjens and Minor each making 10-12 more starts. There’s an open question as to whether we needed to replace Jurrjens with Dempster, probably the highest cost pitcher realistically available, but I really disagree with you that if Wren had stood pat the most likely outcome is that the Braves win the East.
lololol at Delgado being compared in any way, shape or form to Smoltz.
Delgado is AT BEST a #2, if everything works out perfectly for him.
There’s no way the Braves catch the Nats by standing pat. I want no part of the play in game.
AT BEST is a strong way to put it. His chances are low of becoming a tremendous starter but how many Aces were billed as a #2 AT BEST until they got a chance to perform for a long enough period. I bet Glavine was a projected #2 at best and he lost 17 games his first season in the bigs. as a 22 year old. You never can be exactly sure what they will be unless you give them a few years. All I know is only some pitching prospects work out but if we can get 3 of Hanson, Minor, Teheran, Delgado, Gilmartin, etc.. to become really good then we could have years of winning instead of a few weeks upgrade. And I do believe we can catch the Nats this year, I believe we can out hit them and I think their ptiching is going to come back down to Earth. Remember they have young starters too who have not thrown this many innings before either.
C’mon man, what world are you living in? I mean, I’m all for wishful thinking and rooting for the home team and all, but you do realize that the Nats have basically curb stomped us all year right? They are 8-4 against us.
And, just in this four game series, they out-scored us 24-19 and out-hit us 49-37. And, that’s with them being shutout one game.
No way we catch them standing pat, even with shutting Strasburg down.
But how much will this improve us,1or 2 wins. And how was Delgado this weekend 6 inn, 2 ER. Dempster>Delgado is not great enough if you think we are significantly behind the Nats. Plus you have to agree one weekend is small sample size. 12 games against the Nats is small sample size. Maybe I am a homer to feel like we can win with Hudson, Sheets, Hanson, Minor, and Delgado. Near and far term. I believe the key is Delgado or Dempster over Jurrjens to help us win this year.
I don’t think anyone would argue that Dempster or Delgado over J.J. is needed. What we were arguing is that simply standing pat is going to get us to the playoffs.
Exactly, Delgado over JJ is not standing pat its an improvement. JJ -.3 WAR to Delgado .9 WAR. Dempster is at 2.2 WAR but does that get us over the Nats. I say if we can’t do it with Delgado then we can’t do it with Dempster. but I am a homer so I say we do it with Delgado or Dempster. maybe I am still to hung up from the Texiera trade.
Yeah but as previously pointed out, we’re trading for present day Ryan Dempster, not his career totals. With Theo Epstein at the helm of the Cubs’ FO there could be no fleecing, unfortunately. I really hope a bench bat is included and that–as Franklin stated–he gets a 1 year extension so some compensatory picks are gained after the 2013 season. But shit, I’m pretty bummed to see Randall go.
“The trade is currently being held up, though it could be just waiting for MLB to approve the (apparently large) amount of money the Cubs are sending to the Braves in the deal”
The money the Braves are getting back, which could be nearly all of what is owed Dempster is huge. This will open up some good options for the Braves on the FA market next year in LF or SP and gives the Braves the best chance to win this year.
I wish we had gotten Garza instead of Dempster if we were going to give up Delgado. I wonder if the Braves had any interest in Garza or if they saw his silly throws to 1B and said DO NOT WANT.
2:38pm: “There is no trade,” Dempster tweets via his foundation. “Don’t know where this info came from!”
per mlbtr
If this is true some people, especaillay at ESPN, need slapped around for getting our hearts pounding.
Something like this happend last year with the Red Sox; MLBTR said the trade was made then overnight the rumor was debunked. I’d be disapointed in one hand but happy we didn’t overpay with Delgado on the other.
Bowman at MLB was the first to “confirm” the trade.
Interesting, could be the money, maybe Wren realized he was giving up too much and asked for a bench bat, or Dempster said no for some reason.
Glad the Braves picked up Dempster, but hate that Delgado was the price. Wish it had been Minor, but being a lefty he probably has more value that I would like to admit. Agree with those that say a 1 year extention, with maybe an option for a 2nd is really the only way this makes sense in the grand scheme of things.
Does this mean he’d resign with us? Hard to imagine wren doing a simple renewal even for Delgado.
Does this mean he’d resign with us? Hard to imagine wren doing a simple rental even for Delgado.
It sounds like Dempster may be upset that the trade was announced before he formally waived his no trade clause.
To suggest that the Braves would have won the division without adding a pitcher is completely ridiculous as this series with the Nationals reinforced. If not for a miraculous comeback on Friday, we would have lost 3 of 4 to the Nats again. To have so many games where our starting pitching puts us almost out of the game in the first few innings is intolerable. I’m just not convinced that 1 arm will solve the problem. That would be my only issue. I could have seen basically saying we don’t have enough pieces this year, so we are just going to take our lumps and let the young guys mature. But that doesn’t take into account this being Chipper’s last season.
I think one of the biggest things people are forgetting in all this is, who else did we have to trade? Obviously, we’re not going to trade Teheran. It’s been stated many times that Minor has more upside than Delgado. The SPs aside from Teheran in the minors are not nearly ready, so I can’t imagine the Cubs would give up a starter for pitchers that can’t pitch yet. And J.J…. well we’ve all covered that he’s pure shit.
So, who else besides Delgado was there? I mean, we’ve all been clamoring for the team to make a move for a SP and here it is. Greinke and Shields would have cost more. The rest of the pitchers on the market wouldn’t have helped the Braves. This was basically the only move we had IMHO… could be wrong.
We could have demoted JJ and started Delgado instead.
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I’m not sure where that has relevance…
Relevant in that we keep sending JJ out there when it should be Delgado. Its an upgrade we could make without having to trade.
We tried that upgrade while J.J. was in the minors. Yeah we won some games here and there, but we weren’t necessarily running away with the division.
We all knew/know a trade is/was going to happen. And if we all thought about it enough, it was likely going to involve either Minor or Delgado.
We got Bourn, a better/younger/under contract player, last year without giving up a top 5 prospect. i thought Wren was good enough to look around and find something else that would work.
Trading a 22 year old talent with good stuff. Maybe the braves hitters might want to give the kid some run support every now and then to take some pressure off the kid. Delgado, 22 years old in team control for 5 years for a 35 year old with a career 4.35 era. Dempster will come back down to earth with his era and then we’ll be regretting this big time. Would much rather use Delgado in a package for Grienke or Justin Upton.
Delgado+Dan Uggla+Pastornicky for Justin Upton
Mike MInor+Jair Jurrgens+Christian Bentancourt for Zack Grienke
Who’s going to play 2nd base in your first proposed trade?
And what makes you think the Brewers would take that package for Greinke?
What? You don’t think they’d take a max #2 guy, a complete waste, and a AA player for one of the best pitchers in the game? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!
Not that this trade would actually happen, but I’m guessing he’s talking about moving Prado back to 2B.
Okay, but in this ridiculous trade, who would be left playing 3rd next season if Prado moved to 2nd?
We’ve been over this, can we collectively move on?
As far as the first trade is concerned, NO, because we need pitching right now, not another starting bat.
Second trade, NO, because J.J. is even in the mix and the Brewers are wanting a ML ready catcher, not a prospect.
Why do the Brewers need a ML ready catcher? They have Lucroy.
Don’t pay attention to this guy… Nothing he says is ever on par with the rest of the people that frequent this site. He seems to think his fantasy baseball team and twitter feeds are the best way to determine realistic trades.
Wait, who are you responding to?
LOL Nevermind… I see now.
haha sorry for not clarifying. But I was talking about Rocky.
I mean the first one would be a no brainer, if for no other reason than to shed Uggla’s contract. You absolutely do that trade. But there’s also no way in the world the D-Backs would even think about taking that deal.
The second one is also a no brainer, but again, no way the Brewers accept that package for Greinke.
“No” and “brain” being the operative words.
Just silly.
Oh my…. the headline on MLBTR went from Braves Acquire Dempster, to Braves Expected to Acquire Dempster, and now its Braves Could Acquire Dempster. He is currently preparing for tonight’s game in Pittsburgh (with the Cubs).
Rav4gingRe4per?
Dempster is going to demand an extension. That can only hurt the deal from the Cubs side since it cuts against the cash incentives. Waiting for this to turn into Dempster for Chip Carey and a sandwich from that new steak place at Turner Field.
Those are good sandwiches.
Trade reporting is out of control. I’ll check MLBTR again at 5 PM next Tuesday.
ha, MLBTR was probably the biggest problem in this one (along with Bowman and Keith Law). We don’t report the news, we comment, aggregate and analyze what has been reported. If Keith Law, MLBTR and Bowman say it, we gotta run with it, they’re news outlets, we aren’t.
Not blaming you at all. I know you’re relaying that info from those guys. If my disqus commenting worked at work I’d go make fun of MLBTR and Bowman.
Yeah, that is what I figured. Just thought it would be a good time to clear up our role and philosophy when it comes to stuff like this.
Bowman had “Braves acquire Dempster” as the headline on the Braves official site. This reminds me of the hilarity that ensued from the Griffey “trade” that fell through when everyone got all over DOB’s ass for his premature ejaculation of the news.
LOL viva… I had forgotten about that!!
Jus tell me if the Barves have traded fir Dumpster yet? Ah!!!
/my mind right now
^ No and at this point, with the cluster that this has become in a matter of hours, I wonder if Dempster will be less willing to agree or would be a distraction/unhappy upon his arrival in ATL?
This is not a bad deal. Dempster has been pretty good for a while pitching for the Cubs! It would be best to not get him just for a rental but with Delgado’s inability to get through the 5th and murdering our bullpen this isn’t that bad. Delgado has average stuff but Dempster has been getting it done for awhile. Since his numbers have stayed strong fro a couple years you can’t say Dempster is having a fluke year…
Newest MLBtraderumor update states the two teams are simply waiting on Dempster to approve the deal. Now that the time to make the decision he’s been preparing for is here, sounds like he may be getting cold feet.
Any thoughts that if this trade (or non-trade) falls through and given JJ’s recent performance, that Medlen may be used as the 5th starter, at least for the rest of this season? Or do they bring Delgado back up?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Dempster stated that Atlanta was his preferred trade destination. I could definitely see him wanted to leverage an extension out of the deal, though he’s crazy if he expects anything over 1 year.
You are correct, but I believe that was only behind L.A. But, once they dropped out, he did want ATL. If I remember right, there is a story about him having a sick child (I believe) in Chicago that he would prefer to stay close to?
we need to accept that we need more than 1 so why trade young talent for a rental. look at Hanson; look at we still score below 3 runs a game 30% of the time. Dempster will not change either of those stats. we may want to do something for Chipper’s last year but we should just stand pat.
As Ricky Bobby says, “if you’re not first, you’re last.” Why waste Chipper’s last season being in last? If he deserves anything from the Braves, it’s a final chance at the series. Why shouldn’t the team do everything they can to put a better staff on the field?
That means we score 3 or more 70% of the time then. I’ll take that although I do agree that we should stand pat and not force a trade for Dempster. Our offense is fine right now, we do need to get more out of our starting pitching, I just don’t know if we should be willing to part with such a good young arm.
Would be helpful if y’all would number the updates (or mark the time) to clarify what the sequence of events was/is. Thanks for all the good work!
Just read them from the bottom up.
haha
actually, that’s not how they were oriented, but thanks for the help! also, was reading from a phone, so wasn’t sure if the formatting looked different to me as a result. anyway, it’s clearer now, and i’m hoping update 9 is that dempster or wren says no to thwart this robbery.
yes, I put the updates at the top when things flipped to the deal being off, or at least stalled. They were just descending when it all seemed go in the beginning. When the entire tone of the story changed I fel that needed to go up top.
Just numbered them. Will re-format whenever this stuff calms down. Right now it’s about all I can do to approve comments from new IP addresses (they get held up when you post from a new IP address for the first time)
Don’t stress it. If people can’t read update #1 and know it is update #1; then there is way more problems than a simple formatting issue. Keep up the good work!
No way the Cubs have him start the game huh? Maybe just let him throw an inning ? say his goodbyes maybe?
He’s not scheduled to start tonight. He pitched Friday, I believe. That would make him ready to pitch again on Wednesday or Thursday.
Basically if Dumpster wants to force an extension, it’s not gonna happen. An extension means we aren’t in the running for Greinke in the offseason, and we can kiss Huddy goodbye after this year. TH > RD
Thanks for the sequence! Had been going top-down before, so i wasn’t sure if the topmost update had been updated to the one that suggested the trade was likely called off. Now that it just seems to be pending dempster’s approval, i’m back to being bummed.