The Peavy Sweepstakes: The Chicago Cubs Are Back In It

Let's look back to mid-October, when the San Diego Padres management began dismantling their team. The first name on their list of players entering the real estate market was former Cy Young winner Jake Peavy.

Peavy, 28 in May, has a no-trade clause in his contract with the Padres. He understood that the franchise was looking to cut costs, being a professional he obliged them with a short list of teams he would welcome a deal to: the Cubs, Astros, Cardinals, Dodgers and Braves.

Fairly quickly it became apparent that the Astros and Cardinals, as much as they would love to have Peavy, didn't have the horses to make a deal happen. And the prospect of the Padres moving Peavy inside their own division, just a short drive north to Los Angeles, looked about as remote as John McCain becoming president. So it would be between the Braves and Cubs.

The Braves have consummated deals to bring in Javier Vazquez via trade from the White Sox and signed Derek Lowe as a free agent. They don't have the money, or need, to make a blockbuster move for Peavy any more.

The Cubs were, all along, the leader in the sweepstakes, but didn't have enough young pitchers to fulfill the wants list of the Padres. Sean Marshall, Donnie Veal and Angel Guzman weren't exactly what the Padres were hoping for in return for Peavy, so there began to be rumors that the Cubs would need to get another team (or two) involved to make a deal happen.

Well now the Cubs have made a few deals to make this smoldering stove heat back up.

Trade second baseman Mark DeRosa to Cleveland for minor league pitchers Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Gaub.

Stevens, 25, is the most major league-ready pitcher in this deal. The right hander has 344 career strikeouts in 312 innings pitcher at various levels of the minor leagues for Cleveland since 2005.

Gaub had impressive numbers as well, but will be 24 years old in 2009 with only Class A experience. The lefthander has 104 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched in two minor league seasons. Archer will be only 20 this coming season.

Trade centerfielder Felix Pie to Baltimore for left handed starter Garret Olson and minor league pitcher Henry Williamson.

This deal had been rumored to be part of the Peavy deal as far back as mid-November. Olson, a highly touted pitcher who San Diego apparently likes more than the Cubs' Marshall or Rich Hill, will be 25 in 2009. In 33 career starts, Olson is 10-13 with a 6.87 ERA.

Williamson, 24, has just two professional seasons under his belt. He has 110 strikeouts in 90 minor league innings thus far, going 2-6 with an even 4.00 ERA.

These two deals bring five additional arms into the Cubs' fold, in addition to the pitchers the Cubs had already in Marshall, Hill, and Guzman (Veal was lost to the Rule V Draft).

Another transaction of note is that the Cubs agreed to a one-year contract with middle infielder Ronny Cedeno on Saturday, January 17.

This could make the following proposal become something to happen in the not-too-distant future:

Cubs trade Cedeno, minor league third baseman Josh Vitters, Olson, Stevens and Guzman to the Padres for Jake Peavy.

In Cedeno, the Padres would be acquiring a replacement for departed shortstop Khalil Greene (who was traded to the Cardinals earlier this winter). Vitters is one of the Cubs' top position player prospects right now, but is staring at a concrete ceiling at third because of Aramis Ramirez.

In Guzman, Stevens and Olson, the Cubs are only giving up one pitcher that was in their system when these rumors began. Guzman had been a top pitching prospect in the organization for a handful of years, but injuries limited his effectiveness. He, like Pie, is out of minor league options in 2009 and will either be on the Cubs major league roster or somewhere else.

What would this mean for the Cubs major league roster?

First, the Cubs would immediately have perhaps the best starting rotation in baseball. With Peavy pitching in front of Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster, the Cubs could potentially have 17-game winners as their four and five starters. This would give the Cubs the firepower in their rotation to take the next step in October.

The Cubs have surrendered a significant amount of positional depth by trading away DeRosa and replacing him with switch-hitting utility man Aaron Miles. The Cubs bench stands to have names like Gathright, Miles, Kosuke Fukudome and Paul Bako, with Milton Bradley coming in to play right field.

The Cubs have failed, miserably, in each of the past two Octobers. If the trades made by general manager Jim Hendry this winter lead to Jake Peavy joining the rotation, and it gets the Cubs to the promised land... then, and only then, will we know if the method behind Hendy's madness was genius or simply loco.