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Ryan Dempster

Sveum, Dempster Talk About Potential Moves

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The Cubs have the worst record in baseball (15-30) and they've lost their last ten games, the franchise's longest losing streak in 15 years. Manager Dale Sveum told Gordon Wittenmyer of The Chicago Sun-Times that the next few weeks will be important as they try to shape their roster going forward.

"You get to that point in the year where decisions, roster moves, a lot of things like that [have to be made]," he said. “You get to the point where if you’re not playing well things start changing a lot."

With extension talks between the team and Matt Garza reportedly going "very well," the Cubs' most marketable piece of trade bait is right-hander Ryan Dempster. The 35-year-old owns a 2.14 ERA in 54 2/3 innings spread across eight starts, and his walk (2.5 BB/9), home run (0.5 HR/9), and hit (7.1 H/9) rates are the best they've been in years.

"I’m not an idiot. I know how things go," he said. "I know how it goes with players in contract years and the team not necessarily doing like they’re supposed to be doing, there’s always a possibility of things. There’s a possibility of being traded anytime."

Dempster has full no-trade protection as a five-and-ten player, though he seems open to waiving it under the right circumstances.

"If it’s something they want to approach me with, then I’ll have to cross that bridge when I get to it," he said.

Dempster exercised his $14MM player option this past winter and is still owed approximately $10.1MM the rest of the season. The Cubs would have to offer Dempster a qualifying offer to receive draft pick compensation after the season, but if traded, his new club will not be eligible to receive picks under the new collective bargaining agreement.

Rosenthal On Braves, Dempster, Rizzo, Astros

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One scout told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that the work of the Braves’ hitting instructors and the performance of Kris Medlen has made the difference for the team so far in 2012. Atlanta GM Frank Wren agrees with that assessment, according to Rosenthal, who offers notes and rumors from around the league in his latest column:

  • The Cubs are more likely to trade Ryan Dempster if they sign Matt Garza to an extension. However, Dempster’s ten and five rights allow him to veto any trade, so he’ll have leverage if the Cubs look to make a move. It doesn’t seem likely that Dempster will sign a below-market extension to stay in Chicago, Rosenthal writes.
  • The Cubs don’t have immediate plans to call up Anthony Rizzo, who figures to stay in the minor leagues until an opening emerges.
  • Releasing Alfonso Soriano doesn’t appear to be an option; the outfielder has approximately $50MM remaining on his contract with the Cubs.
  • General managers criticize the collective bargaining agreement, Rosenthal reports. Some low-revenue teams dislike spending restrictions on the draft, since they feel the limitations will drive up the price of MLB talent.
  • Chien-Ming Wang, who is now rehabbing at Triple-A, could be valuable insurance for the Nationals, since they’ve decided to cap Stephen Strasburg’s innings.
  • Brett Myers’ 2013 option likely vests with approximately 55 games finished, Rosenthal suggests. The right-hander will obtain a $500K bonus if the Astros trade him.
  • One scout says Blue Jays catching prospect Travis D’Arnaud looks like Russell Martin did with the Dodgers.

NL Central Links: Molina, Cards, Dempster, Reds

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Congratulations to Brewers GM Doug Melvin for his induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.  Joining Melvin in the 2012 CBHOF class are former Major Leaguers Rheal Cormier and Rusty Staub, plus Canada's gold-medal winning baseball team from the 2011 Pan Am Games.  The official induction ceremony takes place on June 23 in St. Marys, Ontario.

Some news from around the NL Central….

  • Yadier Molina's contract negotiations shouldn't impact either his or the Cardinals' performance in 2012, manager Mike Matheny tells Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Matheny said that Albert Pujols' departure won't influence Molina's own contract situation, though Molina is understandably disappointed that his good friend left St. Louis to sign with the Angels.
  • Also from Strauss, he runs through 11 outstanding questions facing the Cardinals heading into the season.
  • Ryan Dempster expressed an interest in remaining with the Cubs for the rest of career during an interview on MLB Network Radio's First Pitch on Thursday (interview highlights courtesy of CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney).  Dempster exercised a $14MM player option to stay with the Cubs in 2012 but it's uncertain if the rebuilding Cubs would try to bring him back in free agency.
  • The Reds' current TV contract is believed to run through 2016 and pays the team around $10MM per year, reports John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Fay thinks the Reds will need a major upgrade in their next cable contract to compete with teams like the Angels and Padres, who have completed, or are close to competing, much more lucractive TV deals.
  • MLB.com's Tom Singer thinks Edwin Jackson (and agent Scott Boras) made a mistake in turning down one-year and three-year offers from the Pirates to sign a one-year, $11MM deal with the Nationals.  Singer feels Jackson would've re-established his value better pitching in the NL Central on the one-year contract, and the three-year deal would've given Jackson some security against either a drop in form or getting "swallowed up by a market that might include the likes of Matt Cain, Zack Greinke and Cole Hamels."

Ryan Dempster Exercises 2012 Option

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Ryan Dempster has exercised his $14MM player option for 2012, the Cubs were informed today according to Gordon Wittenmyer of The Chicago Sun-Times (on Twitter). Dempster hinted at wanting to remain in Chicago beyond next season a few weeks ago. The team confirmed the move on their Twitter feed.

The 34-year-old right-hander just finished his worst season as a full-time starter with the Cubs, pitching to a 4.80 ERA in 202 1/3 innings. His underlying performance was no different than previous years, however. He struck out 8.5 and walked 3.6 batters per nine innings, getting a ground ball 44.1% of the time. Dempster eclipsed the 200 IP plateau for the fourth straight year, every season since he moved back into the rotation in 2008.

Given the underwhelming class of free agent starters, there's a good chance that Dempster could have secured a multi-year contract on the open market this offseason. Instead, he'll join Matt Garza, Randy Wells, and possibly Carlos Zambrano in the Cubs' rotation next summer.

Quick Hits: Padres, Orioles, Wilson, Sizemore

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Here are some Quick Hits as the Rangers have evened up the World Series 2-2..

  • Even though Padres GM Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod are headed to the Cubs, Baseball America's Jim Callis told Dan Hayes of the North County Times that the club should still be able to maintain their strong farm system.
  • When speaking to reporters, Commissioner Bud Selig didn't rule out the possibility of a collective bargaining agreement announcement before the end of the World Series, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
  • Orioles manager Buck Showalter is a big admirer of what the Blue Jays do which leads many to think that Tony LaCava will land the GM job, tweets Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated.  Jerry Dipoto is also in the mix for the job.
  • C.J. Wilson is well aware that his scheduled start in Game 5 of the World Series could be his last with the Rangers, but his impending free agency is the furthest thing from Wilson's mind, writes Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest.
  • Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster hopes that Theo Epstein sparks a cultural shift in Chicago, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.
  • The Indians' biggest need this winter is a productive hitter that they can slide into the middle of the order, writes Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer.  Preferably, that hitter would play first base, third base, left field, or right field.
  • It could be worthwhile for a team such as the Giants to take a one-year flier on center fielder Grady Sizemore, writes John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.  Shea also runs down his predictions for many of this winter's top free agents including Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and C.J. Wilson.
  • If Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. lets  Albert Pujols walk now after his mythical Game 3 performance an angry uprising from St. Louis fans is inevitable, writes Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-1024-cubs-epstein-dempster–20111024,0,3092647.story

NL Central Notes: Rasmus, Bourn, Dempster

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Weather permitting, we''re just a few hours from watching the Cardinals represent the NL Central in Game Three of the World Series in Texas. While we wait, let's round up some links on the Cards and a couple of their division rivals….

  • Cardinals GM John Mozeliak discusses the Colby Rasmus trade with Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, noting that there was some internal opposition to moving the center fielder: "I'm not going to point anybody out specifically but there definitely was a robust debate internally on what we should do. But in the end, everybody believed it was what was best for the organization."
  • In a highly recommended piece at Bloomberg Businessweek, Rob Gloster revisits another July deal, providing an in-depth look at negotiations between the Braves and Astros for Michael Bourn.
  • ESPNChicago passes along a few quotes from Ryan Dempster regarding his future and the Cubs' new president. Dempster praised Theo Epstein and said he'd talk to the new front office regime before making a decision about his $14MM player option: "Hopefully it's not just picking up an option for this year, but I'll go out there and play the best I can and be here for a long time."

Pirates Notes: Doumit, Snyder, Ohlendorf

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The latest from the Bucs, who are looking to keep their streak of losing seasons from reaching 20 next year…

  • The Pirates are expected to decline contract options on Ryan Doumit, Chris Snyder and Paul Maholm, plus non-tender Ross Ohlendorf, reports Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  Doumit will earn a $500K buyout and says he hasn't considered renegotiating his contract in order to possibly remain in Pittsburgh.
  • Ohlendorf tells Biertempfel that he'd like to return next season. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes listed Ohlendorf as "on the non-tender bubble" in his recent analysis of the Buccos' arbitration-eligible players.  Ohlendorf would receive just a modest raise from his $2.025MM salary in 2011, though Biertempfel believes that the Pirates can't afford paying that much to a pitcher who projects best as an extra bullpen arm.
  • With Doumit and Snyder possibly both gone, it could leave the catcher's job wide open for Michael McKenry.  Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to McKenry about how the young backstop has developed this season.

Dempster Has Not Thought About Player Option

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Ryan Dempster is scheduled to start for the Cubs tomorrow, and it might be his last start at Wrigley Field as a Cub. Dempster holds a $14MM player option for next season, but he told MLB.com's Carrie Muskat that he hasn't put much thought into whether or not he'll exercise it yet…

"I never even thought about that," said Dempster. "As a player, you just want to see where everything's going and what direction they want to go and things like that more than anything. You know how much I love playing here. Hopefully, it's not just about staying here for next year but staying past next year. I'll worry about what's on the field first."

Dempster added that there are a lot of factors that will go into the decision, which is understandable. The free agent market for starters is quite thin beyond CC Sabathia (assuming he exercises his opt-out) and C.J. Wilson, so it's not a stretch to say Dempster would be the third best pitcher available and the top righty (ahead of Edwin Jackson).

The 34-year-old Dempster is in the middle of his worst season as a Cub, pitching to a 4.66 ERA in 183 1/3 innings across 31 starts. Unless he pitches very deep into the game in his last two starts, he'll fail to crack the 200 innings plateau for the first time since moving back into the rotation in 2008. It's worth noting that his strikeout (8.7 K/9), walk (3.4 BB/9), and home run (1.0 HR/9) rates are right in line with his previous seasons.

Players Claimed And Pulled Back

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A player who is claimed on waivers can be pulled back by his original team, and it happens regularly.  It could be that the two sides just couldn't reach a deal, or it might be that the original team never intended to trade the player.  Technically a player can be placed on waivers a second time, but it's rare because in that case he cannot be pulled back.  Reportedly, at least 16 players have been claimed and pulled back this month: 

Many players were placed on waivers and were not traded, including John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Paul Konerko, Matt Thornton, Brett Myers, Clint Barmes, and Craig Breslow.  It's safe to assume several of these players were claimed and then pulled back.  Additionally, at least 23 players have cleared waivers and can be traded to any team.

Quick Hits: Dempster, Wright, Kubel, Bell, Thome

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Let's take a look at some links as the northeast prepares for Hurricane Irene..

  • Cubs starter Ryan Dempster was non-committal when asked about his player option for 2012, but he doesn't sound like he wants to leave town either, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.  The 34-year-old's 2012 option is worth $14MM.
  • Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com wonders if the Cubs will keep Reed Johnson in the fold in 2012.  Johnson, he points out, could help groom top prospect Brett Jackson next season.  This year the 34-year-old is hitting .347/.385/.539 in 209 plate appearances.
  • Despite his insistence to the contrary, the swirl of trade rumors throughout the season have bothered David Wright, a Mets staffer told Andy Martino of the Daily News.  The third baseman surprisingly cleared waivers this week.  Wright is owed $15MM next year and can void a $16MM club option for 2013 if he is dealt.
  • Jason Kubel is happy to still be a member of the Twins, tweets Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.  Earlier this evening we learned that the Indians were the team to place the winning claim on him, not the White Sox as once thought.
  • Padres closer Heath Bell didn't let the recent round of trade speculation get to him, writes Corey Brock of MLB.com.  Earlier today, Ben Nicholson-Smith outlined the club's options regarding Bell this offseason.
  • Veteran Jim Thome is happy to return to the Tribe as the elder statesman, writes Zack Meisel of MLB.com.  The slugger will celebrate his 41st birthday tomorrow.
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