Today might finally be the day that Ted Lilly finds himself a new home. Multiple reports are saying the the Cubs and Dodgers are discussing a deal that would send Lilly and second baseman Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers. LA is looking to get better in the starting pitching department, and it would appear they see Theriot as some sort of upgrade on the infield.
Fox Sports first had the report it would seem like money is the holdup right now. MLB.com confirmed that there are talks between the two teams for Lilly.
The Dodgers are in big time financial trouble though and Lilly and Theriot are owed a combined $5 million the rest of the season. The Cubs aren’t exactly a financial juggernaut themselves right now, though they can certainly cover a portion of the remaining money. It might be smart to do that anyway because if the Cubs kick in money odds are they can increase the quality and/or quantity of the prospect(s) they get back in the deal.
The Dodgers might be the last remaining suitor for both players at the moment, which gives them leverage. The Mets are falling out of the playoff race, the Twins opted to add a closer instead, the Phillies grabbed Roy Oswalt, and the Tigers stopped being good at baseball. Those were the teams rumored to be after Lilly, who is the best pitcher on the market right now.
Hopefully the two teams can come to a deal today, which would allow Lilly to make his scheduled start on Sunday in a new uniform, and make it one less game we have to watch Ryan Theriot play. It would seem like Lilly and Theriot are the only two Cubs that will possibly be moved this week unless Jim Hendry has something up his sleeve that we haven’t heard about.
I’ll update this post as more info arrives.
Update- Already we have a little more info. WGN Radio’s George Ofman tweets that the return could be Blake DeWitt and Chad Billingsly.
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1 Comment
Okay, how stupid would Ned Colletti have to be to make the Billingsley/Dewitt swap…unless Brett Jackson or something is going to the Dodgers. But in that case Hendry is the idiot.
Anyways, that makes the Dodgers older and um…worse.