Let the Rumors Begin

Sticking with the Ivy Chat push for Carlos Beltran, it seems other teams are hot on the trail of Beltran also, with no whisper of the Cubs wanting him.

The big rumor is that Boston will swing a 3 way deal with Seattle and send Johnny Damon to the Mariners, Freddy Garcia to the Royals, and Beltran to the Sox.

Boston is capable of anything. They were willing to go after A-rod and I see no reason why they wont seriously try and aquire Beltran.

The Padres are the new team wanting Beltran and they can offer a very good package. They might have an inside track because they have talked to the Royals before about getting Beltran.

Other teams that have expressed interest are the Dodgers (Your kidding me they need offense?), Whitesox (Over my dead body, or over Ordonez's), and the Angels (They got Vlad, they dont need anymore offense, but they have an agressive owner).

Ofcourse the Yankees are out there lurking, and Ivy Chat has a post about the Yanks not having the prospects to deal for Beltran. While that may be true, the Yanks have a history of pushing up the price on deals to make it as uncomfortable as possible for teams to get the players they want.

Naturally the Cubs are silent in this situation expressing no interest. And when the Cubs express no interest through the media that means they have no intentions of pursing that player. The Cubs are more interested in finding a weak hitting SS to fill in for a weak hitting SS.

I think the Cubs can offer the best package followed by the Padres. But the Cubs need to get over themselves and be willing to trade any one of their highly touted arms from the minors. One thing the Cubs are stubborn as hell with is those pitching arms. It has been this teams greatest asset in rebuilding and has become our achilles heal in trade negotiations. If the Cubs are unwilling to part with any of their best minor league arms then Carlos Beltran will end up a San Diego Padre in my opinion.

If there is one situation where you can trade an unknown for a known, this is the time, this is the place. You dont get much more sure bets than Carlos Beltran. To pass up this chance would be a catastrophic error in judgement for Jim Hendry.