Alfonso Soriano would be included in trade to L.A.
Talks have intensified between the Cubs and Dodgers in a potential trade for pitcher Ryan Dempster that now includes outfielder Alfonso Soriano, according to a major league source.
Cubs’ manager Dale Sveum related before Monday’s game against the Pirates that he would be surprised if Dempster is still a Cub after the cut-off point.
“Yeah I’d be surprised, I guess,” Sveum said. “Yeah I would.
“There are just too many teams, and he’s too good a pitcher for folks not to want him these last 2 months.”
Soriano claimed he had not yet been approached by the Cubs about waiving his 10 and 5 rights, which gives him rejection power over any trade as a veteran of 10 major league seasons and the previous 5 with the same team. In the 6th year of an 8-year, $136 million deal, Soriano is still owed $44 million. How much of that $44 million the Chicago Cubs are willing to eat could determine whether he gets moved.
With the non-waiver trade deadline approaching, Soriano, 36 years old, claimed he would consider a trade depending on the team and the city involved.
“It must be a good town with a good team,” Soriano related. “I would give the team the chance to trade me, but as I said the team and city would need to be good. No-one has come to me about a trade yet, so we have 2 or 3 days left. We may just wait and see what happens.” betting baseball
The Giants have also made inquiries about Soriano, according to another major league source.
The L.A Dodgers, who’ve also shown interest in pitcher Matt Garza, have been high on Dempster’s list since he was asked to give the Cubs the teams he would consider going to in a June meeting with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein.
Dodgers’ GM Ned Colletti said that he was hopeful the club could “do 1 thing” before Tuesday’s non-waiver trade cut-off point.
“We’ve got a handful of clubs that we’ve been in a lot of communication with the last couple of weeks,” Colletti announced before the Dodgers game against the Diamondbacks. “We’re coming down to the finals days and last hours of it so we’ll find out who is real now.”
Colletti said the Los Angeles Dodgers were still in the market for beginning pitching, bullpen help and another bat. ESPN MLB odds.
When asked how long the Dodgers could wait prior to making a last call on some of the trades they’re now considering, Colletti appeared to indicate it was more an issue of how long other teams were prepared to wait.
The Chicago Cubs had a deal in place on July 23 with the Braves for Dempster, but he didn’t consent to the trade at first, causing the Braves to take the deal off of the table the next day.
Questioned if he’s got a gut feeling about where he’ll finish up, Dempster said, “I have all kinds of gut feelings at the moment. I’m just attempting to focus and narrow my focus to doing what I have to do to do my job if that’s what is going to happen (Tuesday).”