Vitters? Marquis? Exciting stuff, stay tuned!

Tough to sift through that mess, but the way I read it — doesn’t it look like the Phils would be giving up Happ and Coste to get DeRosa (with Vitters still going to San Diego)?

While that would potentially fill one need (a RH hitting outfielder), it would open up a hole in the rotation. Plus DeRosa’s only under contract for one more year (at $5.5 million), so we’d be forgoing 6 years of Happ and 3 more of Coste. That doesn’t look good, even if you throw a mediocre “innings eating” Marquis into the deal.

Or I could be totally misreading the situation. Not sure.

To state it simply. Bet the farm on Jake Peavy. In a market where Ryan Dempster can command 52 milion over 4 years, Peavey for 63 over that same time period is a steal. I am giddy at the thought of Hamels and Peavy in the same rotation.

That would make having Ibanez, Rivera, or Young in LF all the more tolerable, eh?

I don’t see any reason beyond innate pessimism to assume that the deal would be Happ+ for DeRosa. It seems likely to me that the Phillies are in talks, and reporters/agents/saboteurs/whomever are extrapolating from the needs and wants of the respective teams. DeRosa went to Penn, and can play LF, 3B, and fill in at 2B; the Padres want young pitchers, but Carrasco would be an unrealistic price, and need a stopgap catcher (Coste).

Of course, that deal would be awful, but it’s just the presumptive framework because its always better news to get concrete names out there, rather than ambiguities.

I want Peavy! Don’t facilitate the Cubs getting him!.

And before you yell at me…I already read about his NTC

Outside of whatever the Mets throw on the field next season, the Cubs are the Phillies biggest hurdle to clear if they want to repeat as NL Champs. Why you would help them get BETTER is puzzling.

Maybe Amaro owes Monty one Penn guy (DeRosa) for every two Stanford guys (Bruntlett, Mayberry).

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers is reporting that it will be “a stunner” if the Peavy deal doesn’t get done, with the lone hold-up rumored to be who takes on Jason Marquis. The Padres and Orioles won’t want him, so would the Cubs ship him to Philly to get this deal done? And would that interest us?

In that scenario, we’d be giving up Happ and Coste to get DeRosa and Marquis — a good deal from a talent perspective. DeRosa could fill in at 2B and 3B while Utley and Feliz recover or need days off, and he provides the righty OF bat we’ve been seeking. Marquis isn’t thrilling by any means, but he has a strong ground ball tendency (career 48.7%) and should be good for a mid-4 ERA.

But here’s why I don’t like the deal: we’d also be taking on DeRosa’s $5.5 million salary, as well as at least $6 million of Marquis’ salary (and that’s if the Cubs eat $4 million of Marquis’ salary, which they might do, but it’s obviously no sure thing). And, of course, we’re likely to miss out on three years of cheap production from Happ, as taco pal notes above.

Bottom line: don’t do this deal. Keep Happ and put that $11 million to better use — I’d personally advocate signing Juan Rivera and taking a flier on someone like Brad Penny, but that’s a discussion for another place.