Deadline Deal: Ryan Dempster Headed To Texas Rangers

Dempster allowed another run in the fifth on a Morales double before being replaced. In all, Dempster allowed eight runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out six. The good news, though? The Rangers pounded a parade of Angels pitchers on their way to a 15-9 victory, extending their lead in the West to 4½ games over the Athletics, and five over the now-third-place Angels.

For more on Dempster and the Rangers, visit Lone Star Ball. For all your Angels news, visit Halos Heaven.

Mike Trout CF

Torii Hunter RF

Albert Pujols 1B

Mark Trumbo LF

Kendry Morales DH

Alberto Callaspo 3B

Howie Kendrick 2B

Andrew Romine SS

Bobby Wilson CF

For more on Dempster and the Rangers, visit Lone Star Ball. For all your Angels news, visit Halos Heaven.

Here’s the nuts and bolts of what they traded away, and what they received:

That’s two major-league starting pitchers, a major-league starting catcher, and a major-league fourth outfielder for four minor-league pitchers and a minor-league third baseman.

At the very last minute, the Cubs traded Ryan Dempster to the Rangers. Previously, Dempster looked like he was destined for the Braves, then he looked like he was destined for the Dodgers, but the Rangers ultimately pulled it off. In exchange for Dempster, the Rangers coughed up two prospects: Christian Villanueva and Kyle Hendricks.

Villanueva is a 21-year-old third baseman ranked as the No. 100 prospect in baseball before the season by Baseball America. In advanced-single-A he’s batted .285 with a .777 OPS, and he’s considered to be a fine defender with a history of playing short. His power is coming along although his plate discipline could use work.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Rangers will send two A-ball prospects to the Cubs, one pitcher and one position player.

Now, the Dodgers are reportedly out of the running:

Stay tuned, the deadline is moments away and we’ll surely know something one way or the other, soon.

The New York Yankees made a pair of moves over the offseason on the same day, acquiring Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda on the same day. The former got hurt, and the latter’s been a success. They still have Freddy Garcia in the rotation, though, and they’d like to consider an upgrade. Enter Ryan Dempster:

At the very least, the intrusion of the Yankees gives the Cubs a little more leverage over the Dodgers. The Cubs were pushing for prospect Allen Webster as a part of the deal, but so far the Dodgers have been refusing.

Except they didn’t! Because Dempster didn’t want to go to the Braves!

That’s what Twitter said, anyway.

Dempster has some familiarity with the Yankees, as their pitching coach Larry Rothschild was a longtime Cubs pitching coach, and former Cubs GM Jim Hendry is now a special assistant to Yankees GM Brian Cashman.

There are only about six hours remaining until the deadline Tuesday afternoon.

And, that deal, if it happens, could possibly include another highly-paid Cub:

If the Cubs come back to the Braves, they might not get the same package that was in place before Dempster blocked a trade to Atlanta last week. In other words, there is no guarantee Randall Delgado would also be available in this package.It seems likely Dempster will go somewhere, as he’s not likely to be re-signed by the Cubs and they’d like to get some sort of return for him.

Instead, Cubs fans were treated to headlines like this:

Cubs’ Baker: Not for sale

That could change soon, though, says CSN Chicago’s David Kaplan:

This is all happening because Dempster exercised his 10-and-5 rights and vetoed a deal that would have sent him to the Braves, after which:

Wednesday morning, Braves GM Frank Wren told an Atlanta radio station that the deal is likely off:

The Cubs want to deal Dempster because his contract expires at the end of this season and they want to retool with young pitching. The Braves are in contention and could have used Dempster to bolster their rotation. Could this be posturing? We’ll find out before the non-waiver trading deadline Tuesday.

The Cubs appear to have lost quite a bit of leverage due to the snafus; as noted by Joe Sheehan:

For more on the Cubs, please visit Bleed Cubbie Blue and SB Nation Chicago.

The Ryan Dempster trade saga took another unusual turn Tuesday, with unnamed “sources” telling Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that Dempster would rather go to the Dodgers than the Braves:

After yesterday’s tweets and reports that Dempster had been traded to the Braves, all parties — Dempster and both teams — denied that a deal had been completed. Here, however, are the problems this has created:

When you traffic in baseball-related trade rumors, you develop a sense of how true a rumor is likely to be. When an isolated reporter floats a rumor about a completed deal, you pay attention. But you don’t assume it’s done until you get the flood of reporters tweeting the same thing, usually citing the original guy as the source. It’s a common progression.

On Monday, things started with this tweet:

Edit: The rumor-mongering world is quite convinced this is a done deal, but it looks like nothing has been finalized just yet:

Now, a deal appears “close”:

Nothing’s mentioned in Heyman’s tweet about what the Cubs might get in return, though President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and General Manager Jed Hoyer have stated on numerous occasions that the Cubs are looking to bolster the pitching depth in their system. Thus it’s a reasonable assumption that young pitching would be coming back to Chicago.

When the Dodgers’ new ownership group took over this spring, all the right things were said about spending money, competing to win immediately, etc. But at this point in the season, the Dodgers do have one small problem ... They don’t have many trade chips. If Dempster were just sort of muddling along, simply assuming the remainder of his contract would nearly suffice. But he’s not muddling; he’s excelling. Which means that in addition to paying the rest of his salary this season, any team that gets Dempster will have to give up some talent.

Which doesn’t mean a deal can’t get done. But on its face, this doesn’t seem like the best fit. Even if the Dodgers could use another good starter to fill out their rotation. And it’s not like the Cubs’ lack for suitors.

Where might Dempster end up in the event of a trade? Let’s ask Bob Nightengale:

For more on the Cubs, please visit Bleed Cubbie Blue and SB Nation Chicago.