Trade Watch

WSCR picked up on the Ivy Chat drumbeat to get Carlos Beltran away from KC and over to Wrigley. KC is 12 games under .500 and 8 games out of both first place and a Wild Card. My rule of thumb is 10 games out and you're toast, regardless of how far into the season you are. KC should be there by, oh, Friday.

On the morning show, Murph and Fred speculated that a package of Patterson and Farnsworth would be enough to pry Carlos away.

I'd do that deal so fast it'd make Secretariat seem like a snail.

I also don't think that's a big enough deal for KC to flinch.

Farnsworth is 1 year away from free agency and already at a 7 figure salary. KC wants to build for the long haul and, while Patterson could do that, Farns doesn't. The Cubs would need to throw in a young starter. The obvious candidate is Jae-kuk Ryu. With the release of Ben Christensen, the Cubs have obviously made a move to not only rid themselves of a bad arm, but a bad media story as well. When Ryu killed an osprey last year with a baseball thrown at the bird's nest, Ryu was demoted. Ryu remains a bad media story, albeit a minor one.

Patterson and Ryu would give the Royals two players who would remain on their roster for at least 4 more years and the possibility of two future All-Stars.

Well, one, if you scout Patterson like I do.

If the Royals don't want Ryu, I'd be willing to part with one other top minor league starter other than Guzman or Sisco. I might even bite on Brownlie if the Royals were to pick up part of Beltran's contact for 2004 and he were to sign an extension at the time of the trade.

Beltran a Cub? That would lock the division in my book.