ESPN Chicago’s Bruce Levine says Ted may be a goner:
Many big league scouts were on hand to report back on Lilly to their general managers as the trading deadine approaches on Saturday. Lilly has told the Cubs he’d like to stay, however it appears by this weekend’s deadline for non-waiver trades that he’ll be wearing another uniform.
But the Tribune’s David Haugh says the Cubs should sign Ted to an extension:
If I’m Jim Hendry, instead of trying to find the right trade partner for Lilly, I would focus instead on keeping him. I would make an 11th-hour appeal and lock myself in a room with his agent and vow not to come out until we work out a contract extension.
Make Lilly the first big move of the 2010 off-season. Well, technically it would mark the second big move: Lou Piniella’s retirement announcement already made the Cubs more about next season than this one. And nothing would help make the job of Cubs manager look more appealing to a guy such as Joe Girardi than having Lilly locked up to stabilize a rotation likely to include Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells and Tom Gorzelanny.
Besides that, if the Cubs keep Lilly and don’t extend him, they can offer him arbitration in the offseason. If he declines, the Cubs would get two draft picks, which might be more valuable than anything they can acquire by trade.