Lilly Talks Still Looming

With today's trade deadline around the corner, I woke up this morning hoping that the Ted-Lilly-and-Ryan-Theriot-to-Dodgers rumors were just the product of a bad hangover from yesterday. Alas, they are still out there, as per Tony Jackson:

SAN FRANCISCO -- Although any further trading-deadline activity by the Los Angeles Dodgers apparently will be pushed to the final hours Saturday, a major league source confirmed Friday the club is engaged in talks with the Chicago Cubs about a possible deal that would bring veteran left-hander Ted Lilly back to the team that originally drafted him in the 23rd round in 1996.

The source said the teams have discussed two versions of a possible trade involving Lilly: one that involves only Lilly and another that also involves Cubs infielder Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers along with Lilly.

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney and ESPN.com senior writer Jayson Stark have reported that Lilly is likely to be traded by the deadline. [...]

While it has been widely reported Dodgers owner Frank McCourt would be willing to add an additional $2 million to $3 million to the team's $83 million payroll -- the Dodgers already added $700,000 by taking on Podsednik -- Lilly is owed about $4.3 million for the rest of this final season of a four-year, $40 million contract. The Cubs would have to pick up a large portion of that commitment for the Dodgers to add Lilly.

Lilly, 34, has reached double figures in wins each of the past seven seasons, but he is just 3-8 this year despite a 3.69 ERA. That is due largely to a lack of run support, a problem that might not get significantly better if Lilly is traded to the Dodgers, a team that entered Friday night's game with the San Francisco Giants having scored exactly two runs in each of its past four games and having scored more than three runs in only three of its 14 games since the All-Star break. [...]

Theriot has about $867,000 left on his $2.6 million contract for this season, which he was forced to accept after losing an arbitration hearing last winter. Unlike Lilly, who is a potential free agent at season's end, Theriot won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2012 season.

Ken Rosenthal over at Fox Sports says that the Dodgers are also considering the Pirates' Paul Maholm if they can't land Lilly. Well, at least this gives us something to talk about at today's SoSG Fest 2010...