Marlon Byrd for John Lannan Opportunity Exists  So John Lannan
lost his arbitration case to the Nationals and wil be paid $5M
for next season (as opposed to $5.7M he was asking). Now that
the money is settled, the Nats are trying to move Lannan for a
position player, preferably a center fielder, so that they can
sign Edwin Jackson instead. I'm not quite sure why they want to
make that swap, but that seems to be the goal for them. If the
Cubs cared to add another mediocre pitcher with 2 years of club
control while moving Marlon Byrd and the one year left on his
contract, while saving about $1.5M, it appears a match could be
made.  I certainly don't see the Cubs doing it, not much
difference between Paul Maholm and Lannan and it seems that the
pitching depth problem has been more than solved. And if you're
a fan of FIP, Lannan's numbers are worse than what he's actually
put up. But on some level it could make some sense, especially
if the Cubs are afraid they won't have a taker in 2 months for
Byrd. And they do