Cubs Close to Peavy Deal... or Not

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Dec 10, 2008 3:55PM

So are the Cubs about to land Jake Peavy or not? With baseball's Winter Meetings in full swing this week in Sin City, there are conflicting reports about just how close the Cubs are to landing the Padres ace. The Chicago Tribune says that a deal sending Mark DeRosa to the Philadelphia and Jason Marquis plus Phillies prospects to San Diego is ready to be completed if the Cubs choose to pull the trigger. Meanwhile, ESPN reports that a deal is not imminent and if Peavy lands on the North Side, it won't happen this week.

Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney suggested that a contract the size of Peavy's ($63 million remaining) would work within the franchise's budget, even without knowing who the new team ownership will be and with the current parent company in bankruptcy. ESPN suggests that ownership approval could be one of the big issues holding up such a deal. But if the numbers are within the budget and the current ownership will be unloading the team shortly, what's the hold up? Do they need to get the OK from all interested parties before consummating a trade?

So just how close are the Cubs to landing perhaps the best pitcher in the National League? While Chicagoist thinks a deal gets done this week, we realize they've been talking for weeks now, so if they can't hammer it out with everybody meeting face-to-face, it's not going to happen. If it does, then Cubs fans can expect to be even more heartbroken when a rotation of Peavy, Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly and Harden still fail to bring a World Series to Wrigley.

Denis Poroy/AP