Everyone say it with me, the Cubs are players in the Jake Peavy sweepstakes, but the Braves are the only team that has the pieces to get the deal done. How many times have we heard this in the past couple of weeks? Another flight of fancy:
The Chicago Cubs will continue their efforts to obtain Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres despite re-signing Ryan Dempster this week, according to a source close to the negotiations.
The only team known to be engaged with the Padres (the Atlanta Braves are expected to resume their pursuit) on Peavy, the Cubs are attempting to put Peavy alongside Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly and Dempster, easily the deepest rotation in the NL.
Still, as the Cubs’ payroll rose with the Dempster deal – four years, $52 million – there were questions about their continued desire for Peavy, who is owed at least $60 million over the next five years. Padres GM Kevin Towers has said the Cubs lack the parts to swing the trade for Peavy, meaning they’d have to involve at least one other team in the negotiations.
But, the Cubs are still in.
“They are still alive,” the source said.
At this point, I'm just going to keep chalking these reports up to the fact that baseball people seem to have nothing else to talk about. So we are meant to believe that the Cubs, who already have roughly a $120 million payroll, are going to add another $15MM per year to a team that's trying to get sold.