11:07pm: Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has Phillies sources saying the deal is in place if the Cubs will pull the trigger with the Padres. Sullivan also talked to chairman Crane Kenney, who implied the Cubs included Peavy’s contract within projected budgets to bidders.
Sullivan adds that the Cubs have not had talks for Bobby Abreu yet.
9:17pm: Stark says there’s no way such a complicated trade will get done before the end of the Meetings. He adds that extra teams are not necessarily requirements. The Cubs will need to move a contract and get ownership approval, though.
8:39pm: Ruben Amaro Jr. came close to acknowledging the Phils are involved in the Peavy deal, says Jayson Stark.
8:31pm: Jeff Passan: the lone holdup in this complicated trade is the Cubs moving Marquis. A deal is not imminent, though, according to Towers.
7:26pm: Brock talked to Towers, who met today with Hendry and said a trade seems more likely today than it did yesterday. They’ll meet again tonight. If a deal is reached, it’d be announced after Thursday’s Rule 5 draft. Brock says the Phillies are believed to be the third team.
3:31pm: MLB.com’s Corey Brock says nothing is imminent and the Cubs appear reluctant.
2:25pm: The saga continues…Kevin Towers does not think this deal lost steam in the last 24 hours, according to Yahoo’s Tim Brown and Gordon Edes. However, they say the Cubs are having second thoughts about this four-team mess. The Cubs source says the price is too steep for them right now and they’re looking at another short-term option for the rotation (Randy Johnson maybe).
2:02pm: Tom Krasovic says the Padres are not seeking J.A. Happ or Chris Coste as has been previously rumored. Also, Ronny Cedeno is not the Padres’ first choice to replace Khalil Greene at short. Krasovic adds that the Braves apparently are now happy the Padres didn’t take their offer for Peavy.
Kras adds that the Padres did some fact-finding with Mark Grudzielanek’s agent. Grudz wants to play for a winner though.
1:10pm: Roman Modrowski of the Chicago Sun-Times says Peavy sang "Go Cubs, Go" at a Vegas bar last night. Good times. But did Roy Oswalt sing along? Also, Modrowski believes the Cubs would be willing to eat as much as $6MM of Marquis’ $9.875MM.
Jayson Stark says an Aaron Heilman-Marquis deal appears unlikely, as the sides cannot agree on what portion of Marquis’ contract the Cubs would assume.
12:08pm: Rosenthal says the Cubs maintain they’re not close on Peavy. And they still need to identify their new owner before a deal can get done. The Cubs are mulling Randy Johnson as a backup plan, and continue to prioritize the lefthanded bat.
10:36am: Phil Rogers says the key to this potential four-team Peavy trade would be the Phillies or Orioles taking on Marquis and some of his contract. Rogers says "it will be a stunner if the Cubs don’t acquire Peavy."
1:00am: Chris De Luca says a source close to Jim Hendry characterized a Peavy deal as "very close." De Luca’s sources say a Cubs-Orioles component is set (Felix Pie for Garrett Olson). This runs counter to Roch Kubatko’s report below. De Luca says the Cubs still want to trade Marquis and acquire a lefthanded hitter before closing the Peavy deal.
12:41am: Ken Rosenthal’s source says the Cubs’ attempts to bring in a third team have involved "probably 20 names with four to five clubs." So it’s not necessarily DeRosa or the Phillies. Rosenthal says an agreement is still not close.
12:30am: To summarize yesterday: Kevin Towers has facilitated an apparent three-team Jake Peavy trade that he will present to the Cubs. I say three because Roch Kubatko says the Orioles don’t know of any agreement. So the best guess right now (based on reports) is that the Cubs would send Mark DeRosa to the Phillies, and both teams would send young players to the Padres. The Cubs could offload Jason Marquis in the deal, and the savings from Marquis and DeRosa would seem to neatly equal Peavy’s $11MM salary for ’09.
