The Jake Peavy Thing Refuses to Die

There is no way to simply or concisely recount the Jake Peavy-to-the-Cubs trade timeline from earlier in the offseason without glossing over a few nuances, but here goes:

The Cubs wanted Jake Peavy. The Padres wanted to trade Jake Peavy. Jake Peavy had a no-trade clause, and said he wanted to be traded to the Cubs. The Padres wanted to trade Peavy to the Braves. The Braves backed away, or the Padres did. Then the Cubs really tried to get Peavy, and then Padres GM Kevin Towers talked a bunch, and then the Cubs walked away, sort of, but not really, and the trade was supposed to be dead, like, for good. Like we said: glossing over a few things. But that's pretty much the deal.

Ah, but the trade is not dead! At least not in the mind of solid ChicagoSun-Times Cubs scribe Gordon Wittenmyer, who today briefly speculates that the Jason Marquis-to-Colorado deal could provide another opening for GM Jim Hendry to go after Peavy.

Wittenmyer makes it clear why a trade could happen -- Hendry wants another pitcher to "replace Marquis" (saying Jake Peavy would "replace" the retread Jason Marquis on the Cubs is like saying Eamonn Brennan would replace Ernest Hemingway in the Spanish Civil War). What isn't clear is how. How will the Cubs make a trade happen now? The contract clearance for 2010 still isn't there, and the prospects the Padres want still don't exist in the Cubs' system. In many ways, nothing has changed with the Marquis trade except that Jason Marquis, and his silly salary, are headed Rocky Mountain way.

So, in so many words, the story of the Jake Peavy trade remains as such: dead. Right now, at least. Talk to us in a week. Who knows, right?