Peavy Still a Padre

[Guest JoesBros]

LAS VEGAS - The proposed deal that would have sent pitcher Jake Peavy to the Cubs, a deal Padres general manager Kevin Towers and his staff spent the entire Winter Meetings working on, fell through Thursday morning, leaving the Padres with nothing to show -- for now -- for three-plus days of work on the deal.

"Now we need to start moving forward," Towers said.

As the Padres contingent left Las Vegas on Thursday, they did so with Peavy still in tow, though the team did about everything it could to facilitate a deal, even engaging in a third and fourth team to try to get a compensation package they liked.

In the end, Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry pulled the plug on the deal, as he told Towers on Thursday that he was passing on the 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner.

"He said he's got other things going on. I respect his position," Towers said of Hendry.

So what now?

Towers plans on talking to Padres chief executive officer Sandy Alderson when he returns to San Diego on Monday, as well as Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, in the coming days to see what's next.

Towers said one option is pulling Peavy off the trading block and going into the 2009 season with him at the front of the starting rotation. Another one, presumably, would be to try to kindle talks with other teams.

"I would imagine when we get back to San Diego we'll sit down with Sandy and talk to Barry and see how we want to handle it moving forward," Towers said.

Towers said this week that he had all but lined up the package of prospects Padres would receive for Peavy from the Cubs and the Phillies, who were the third team in a proposed multi-team deal.

The Padres were seeking pitching, starters and relievers, in return and possibly a prospect or two.

They have been looking to deal Peavy's $11 million salary in 2009 and the remaining four years on a contract he signed a year ago that totals $63 million.

Towers had said all along this week that he thought, based on his talks with Hendry, that the Cubs needed to move salary, namely pitcher Jason Marquis ($9.875 million) and possibly infielder Mark DeRosa ($5.5 million) to get a deal done.

"I sensed Jim had some uncertainty," Towers said.

It's not known if the Cubs balked at the deal because of the money due to Peavy over the next four seasons or that they decided that moving DeRosa -- a player Cubs manager Lou Piniella was none to excited to trade -- didn't make sense for them.

The Padres tabled their plans this week at the Winter Meetings of filling the needs of a team that lost 99 games last season, as Towers and the baseball operations staff devoted themselves to getting a deal for Peavy done.

Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.