While they continue to dance around possible deals for players ranging from Jake Peavy and Milton Bradley to backup catcher Paul Bako, the Cubs have yet to make a player move this week in Las Vegas. One thing they have accomplished, however, is securing the admiration of superagent Scott Boras.

According to (Boras), the Cubs have proved they are recession-proof in the way they have gone about their business despite significant roadblocks.

"You have a club where the parent has filed for bankruptcy, and the baseball team is operating very well and they're out there offering multi-million-dollar contracts to players and signing them," ...Boras said. "We're our own industry, and the Cubs are the best example. You see something in bankruptcy and you see a subsidiary that's very successful and kind of operates independent of its parent."

Inspired by one of the Web's hardest-working bloggers and one of its most popular sports blogs, as well as the non-events of the past few days, I'm thinking about baling on this blog and creating a new one. I'm going to call it Rumors of MLB Trade Rumors (RMLBTR).

Here's a sample post:

An RMLBTR source indicates that MLB Trade Rumors is about to post a rumor of the Cubs' interest in acquiring San Diego's Jake Peavy. MLB Trade Rumors would neither confirm nor deny the rumor of the rumor posting, saying simply that it's not the site's habit to respond to a rumor about a possible rumor until it's an actual rumor, in which case the plausibility of the rumor will speak for itself.

You get the idea.

As I sit down to write this, Jake Peavy, Randy Johnson, Milton Bradley, Bobby Abreu and Raul Ibanez are not Chicago Cubs.

Mark DeRosa is not a Philadelphia Phillie.

Felix Pie is not a Baltimore Oriole.

Ronny Cedeno, Jason Marquis, Kevin Hart, Michael Wuertz, Angel Guzman and Sean Marshall are not San Diego Padres.

Kerry Wood is not a Cleveland Indian.

And though it falls outside the normal purview of this blog, I am proud to point out that I did not vote to keep the State of Illinois' Chief Narcissist and Sociopath in office the last time he ran.

No jaw-dropping news here in ESPN's Hot Stove Report on the NL Central, but Peter Gammons assures that the Cubs are still actively pursuing Jake Peavy and then repeats what everyone, including Jim Hendry, has been saying: the team needs a lefthanded hitter.

The Braves have backed out of further discussions with the Padres regarding a possible trade for Jake Peavy, leaving only the Cubs and Dodgers among the suitors. But even if the Dodgers, whose primary focus seems to be re-signing Manny Ramirez, withdraw from the trade talks, the Cubs are going to need help in acquiring the former Cy Young Award winner.

From Friday's San Diego Union-Tribune:

...having failed to transact business with the Braves, (Padres GM Kevin) Towers continues to characterize Peavy's top preferences as problematic: the Chicago Cubs being inadequately stocked with trade material and the Los Angeles Dodgers being preoccupied with other priorities.

“Chicago didn't give us any deadline,” Towers said. “I imagine we'll continue to talk to them, but it's going to definitely take a third team to get something done there.

The Cubs were short of "trade material," particularly the young pitchers the Padres want, before this week's deal that sent Jose Ceda to the Marlins for Kevin Gregg. So if it was essential to get a third team involved in a possible swap for Peavy, it's obviously even more incumbent now.

I had a busy weekend followed by a busy Monday; so busy, I couldn't watch or listen to a moment of Cubs baseball nor consume any local sports media from the end of Friday's loss to the White Sox to the first pitch of the Cubs/Giants game Monday. I wonder how the Cubs fared this past weekend. I'll bet it was an interesting series.

Tuesday at espn.com (subscription required), Peter Gammons listed seven pitchers whom he considers potential Cubs trade targets. (Thanks to mlbtraderumors.com, which flagged the Gammons piece and summarized it for the benefit of non-ESPN.com subscribers like me.) The pitchers—and the Cubs' relationship to each of them, according to Gammons—are:

• C.C. Sabathia, Indians (unlikely Cubs will have enough talent to trade for him)
• Rich Harden (no specific news of Cubs interest; just a good pitcher who might be available)
  
• Randy Wolf, Padres (Cubs tried to get him when he was last a free agent)
• A.J. Burnett (Cubs are watching him)
• Aaron Cook (Cubs love him, Rockies said last month he's not going anywhere)
• Bronson Arroyo, Reds (he's on the Cubs' radar)
• Kevin Millwood, Rangers (ditto)

Pitching wasn't the Cubs' problem Tuesday night in San Francisco. Jason Marquis pitched well enough after a rocky first inning, but the offense never got untracked. Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano can't return soon enough.