If the Cubs are interested in acquiring ace Jake Peavy from the Padres, the clock could be ticking on the opportunity.

Peavy said he would waive his no-trade option to join either the Cubs or Dodgers, but San Diego seemingly doesn’t want to deal the ace to someone in their division, so that would leave Chicago as their best trade partner at this point, unless another team emerges (Milwaukee?) in the upcoming days/weeks.

But according to Daily Herald’s Barry Rozner, if the Padres can’t move Peavy’s contract off their books soon, then they might begin “offloading salaries” and if they do that, then they might as well just keep their top pitcher.

The Cubs and Peavy seem like an excellent match, but as I recently wrote in my latest column, if Chicago is going to trade for anything right now it would probably be another bat. Milton Bradley has been dismal, Aramis Ramirez is on the DL and Derrek Lee has been as inconsistent as ever.

The Cubs’ starters on the other hand, have been solid. Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster have pitched well, Carlos Zambrano just got off the DL and Randy Wells has been a pleasant surprised as a fill-in for injured starters.

So why give up prospects to add Peavy to a rotation that’s already good enough to win? The timing is off for the Cubs, which means in the end they could inevitably pass on the opportunity to trade for Peavy.

The White Sox thought they had added an ace last week when they worked out a deal with the Padres that would have sent (among others) their top two pitching prospects – Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda – to San Diego in exchange for starting pitcher Jake Peavy. But with his desire to stay in the National League at the forefront of his decision, Peavy exercised his no-trade option and nixed the deal before it was completed.

Now that that deal has been squashed, where will Peavy wind up when the curtain closes on the 2009 baseball season? Or will he even be traded at all?

I’ve ranked the top 5 landing spots for Peavy and why each club will and won’t land the San Diego ace.

1. Milwaukee Brewers
Why they’ll land Peavy: If the Cubs’ offense continues to struggle, then Chicago will more than likely trade for a bat instead of adding another arm to its starting rotation. With the Cubs seemingly focused on their offense, a path could clear for the Brewers to make the Padres an offer for Peavy. Don’t forget that the Brewers surprised a lot of baseball pundits who believed they would never trade top prospect Matt LaPorta for ace CC Sabathia last season, but Milwaukee did just that. So while the Brewers don’t have the young pitching prospects that San Diego might covet, they certainly have a ton of young position talent that they could offer to pull off a deal. Plus, even though they lost Sabathia to free agency in 2009, Peavy would be under contract through the 2013 season, so at least the Brewers wouldn’t have to worry about giving up more top prospects for a pitcher that’ll walk again at the end of the year.
Why they won’t: After almost acquiring the White Sox’s top two pitching prospects, indications are that San Diego is looking for young arms in exchange for Peavy – which Milwaukee simply doesn’t have. The Brewers have a slew of young position talent, but outside of Jeremy Jeffress they don’t have many top arms in their farm system. If the Padres have their heart set on acquiring starting pitching, they’ll have to look elsewhere, because the Brewers just don’t have enough to make a worthwhile offer. Plus, a small market team like Milwaukee might eventually be scared away by the $63 million ($11 million is still owed to him in 2009) that remains on Peavy’s contract.

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Last season, the Brewers pulled off the biggest trade of the year in sending top prospect Matt LaPorta to the Indians in exchange for ace CC Sabathia. The trade catapulted Milwaukee into the postseason, even though it eventually led to them being bounced by the Phillies in the NLDS.

Fast forward to this season where the Brewers are currently in a first place tie with the Cardinals and at least one Milwaukee columnist thinks that the Brew Crew could once again swing a deal for a stud pitcher to lead them back into the postseason.

Whether the Brewers could come up with the players it would take to do such a deal is debatable. General manager Doug Melvin has said he has no inclination to trade his top two prospects, third baseman Mat Gamel and shortstop Alcides Escobar.

But keep in mind this regime has shown it will think out of the box. The Brewers did so when they traded top prospect Matt LaPorta and others for Sabathia, shocking the rest of the baseball world.
This is a team that fired manager Ned Yost with 12 games to go last season over fears he was making the team too tight and a team that offered Sabathia $100 million to stay before the Yankees blew that offer out of the water.

After watching the bench struggle for more than a month this season, a series of moves was made, signing veteran Frank Catalanotto to a minor-league deal, summoning Gamel to the majors and trading for San Diego outfielder Jody Gerut. More proactive moves from a proactive regime.

Rest assured that internal discussions about Peavy already have been held in the Brewers’ offices. You can bet closer Trevor Hoffman has told his former teammate about the close-knit clubhouse. Word has it that Ryan Braun and Peavy even exchange e-mails.

Perhaps the Brewers’ biggest competition for Peavy (presuming of course that Milwaukee is seriously interested in the San Diego starter) will be the Cubs, who were hot after Peavy this offseason before eventually walking away from negotiations. Rich Harden was just placed on the disabled list with back problems and ace Carlos Zambrano has already paid a visit to the DL once this year.

But the problem with assuming the Cubs are still interested in Peavy is that they desperately need a bat more than another arm. This is a club marred in a seven game losing streak in which they’ve averaged less than 1.5 runs per game in that span. Plus, truth be told, the Cubs’ pitching staff has been pretty good as is, getting quality outings from Ted Lilly (who has been their most reliable starter so far), Ryan Dempster and even Randy Wells, who has been solid filling in for injured starters. Would the Cubs be more inclined to deal for another pitcher rather than a much-needed bat? It’s possible, but unlikely.

That said, the Brewers could have a clear path to Peavy if they could put a decent trade package together on their end. With their lineup, Peavy could possibly give Milwaukee a significant edge over the Cards and Cubs in the NL Central.