Is a Peavy deal close?

LAS VEGAS - The legwork, complex and time-consuming, for a potential Jake Peavy trade to the Chicago Cubs has essentially been completed.

Now, all Padres general manager Kevin Towers needs is for his Cubs' counterpart, Jim Hendry, to give him the go-ahead to make the deal.

Towers said Monday night that he has facilitated a three-team and possibly a four-team deal that would send Peavy to the Chicago for a package of players.

"There's a package there that will satisfy us ... there's a deal in the way of names," said Towers, who carefully stated that no deal, even in principle, has been reached.

Towers, who had a discussion with Hendry earlier Monday, said he had been in contact with a third and a fourth team - believed to be the Orioles and Phillies - and has gotten both sides to agree to the players in play who could be moved in a deal.

Towers did say there might be some "haggling" over the players the Padres would get in return from the Cubs.

The Padres are looking for Major League-ready pitching in return for Peavy, whether it be from the Cubs or the other teams involved.

Towers said a deal "could happen quick" if Hendry and the Cubs agree to assuming not only Peavy's $11 million salary in 2009 but the remainder of the $63 million he's owed over the next four seasons.