They've also traded Jason Marquis — he of 61 starts and 4.57 ERA over the past two seasons — to Colorado and shipped former outfield prospect Felix Pie to Baltimore. The Pie move was necessary because the Cubs and Piniella had lost confidence in Pie's ability to become a reliable producer in the outfield. Fukudome already is that type of player, and Fukudome basically is unmovable because of his contract.

Dealing Marquis and Pie seem to be precursor moves to an imminent Peavy deal. The Orioles sent lefty Garrett Olson, a player the Padres are very interested in, to Chicago in the Pie trade. Barry Axelrod, Peavy's agent, admitted to Tim Sullivan of The San Diego Union-Tribune that there might be dots to connect: "You would certainly not be out of line to surmise from all of (the Cubs' moves) that they might be working toward something."

But why?

Were the 2008 Cubs so flawed that they were incapable of winning a postseason series? Well, no. That team led the National League with 97 wins during the regular season because it had a lineup that was deep and dangerous — six players with at least 20 homers — and a pitching staff that was deep and had the ability to miss bats.

Their NLDS sweep at the hands of the Dodgers was more of a fluke than a sign of a deeply flawed team. In the opener of the series, starter Ryan Dempster walked seven batters — the same number he walked in five September starts. In the second game, the normally reliable infield committed four errors that led to five unearned runs. In the third game — when the frustration really was kicking in — the Cubs couldn't buy a hit with runners on base.

Would Peavy really had made that much of a difference? The Cubs had starting pitching depth, to the point where Ted Lilly and his 17 wins and 184 strikeouts never even got a chance to take the hill in the postseason. Peavy has a 12.10 ERA in two career postseason starts; he probably would have lost a game in which his defense committed four errors, too.

We'll have to wait and see whether the Peavy deal gets done; nobody is talking on either side. Either way, the Cubs will have a different look in 2009. We'll have to wait until October to find out whether they're better.

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