Update...

I haven't posted in awhile because, frankly, it seemed like a waste of time. The Padres seemed hellbent on sending Jake to Chicago. Now it appears that the deal with the Cubs is dead and the Padres front office is back to square one with trying to move their best player.

Alderson, Towers, et al deserve some amount of credit for not conducting this as a straight salary dump and bartering away Jake for a couple of mid-level prospects and a pack of smokes. They pushed for decent talent in return, acknowledged that it would be an uphill battle with a third or fourth team being necessary to consummate the deal, and said that this needed to be a baseball decision, not just a financial one.

So props to the front office for keeping their word on that end of things.

That said, I'm not at all convinced that the trade talks are over. The Yankees are always a possibility -- even if Jake would prefer to stay in the NL and the Bombers just signed A.J. Burnett -- and some of the free agent stuff is still getting sorted out following the winter meetings. However, for now I am happy that Jake is still a Padre. Stay tuned...