[Winter Meeting update:  Piniella and Hendry e-mail exchange imminent?]

Isn’t C.C. Sabbathia the same choke artist the Cubs owned this year and handily used to cement the Brewers 2nd place spot in the NL Central?  The Tub will have a great time in NYC.  See you at the Cell, CC.  This week’s update is all trade winds and hot wind blowing.  That is, Cubs Jim Hendry is talking trades and Lou Piniella says he’s blowing smoke.

At press time, The Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmeyer reports that talks between the Cubs and Jake Peavy have slowing down, now that the Cubs have made clear Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis are on the block but not youngsta Sean Marshall.  That narrows options for a third team to get involved, altho the Twins (see below) apparently want to add Mark DeRosa to the Minnesotas. That said, Wittenmeyer also twitters reports the Cubs’ back-up plan for a fallen-thru Peavy deal is Randy Johnson.

Finally, the Cubs are so hungry for a lefty in the line-up, mlb’s Carrie Muskat reports as of yesterday they are still assessing CSTB favorite Milton Bradley for the Friendly Confines.  Left-handed bat, out-of-left-field behavior, and left-on-too-many-benches for his temper in the past “ he fits the left part of the bill, anyway.  The Cubs have never fielded a Jimmy Piersal, so maybe Milton is our Fear Strikes Out.  One way or another, this spring, Lou Piniella will greet a Randy Johnson, disgruntled Jason Marquis, disgruntled Mark DeRosa, or permanently disgruntled Milton Bradley in Arizona.  Hope Lou has a redcap, cuz he’s gonna be handling a lot of baggage.

Oddly enough, the split noted in this space between Piniella and Jim Hendry continues.  The Daily Herald’s Bruce Miles blogs details from this week’s managers luncheon about a pessmistic Cubs skipper.  Piniella declared the hunt for Peavy over weeks ago, and still says its over no matter what Hendry is up to:

LAS VEGAS — Today was the annual winter meetings lunch with the managers. Each team has a table, and reporters join their respective team’s manager for lunch and talk about this and that.

Lou reiterated that he didn’t believe the Cubs will get anything done here at the winter meetings. He did say the Cubs probably would target a free agent _ and not a trade candidate _ for the “left-hand bat” he covets. Milton Bradley, a switch hitter, is touring other teams, but he may come to the Cubs when all is said and done. Here are other tidbits from around the lobbies:–Randy Johnson still is in play for the Cubs if they don’t trade for Jake Peavy. (Wow, it took all this time for a Peavy mention.) The way Cubs GM Jim Hendry sees it, there’s nothing at all wrong with giving the Big Unit a one-year deal if all else fails.–Remember Paul Bako? The Cubs have had some interest in bringing him to camp as a non-roster catcher. Right now, Koyie Hill is Geovany Soto’s backup. Former Sox catcher Mark Johnson will be at camp. Bako, as you know, played for the Cubs earlier this decade, and his defensive skills still are highly regarded in the game. –The Twins appear to be serious players in the Mark DeRosa sweeptstakes. DeRosa suddenly has become a hot commodity. The Padres then could use the Twins to facilitate a three-way for Peavy.–Here’s one out of left field: A Reds guy asked me if the Cubs would trade DeRosa to them. I don’t know if that would have anything to do with a Peavy deal, but it’s interesting nevertheless.