All Rumor and No (Bradley) Trade makes Jack a dull boy.

Milton Bradley continues to monopolize the Cubs trade rumors this week as the 3rd day of the winter meetings comes to a close.

First off, Gordon Wittenmyer, updating his reports from yesterday, says that “multiple sources” have indicated that the Cubs were close to a deal.  In the deal, Bradley would be shipped off to an “unidentified” AL team, the Cubs would get a contractually challenged player in return whom they would flip to a third team.  Wittenmyer said one source stated that “the Cubs were ready to pull the trigger on the deal as soon as the other party was”.

Problem with these 3 (or more) team deals is that there are usually too many variables involved and they often fall through.  It is difficult enough to get 2 teams to agree to a trade, let alone 3.

Wittenmyer also had the following tidbits:

• The Cubs are not interested in the Yankees Melky Cabrera, despite rumors to the contrary.
• The Cubs are interested in J.J. Puz.
• The Cubs could be in the market for a “modest-priced” starting pitcher, once Bradley is traded and the Cubs portion of his contract is made clear.

Paul Sullivan reports that the Bradley situation is quickly becoming the joke of the winter meetings, with a Rangers official asking a reporter “How’s that Milton Bradley trade going?”  Despite reports of a “mystery team”, Sullivan still believes that the Rays are the leader for Bradley.

ESPN’s Buster Olney said that the Cubs would be open to trading Bradley to the Red Sox for Mike Lowell.  A Cubs official, speaking with Carrie Muskat of MLB.com, didn’t dismiss that rumor, however, Ian Browne of MLB.com says “there is no chance of the Bradley/Boston thing“.

Phil Rogers asked the question that’s probably on a lot of Cubs fans minds, why don’t the Cubs just release Bradley, to which Cubs President Crane Kenney replied “And eat $21 million?  I’ve got 21 million reasons why we’re not releasing him. If there’s any prospect we can get back players who can help us, or save some of the money [to do other things with], why wouldn’t we explore that? … We don’t have an unlimited budget.”

Its a legitimate question and one that I’ve thought of myself, but I agree that if the Cubs can get ANYTHING for Bradley, its better than just eating the contract.  However, there comes a point where one has to take the best deal being offerred and move on (unless the Cubs were serious about the possibility of keeping Bradley).  This is not something that anyone wants to drag on through the entire offseason.

In other rumors, the Cubs remain interested in Mike Cameron and Marlon Byrd.  Ken Rosenthal states that which player the Cubs pursue could be determined by how much of the Bradley contract they have to pay.  If they can save a good amount, they will pursue Cameron, if they have to eat a larger portion of Bradley’s contract, they’ll go after Byrd.

So, as before, how things shake out with the Bradley money will affect the Cubs other pursuits.  However, if thing drag on with Bradley, Cameron and Byrd could sign with other teams and where would that leave the Cubs?

Also, in case you were holding out hope that the Cubs would somehow find a way to bring back Rich Harden, NBC Sports reports that Harden has signed a 1 year deal today with the Texas Rangers.

Finally, Yahoo’s Tim Brown tweets that the Cubs are amongst 6 teams interested in righthander Joel Pineiro.  However, ESPN’s Jayson Stark tweets that Pineiro is looking for in excess of $10 million a year, which is probably out of the Cubs price range.

Tags: crane kenney, J.J. Putz, Joel pineiro, Marlon Byrd, melky cabrera, Mike Cameron, mike lowell, Milton Bradley, Rich Harden