Trade rumors have swirled around Cubs righthander Ryan Dempster for several weeks, given his good performance (a NL-leading 2.11 ERA) this year, the Cubs’ poor standing, and Dempster’s pending free agency. The Dodgers, Nationals and Braves have all been mentioned in these rumors.

Now, a deal appears “close”:

#braves appear close to getting dempster

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 23, 2012

Nothing’s mentioned in Heyman’s tweet about what the Cubs might get in return, though President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and General Manager Jed Hoyer have stated on numerous occasions that the Cubs are looking to bolster the pitching depth in their system. Thus it’s a reasonable assumption that young pitching would be coming back to Chicago.

Dempster is currently scheduled to start for the Cubs Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh. It’s assumed that all parties would like to get a deal done before then.

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