The Ryan Dempster trade saga took another unusual turn Tuesday, with unnamed “sources” telling Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that Dempster would rather go to the Dodgers than the Braves:

Dempster, as a player with 10 years of major-league service, the last five with the same team, has the right to block a trade to the Braves.

The pitcher instead wants to be sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were unable to reach agreement with the Cubs on a suitable deal, sources said.

After yesterday’s tweets and reports that Dempster had been traded to the Braves, all parties — Dempster and both teams — denied that a deal had been completed. Here, however, are the problems this has created:

The problem for Dempster is that the Braves apparently made a better offer for him than the Dodgers, and that the Dodgers also are trying to trade for other starting pitchers.

The problem for the Cubs is that they will lose leverage with the Dodgers if Dempster rejects a trade to his second choice – and will be forced to keep the pitcher if he is unwilling to approve any other trade.

And so, we wait. There’s still a week until the non-waiver trading deadline, but as of now, Dempster is still scheduled to start for the Cubs Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

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