Jake Peavy appears to be staying put with the San Diego Padres -- for now.

General manager Kevin Towers said yesterday that Cubs GM Jim Hendry told him Chicago was ceasing its pursuit of the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner. Towers said Monday that the Cubs were the only team in the running at that point.

Padres spokesman Warren Miller confirmed that trade talks with Hendry and the Cubs had halted. "Now we need to start moving forward," Towers said.

"He said he's got other things going on. I respect his position."

The Padres have been trying to trade Peavy in order to trim payroll after a 99-loss season.

The Braves pursued Peavy earlier this offseason but said they were shifting their focus elsewhere after talks fell through.

Towers said he might now decide to build his 2009 roster with Peavy on it.

The GM plans to meet again next week with team CEO Sandy Alderson and Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod.

Peavy has a no-trade clause in his contract with the Padres, and Axelrod has said the right-hander likely would approve moves to the Braves, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

Dodgers

Ned Colletti is prepared to wait out Manny Ramirez. "This is like watching the San Andreas Fault," the Los Angeles general manager said. "Some days you can see it move probably, and other days it's going to sit there. And in a week or two it may move a lot." Colletti said he last spoke with Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, on Monday night. "There's not necessarily a deadline with Manny," Colletti said.

Royals

Relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth and Kansas City reached a preliminary agreement on a $9.25 million, two-year contract. The hard-throwing right-hander went 2-3 with a 4.48 ERA last season. The deal is pending a physical. The Royals also agreed to a $1.8 million, one-year contract with Horacio Ramirez and a $640,000, one-year deal with pitcher Doug Waechter.

White Sox

Infielder Wilson Betemit and Chicago agreed to a one-year, $1.3 million contract. Betemit was acquired from the Yankees last month in a trade for Nick Swisher.

Elsewhere

In a move late Wednesday, the Mets acquired reliever J.J. Putz from Seattle in a three-team, 12-player deal that included Cleveland. New York shipped reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez, left-hander Jason Vargas and three minor leaguers to the Mariners for Putz, center fielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green. Promising outfielder Franklin Gutierrez was sent from the Indians to Seattle. Cleveland got reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and 23-year-old second baseman Luis Valbuena from the Mariners. ... Catcher Ivan Rodriguez, 37, will soon return to his Caribbean homeland, ending a more than decade-long absence from Puerto Rico's winter league. Caguas Creoles president Ismael Isern said the 14-time All-Star catcher will play for the team Tuesday against the Santurce Crabbers.