 In December, 2008 the club announced that it expected a sale to culminate before spring training, and on January 22, 2009, Cubs.com announced that the group led by the Ricketts had their bid accepted by Zell.Apparently handcuffed by Tribune's bankruptcy and the sale of the club to the Ricketts' family, the Cubs quest for a NL Central 3-peat started with notice that there would be less money invested into contracts than in previous years.Once again, trade speculation dominated the headlines at the winter meetings, this time surrounding Padres' ace Jake Peavy, which, much like the Brian Roberts talks a year earlier, resulted in nothing.