Right-hander Angel Guzman, who appeared in six games with the Cubs last season, has looked strong through his first five starts in Venezuela.

The Cubs' Geovany Soto was named the top catcher on Topps Company's 50th annual Major League Rookie All-Star team.

The San Diego Padres say the Cubs are still interested in trading for right-hander Jake Peavy. The Cubs, however, insist they would need to be very creative with their finances and get another team involved to swing a deal.

The sale of the Chicago Cubs is progressing toward a second round of bids on Dec. 1, Major League Baseball's No. 2 executive said on Wednesday as the final two-day quarterly Owners' Meetings of the year got under way.

The Cubs selected the contracts of right-handed pitchers Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg and Marcos Mateo and added them to the 40-man roster.

Now that the Cubs have taken care of their first offseason priority and have re-signed Ryan Dempster, the next move is to find a left-handed bat for the middle of the order. The Kansas City Star reported that the Cubs are targeting Royals outfielder Mark Teahen as a possible solution.

All-Star right-hander Ryan Dempster agreed to a four-year, $52 million deal on Tuesday to remain with the Cubs, including a $14 million player option for the 2012 season. He gets a $4 million signing bonus.

By signing a contract at $13 million a year on Tuesday, Ryan Dempster may have impacted the salaries offered to other big-name free agents on the market, including A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe.