Ah, the joys of monitoringbaseball trade rumors.

First, reported Tuesday night that the Cubs were exchanging names with the Nationalson a po sible deal that would send Washingtonright-hander Jordan Zimmermann to Chicago.About an hour later, the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan torched Wittenmyer's reporting:

Source says Cubs not Jaelen Strong Jerseys getting Zimmermann from Nats and haven't exchanged names, as rumored.

Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan)

And, just to break the tie, CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney joined in with Sullivan:

Source says are not working on a Jordan Zimmermann deal with .

Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney)

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Even Justin Britt Jerseys before thatWindy City newspaper/Internet war broke out,Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington tweeted his skepticism.

Major hurdles to a trade getting done. Nats would want a whole lot for Zimmermann. Cubs would want him to sign long-term.

Mark Zuckerman (@ZuckermanCSN)

That's not to say the team don't match up at some level. The Cubs havea surplus of shortstops and second basemen, led by All-Star Starlin Castro and continuing with Javier Baez, Addison Ru sell and Arismendy Alcantara. Washington would seem to bein the market for a second baseman now that Asdbrubal Cabrera is a free agent.The Cubs need to upgrade their rotation, and Zimmermann would help accomplish that.

Earlier in the day, Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer told reporters, , at the MLB general managers' meetingshe was in "no hurry to do something with that surplus." Specifically,he was Anthony Miller Jerseys in no rush to deal Castro to the Mets, a trade that has been rumored for months.

Zimmermann, 28, would be a strong replacement for the traded Jeff Samardzija inthe Cubs' rotation. Zimmermannposted a 2.66 ERA (and a career-low2.68 FIP) with 182 strikeouts in 199 2/3 innings this year. He has made 32 starts in each of the past three seasons.

The Nationals have been trying to sign Zimmermann to a Chris Conley Jerseys contract extension, but the numbers aren't working, so he's on the trade market. He can become a free agent after next season.

Wittenmyer also reported that the Cubs are interested in signing free-agent right-hander Justin Masterson to a cheap one-yearcontract. Masterson needs to re-establish his market value after a poor 2014 season with the Indians and Cardinals. We'll see how that report holds up.