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By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2001
MONTREAL -- Finally, time may be running out on Fred McGriff's decision whether to approve a trade from the Rays to the Cubs.
Reports out of Chicago on Saturday indicated the Cubs have privately set Monday as a deadline for McGriff's final answer.
The teams agreed on a deal Tuesday but have been waiting to see if McGriff would waive his no-trade clause. Agent Jim Krivacs said Friday that McGriff had significant concerns about the effect such a move would have on his family and wasn't sure when, or if, McGriff would make a decision.
By waiting this long, McGriff -- for the conspiracy theorists out there -- has a chance to visit with Braves officials and see if they are interested in bringing him back to Atlanta before giving the Cubs an answer.
Cubs manager Don Baylor, meanwhile, continues to sound confident McGriff will join them.
"I still have a lineup card with his name on it," Baylor said after a 3-1 loss to the White Sox. "I'd like to say that we're close, but I don't know how close. I'm still optimistic that something might happen."
McGriff, meanwhile, played again for the Rays on Saturday and said there was "no news."
Aware of how closely his situation is being monitored. McGriff even offered something of a pregame media advisory: "My hamstring's sore, so if I don't play don't say I didn't play because I got traded."
Assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said there were no developments from the Tampa Bay side.