A deal that would send Expos starter Bartolo Colon to the Marlins won't happen, because Florida pulled the plug on the talks Friday, ESPN's Peter Gammons reported.

	Redman

	Colon

There were two possible deals in the works. The first would have sent Colon to Florida for right-hander Brad Penny, left-hander Blaine Neal and minor league first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and minor league right-hander Don Levinski.

The Expos wanted to finesse the deal to move Penny to the Reds for a minor-league pitcher, believed to be Luke Hudson, with another Reds minor league pitcher, believed to be Ty Howington, moving to the Marlins, Gammons reported.

Instead of trying to land Colon, the Marlins sent two minor leaguers to Detroit for LHP Mark Redman, 29, who went 8-15 for the Tigers last season, Gammons reported Friday.

Montreal, owned by Major League Baseball and ordered to cut its payroll to $40 million, has been shopping Colon for months. General manager Omar Minaya had been talking with the Red Sox since the winter meetings in Nashville in mid-December, talks that later branched off into trying to find another team to make a Boston-Montreal deal work.

But Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said Wednesday that there was no progress toward a deal and he didn't expect a Boston trade for Colon to be made.

"I'm actually as pessimistic about our chances of matching up with Montreal as I have been in a long time," Epstein said.

Penny, 24, went 8-7 with a 4.66 ERA in 24 starts while battling several injuries last season. Colon went 20-8 with a 2.93 ERA between Cleveland and Montreal. Colon will make $8.25 million in 2003, while Penny is arbitration-eligible after making $378,000 in 2002.

Penny was eyed by the Red Sox in discussions that centered around outfielder Trot Nixon this offseason, but Florida was unwilling to part with the right-hander at the time.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.