Free Agent Situation For Peavy?

Ok, this Axelrod quote is absolutely hilarious: “Making this about money is not my style, nor Jake's style.” Funny how he's making this about money...

Ok, now I now there's some kind of rule where a player can opt out of his contract after a year of being traded, there's probably some other parts of that I can't remember. But if a pitcher is required to waive his no-trade clause to go to a new team, is the opt out option still in effect?

purple that was removed in the last CBA.

I'm hopping the Braves just completely walk away to be honest. After reading these rumors for a couple of weeks now, SD is just looking to totally rape someone which I suppose is what they should be doing. Peavy is a great pitcher but he wont be a difference maker on the Braves roster especially if we start downgrading other positions so we can save our prospects. No scenario where Peavy ends up a Brave makes sense so Wren should just walk away. If Towers fails to get what he wants, they can approach us but everything the SD/Peavy side has said is simply trying to bump the asking price much higher and I feel it's already to much.

I don't understand why a team would trade for a player that didn't really want to play for that team but would do so if they offered him more money.

The idea of a 3 team deal is interesting. Does this potentially put Houston back on the table? They admittedly lack the prospects to get Peavy on their own (especially since they are understandably reluctant to ship off Hunter Pence), but could they swing a deal to move Carlos Lee or perhaps Jose Valverde for the necessary prospects? The Mets are looking for a closer, does it make any sense for Houston to deal Valverde to NY in order to bring in Peavy? Do they have anyone who can take over the closer role (or would they be willing to go for a Fuentes or Affeldt as a free agent closer option)?

-JM

The Mets would need some pretty interesting prospects to make SD go for it.

I think Braves fans are starting to understand that Jake Peavy will be really expensive in terms of prospects, and might not be worth sacrificing a whole farm system for. Peavy has that value for someone, but not Atlanta.

I still think Peavy would be perfect for the Rays. I wonder if he'd accept a trade to Tampa. They have the prospects, and they sure could use a guy who can match/outpitch a guy like Hamels in a big game...

But ultimately I expect Peavy to pitch in SD in 09 if a deal doesn't happen soon.

tomfromsd:

Well, given the success of the team this year, I can only imagine that TB must be viewed as a contending team. The problem is, from the TB side, while Peavy would clearly be an upgrade in terms of talent, its unclear whether its enough of one for it to be worth it. Regardless of whether or not you think Peavy would be just as effective in the AL as he has been in the NL (I personally think he would be), TB doesn't have much of a need in the rotation. It would significantly affect their depth to deal more than one starter, and I can't imagine that Garza, Shields or Kazmir would be on the table, since the three of them are viewed in TB as potentially ace-quality. Sure, they COULD deal Sonnanstine, Jackson, and Brignac for Peavy, but that leaves them with no backup plan should Kazmir or Garza go down (Price would be in the rotation in this scenario). More to the point, TB has major needs in RF and the bullpen, so unless they can be convinced that Peavy could be had for a relatively cheap price, I don't see that they would necessarily go for it.

To reiterate, the point is that while Peavy is probably better than any of TB's pitchers, its unclear whether they're willing to lose two of them (remember that none of their regular starters won less than 11 games this year), which I would think is necessary. TB is almost definitely not going to give up Longoria, Upton, Crawford, or pretty much any of their starting position players for this year (excepting RF/DH).

-JM

mymrbig...Problem with your deal is the Astros are left without any RF options. Ain't no way they deal both Pence and Bogusevic. Also, that leaves the Astros without a catcher. There are a lot better ways the Astros can do the deal without giving up their two RF'ers and their catcher.

jagtag,

The Rays would be a good fit, they have five starters that were not in their rotation this year that would be in line to start 2009 in the rotation: David Price, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, Jacob Mcgee, and Jeff Niemamm. All should be considered top 100 prospects. That being said they don't really need another starting pitcher even if Peavy would be the best of the bunch, when you add in the fact that Tampa is going to need to keep money off the books to sign players in the coming years, just don't see it happening.

Agreed Mistyck,

Peavy doesn't want to go to NY so that excludes them from the conversation. As someone said earlier Houston fans have been talking about a 3 team trade involving Valverde to get Peavy for weeks. If the Astros made Valverde available (Only to acquire Peavy) He would questionably be the most sought after closer this winter. In terms of talent you have Valverde & K-Rod but would you rather break the bank for K-Rod or trade prospects for 1 year of Valverde? If you're the Mets you probably have a good chance of signing Valverde to an extension at a cheaper contract than K-Rod as well. It's a legitimate debate.

I think the Astros can make this trade without including Pence (and I think there's no way they trade Pence anyways). The Astros would be without a closer but SP is more important than a closer anyways. If the Mets were to give up Niese & Murphy to make this trade and then the Astros ship those prospects to SD along with their lesser prospects.... I could see it happening. Especially with everyone else bowing out for Peavy.

In addition, it makes more sense for the Astros to give up more to acquire Peavy than the Braves. The Braves have a bevy of good prospects and trading them away to acquire an Ace isn't going to make them a title contender next year. They would be better served signing 2 good FA pitchers (i.e. Lowe & Garland) and letting their young studs grow. Meanwhile the Astros have nothing in their minor league systems and if they don't include some key peices this offseason they're not going to be good again, even though they have 3 All-Star players (Oswalt, Berkman & Lee). If they add Peavy that gives the Astros about a 3-4 year window to win with their current aging stars while they try to draft better than they have in recent years.

Mistyck - I almost posted a follow-up comment, but decided not to since this wasn't an Astros-themed thread. Pence is a good, young, cheap player, but he is hardly irreplaceable. The Astros probably wouldn't have the money to spring for one of the more expensive options, but I could see them signing Juan Rivera to 2-year, $9 million contract. Rivera is pretty similar to Pence with less upside (because of his age). But he has better contact skills and good power, even though (like Pence) he doesn't walk enough.

I haven't read that Bogusevic's bat profiles well in RF, I thought he was more of a CF guy. Regardless, when you are talking about getting Jake Peavy in return, its tough to complain about giving up Bogucevic. I agree with you on Towles, optimally the Astros could give up other players instead of Towles. But Towles, despite his 2008 struggles, is still a better trade chip than most of the remaining players in the Astros system.

Maybe send Bogusevic, Bud Norris, and Felipe Paulino to the Padres, along with whatever you get from Tampa Bay.

Valverde is nice to have, I love him.... And would hate to lose him to another NL East team BUT to get Peavy he's worth it. Along with Pence. Both are replaceable. Pence won't be the Astro's only RF with an arm/speed and offense. They can draft and rebuild the farm once they got Peavy..... And if the Astros sign pretty much every draftee like they did this yr, they should be better a better farm after Oswalt/Berkman/Lee might retire....

El caballofan:-)

without a 3 team deal i think the braves will put together a very good package not involving the untouchable prospects. something like hernandez, morton,jojo,marek, and maybe throw kj in.

elcaballofan, I think you're confusing Jo-Jo Reyes and Jair Jurrjens (lots of J's... that's why we want Jake:)

Anyway, Reyes is almost surely available; Jurrjens, almost surely not.

I just want to say a couple of things.

1) Even without Hanson, Heyward, Schafer, Teheran, or Escobar, the Braves can still crush what the Astros can offer.

2) I am not sure the Mets want Jose Valverde. He seems like a good target, being only arb eligible, but this guy seemingly always has runners on. I know he has had two solid years in a row, but for some reason, 06 is bright in my memory.

3) Even if the Mets and Stros work something out for Valverde, it won't be for any huge prospect, maybe one good one, and I don't see how much of a difference that will make in ultimately trying to get Peavy.

4) Jake Peavy and Frank Wren are in control. Not KT and the Pads. They obviously want to move him, and he seems like he (Peavy) wants something to get done quickly. So either the Pads move him, for Wren's package of guys, or they don't, and they keep him. Fans will say that is fine, which I get, but I think the Pads really want to move him before he gets more expensive.

5)However this works out (unless Wren buckles and gets raped), I have a lot of respect for Frank Wren. He has, to this point, handled himself absolutely perfectly in these negotiations.