Loading ...Braves Atop Peavy Heap
Written by Colin on October 22, 2008 – 8:26 amThe New York Post is reporting that the Braves are atop the Peavy pile and that currently many expect we’ll have Peavy pitching for us next season.
“The Jake Peavy sweepstakes will proceed concurrently with the World Series, and the expectation of major league executives polled over the past two days is that the Braves are going to end up with the Padre right-hander… The Braves…have the base from which to make a deal and a history of packaging youngsters to get veterans they crave such as Mark Teixeira and Tim Hudson. They also are willing to move quickly, as exhibited by the Oct. 29 deal made last year in which they obtained Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez from Detroit for Edgar Renteria, the first major trade of the past offseason. And the Braves appear more motivated than the Cardinals, Cubs or Dodgers to jump out for Peavy.”
That’s what I like to hear. Only question now is how many prospects we have to get rid of to land Peavy for four years. Yunel Escobar or Kelly Johnson (or both) will likely have to go. Other names mentioned include Jo-Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton, possibly Tommy Hanson, and even Jordan Schafer. Who knows what the Braves will be willing to part with, but there are hints they are going to try and keep the carnage as insignificant as possible. The bottom line with any of the pitching prospects is that we hope they turn into someone like Peavy, and getting Peavy for four years is a pretty good return on a prospect that may not be that good for that long.
Chipper Jones has described Peavy as the “perfect fit” according to the AJC, and also would love to see the Braves go after A.J. Burnet, who will be a free agent.
How you like us now, NL East?
Tags: A.J. Burnett, Charlie Morton, Chipper Jones, Jake Peavy, Jo-Jo Reyes, Jordan Schafer, Kelly Johnson, Tommy Hanson, Yunel Escobar
Posted in Speculation | 4 Comments »
By Rue on Oct 26, 2008 | Reply
This chick one said "I would prefer to never see Jo-Jo Reyes pitch in Atlanta ever again." Frank Wren should heed her wise words.
By FiSH on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
To answer your question to the NL East: I'm not sure how much I would like that as a Braves fan.
I know you have to give big to get big in a trade but the thought of us trading Yunel really bothers me. If it was Kelly packaged with some prospects would be fine but Yunel has so much more room to grow.
If we get Peavy I would be fired up if we also made a legit offer to AJ Burnett. That would put us over the top on pitching. And when Huddy comes back we could have a rotation that rivals any in the majors with Peavy, Burnett, Huddy, Jurrjens, and Campillo. Wow…definitely looks good on paper! And with our bullpen hopefully having a healthy Soriano, Moylan, Gonzo the East would be ours to lose.
By colin_ake60861 on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
A couple things – Even though a lot of people are down on Kelly Johnson, I have also heard good comments about him and his growth potential from a number of sources. While I agree that Yunel has more room to grow, sometimes you have to trade for what will put the team over the top. Prado can easily pick up the slack at either shortstop or second.
If Kelly is traded, we'd likely have to give more in other areas – and they want a pitcher ready to start next year. So if you could see Morton / Johnson go or Reyes / Escobar (and maybe a AA prospect somewhere), who would you rather see leave?
The other important thing to remember is that we need a big bat (Burrell / Ramirez / Nady / Andruw Jones) – just kidding about Jones – and we're going to have to spend some money there. I'll come up with a few ways I'd like to see us spend our bounty this offseason, but I think that if it's spent well, we can definitely compete next year.
By Andrew on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
We should also keep in mind that Escobar is a much better fit for the Padres and PETCO Park. If we get Khalil Greene in the deal, how much better does the package look (ok, avert your eyes from this season's stats)?