Gondeee,
    I agree. Seems that all the speculation was getting out of hand and Wren wanted to calm things down a little. Now we see where there are supposedly 14 teams “interested” in Peavy. Sounds like San Diego is trying to up the price (Hanson?) for Peavy but Wren is refusing to bite. I’m willing to trade prospects for Peavy but gotta say that Hanson/Heyward/Schafer at least should be off-limits. Don’t wanna sell the farm to get him though.

My understanding is that they want to slash their payroll to around 40 million in the near future, and Peavy is the most valuable trading chit on the team. If I were them, I would want to deal him before free agents file, lest some teams sign a pitcher and get out of the bidding. It seems now that Wren isn’t buying at the price San Diego is looking for, and I think that’s smart – even if you want him, you can try get him later, and for less.

It’s just possible that he released this statement to provide cover for Towers. Maybe Towers understands that Hanson, etc aren’t going to be part of the deal, and is willing to do something for lesser prospects/players… but the media and the blog world have created unreal expectations, which would make Towers look bad for accepting less than anticipated.

Probably reading too much into it, but it’s a thought.

this has probably been suggested already, but it could be an attempt to curtail the aggression of competing clubs. wren is essentially making a circuitous valutation by saying that, to the braves, peavy is worth less than any combination of elements within this particular set of prospects; so the effect is that anyone who may have been climbing the mountain to stay on wren’s heels would suddenly look down and realize that wren’s actually still in the valley.

I Love this move by Frank Wren. I could see how this may limit or leverage in future trades….but that’s only potentially limit. I think as far as the showing your cards analogy this must be thought of more in terms of spades than poker.
As an avid player of both, I know the advantage and disadvantage of showing cards in both games. I think Frank would as well, in realtion to the analogy here not the actual card games. Think about it. In poker you always receive a tactical advantage by hiding your hand. The only obvious reason to ever show your cards is to get into the opponents head regardless of the result. In spades. If you have all the trump cards you can just lay them down so that everyone can see the hand is over. I think Wren knows he has all the trump cards in this situation. Look at it like this. Just because Jake Peavy is available doesn’t mean we have to take him. We still have 40 million for free agents and could make trades elsewhere for other pitchers. We by NO means have to trade for him. I think most Atlanta fans will agree that we will probably love having him here, but really at the espense of 3-5 good cheap years of Schaefer, Escobar, Hanson, Heyward, Teheran, Johnson, etc. Peavy is outstanding, that is understood, but look at the talent in the above list and how many players, and very good players there are on that list knowing it will be half a decade before any of them ever make what Peavy is making right now. Wren is telling the Padres that we have the upper hand. We win no matter what. We ahve the talented players they want, and we want Peavy. But they have to take what we give them, because we can always go elsewhere and be just fine next year. They, however, have to move Peavy somewhere to cut the payroll they wish to drop and that puts us…and literally Frank Wren in the driver’s seat. Way to go Frank, I applaud your desire to posture and if anything this makes all of our prospects gain value not lose it. Knowing that we are unlikely to move them even for Peavy, I believe, makes them appear even more valuable…even if it is only to us. But, none the less, I think this is a brilliant way of completely commanding control of the trade. In all honesty I think he just called Towers’ bluff. Or to use the more appropriate Spades reference: Frank Wren just went Yard on him.