Never liked the deal myself, glad to see Mr. Wren called it off.

But I don’t think this is done. I think that eventually, the Padres will come knocking again and just maybe (like 1% chance maybe) trade Peavy to us for peanuts if they can’t find another suitor.

I like our shortstop, and even Peavy said he wasn’t happy to go here without Escobar.

We have a good team. We need a slugger in left and one decent pitcher. We can afford both without giving up our future.

I’m going to be honest, if we aren’t going to get Peavy, I wouldn’t be too disappointed if we only signed one FA starter. I wouldn’t mind going with Lowe, JJ and 3 of Hampton, Hanson, JoJo, Morton, Campillo, and Parr, depending on who proves himself in spring training. Or, what if we just went all out for Sabathia. I hate to get in a bidding war with the Yankees, but he is the kind of ace that I don’t mind shelling it out for. He is huge, so the likelihood of him breaking down is much less than all the other pitchers on the market. Probably won’t happen, but just some food for thought.

braves rock, good job frank

 Go after Burnett,bring up Heyward,Shaffer,Flowers,and Hanson.Sign Smoltz,and Hampton and a free agent of the best value.If Hampton does something it will be a plus..Bring him and Smoltz out of the pen..

I just don’t see how the reported price for Peavy was “yuck.” Now I acknowledge that Towers never accepted the reported package, so it’s likely the price would have been pushed higher to get a deal done (which I wouldn’t have wanted to do). I’m glad Wren stood firm, but I really don’t see why so many Braves fans had a problem with the package of Escobar, Hernandez, Morton/Reyes, and Boyer/Locke/other unnamed minor-league lefty.

Escobar is replaceable. It’s that simple. Yunel hit three of his ten home runs in his first 65 plate appearances. He hit two more in his final 34 PAs. Throw out those 99 trips to the plate, and Escobar hit a decidedly mediocre .277/.351/.363 for the 488 PAs in between. People say Kelly Johnson is streaky (which is not an unfair assertation), but they ignore the fact that a great deal of Escobar’s value came in his hot start and his fiery finish. I am not saying that Escobar is worthless, because his defense was also excellent. But he never had a rep for sparkling defense, so there’s the possibility that his season with the glove was a fluke in and of itself; defensive flukes are just as real as offensive ones. My point? His offensive production should be relatively easy to replace, since, looking at his minor-league numbers, that middle-488-PA line looks a lot closer to his true talent level than his overall stats. His defensive prowess can be replaced by getting a shortstop who is decent with the glove (i.e., a few runs above average) and getting a return to form from Jeff Francoeur, replacing Mark Kotsay’s glove with Jordan Schafer’s.

Hernandez is still a lot of hype at this point, and he’s blocked by Schafer anyway; another team will get more value out of Gorkys if they can leave him in center since his bat plays much better there. Morton and Reyes look like back-end guys at this point, though I think Morton still has an outside shot at being a #3. As for the fourth piece, Boyer is expendable with all the in-house bullpen talent (Carlyle, Bennett, Acosta, Stephen Marek and Luis Valdez could all make cases for jobs) and Locke would be quickly forgotten as the incredibly talented Class of 2008 moves up to take on full-season assignments.

I wouldn’t bid any higher for Peavy, and I certainly wouldn’t offer Flowers over Hernandez, but I can’t see why Braves fans (not least Mr. Gandy) have balked at that four-player package for one of the NL’s best arms.