The Jake Peavy Field Widens
by gondeee on Nov 4, 2008 9:47 AM EST
in Braves Trade News
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PrintThe latest on the expansion of the Jake Peavy sweepstakes from MLBTR:
Let's kick off a fresh post for today's Jake Peavy rumors. A reminder of the latest news: Peavy has preapproved the Yankees and Angels, bringing his total to seven teams. Padres GM Kevin Towers indicated that Peavy would not approve a trade to Boston.
Towers referenced the Dan Haren and Mark Teixeira deals while indicating he wants quality over quantity back. CBS's Scott Miller has info on some players discussed. He says Felix Pie, Ronny Cedeno, and Rich Hill are available from the Cubs. With the Dodgers, Chad Billingsley and James McDonald have been discussed. We know Towers wants more from the Dodgers, but Billingsley seems unlikely.
The available players from the Cubs, if indeed they are all to be included in this trade, seems like they could be a game changer. It all depends on how the Padres value those players. Each of them has spent some time in the major leagues with medium to low success, with Hill having the most a year ago.
Another wrinkle with the Cubs is the addition of another team which they could use to get the necessary prospects to the Padres... the rare but exciting "three-way" trade, from Ken Rosenthal:
The best guess on Jake Peavy is that the Padres eventually will trade him to the Braves, who appear to be the most attractive suitor of Peavy's preferred teams. But the Padres could try to expand the discussions, instructing the Cubs or another club to acquire additional prospects from a third team to help complete the trade.
The Cubs seemingly lack the inventory to make such a deal work, but the Padres might need to turn creative if the Braves balk at their price.
The Cubs would really have to want Peavy badly in this case, as they would likely drastically overpay. Of course, after 100 years of no World Series title I guess a team can get desperate.
Over at the AJC, Dave O'Brien echoes much of the news of the past few days and interjects that the Braves prefer not to trade shortstop Yunel Escobar, a player who was mentioned earlier by ESPN as being coveted by San Diego.
O'Brien also mentions the Braves as possible suitors for the young fireballing Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa. It is believed that Tazawa would probably need some time in the minor leagues, as he has not played pro ball in Japan, having made his intentions clear he did not want to be drafted by a Japanese team. The right-handed Tazawa has a fastball that reaches 97 mph.
I really like that we are in on a guy like Tazawa. I keep saying (and more to the point thinking) that we are in a two-year rebuilding process. I don't think we can make it all the way back next year, so a guy like Tazawa fits into that multi-year building block theory -- let him take his licks next year and be ready for prime time in 2010.
There's a lot going on...
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Peavy
Gondeee, thanks for the continued insights , I have to agree with you on the two year re-building plan
by CabreraluvsBelinda on Nov 4, 2008 9:55 AM EST reply actions
I’m reading quotes from Peavy’s agent that he has not approved the Yankees and Angels, and has not been asked to.
Tazawa
Nothing to do with baseball, but I don’t think the Braves have much chance at getting him. Asian athletes who jump to the states tend to favor markets with heavy Asian demographics, and Atlanta doesn’t really fit the bill of having a large Japanese market.
Major cities, usually on the coast seem to be the ones who score the Asian athletes (with exceptions, of course):
Suzuki Ichiro, (Seattle)
Chan Ho Park, Hong-Chi Kuo, Hideo Nomo (Los Angeles)
Jae-Weong Seo (New York)
Hideki Irabu, Hideki Matsui, Kei Igawa (New York)
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima (Boston)
Kosuke Fukudome, Jae-Kuk Ryu (Chicago)
Akinori Otsuka (San Diego)
Exceptions IMO: Byung-Hyun Kim (Arizona), Akinori Iwamura (Tampa Bay), Shin-Soo Choo (Cleveland)
And a lot of these guys eventually dispersed after their initial importing; and many of them failed to perform well once moved to markets with less Asian cultures (read: Texas – see: Park, Otsuka, Irabu). Age and injury have to do with a lot of them, but Park was also in the prime of his career when he signed for $56 million.
So much has to do with their comfort and cultural adaptation. If they can’t get comfortable, it shows a lot in their performance.
Look at how Yi Jianlian in the NBA acted after being drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks. Not since Eli Manning had we seen such tantrums at having to go somewhere he didn’t want to be. And eventually the Bucks had to just trade him to the Nets just to get him to STFU. And he was clearly happy to be going to New Jersey, and New Jersey was very happy to use him to push to market and appeal to the Chinese markets.
There’s no saying Tazawa would even want to play in Atlanta. If he’s got a 97 mph heater, everyone’s going to want him, and the big wallet teams are going to be peaking his interest first.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Isn’t this a little bit of the chicken and the egg thing? Could it be that these teams have traditionally been able to get these players over other teams because they went after them harder, and a part of that was in trying to reach their Asian fanbase? Seattle is an obvious choice for Japanese players with its proximity to Japan and the team’s desire to pick up Asian players, but when we’re talking about the New York teams, LA teams and Boston we’re talking about teams that tend to always win big when it comes to spending money. So saying they tend to come out on top with Asian players seems a little self evident, they just tend to come out on top where spending money is involved.
And who’s to say Tazawa wouldn’t want to play in Atlanta? He might, we don’t know one way or another but starting out with such a negative stance to it, with no real basis for it, seems a little odd.
You said it better than I could have..
…because I was thinking the same thing. Or how about the fact we do have a Korean pitcher in our minor leagues?
Because Atlanta has a very small Japanese population let alone Asians in general, that consists of Buford Highway and Gwinnett County. Furthermore, Atlanta’s never been much of a home to Asian players – Jung Bong and Bruce Chen are the last Asians I remember ever suiting up for the Braves, and Chen is sort of an exception since he is Panamanian-born Chinese. I’m aware of Sung-Ki Jung, but where he seemed promising two years ago, apparently he can’t get lefties out to save his life this past season, so there’s no telling if he’ll ever make the big leagues.
I also see Tazawa as a guy who require a good deal of cash to lure. No matter what the Braves offer, I can just as easily see the just-as-pitching-starved Yankees double or tripling it, and give him the opportunity to play for the Yankees in New York, where he can make the most money and create the most attention.
I’m sorry if I give off a pessimistic outlook to getting this guy, and if the Braves do manage to acquire him, I’ll gladly eat crow. But I just don’t think the Braves are as willing to open their wallets as much as others might, and I don’t think the city of Atlanta will give him the same opportunity to become as big as a star as other major markets might, let alone make him feel comfortable, but that’s all my opinion.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
But can there be a lure to be THE asian star in this market? In Seattle,LA,NY, and Boston he would be second fiddle. In Atlanta (which the Braves are still a big name team, regardless of the last 3 years), Tazawa would be the big name, and i think that would have some appeal.
Well
He’s confident enough to feel that he doesn’t need to spend any time in Japan’s pro-leagues, so maybe he’s confident enough to endure the potential culture-shock to be THE Asian star in Atlanta.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Taz and rebuilding
I definitely agree that rebuilding will take more than one year and I am encouraged by the fact that Wren seems to understand that. Taz would be a great addition to the project and I hope that Braves are aggressive enough to get him….
by Stephen in the UAE on Nov 4, 2008 1:19 PM EST reply actions
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