If we’re spending $75 million over five years for Burnett, we can spend $140 million over eight for Sabathia. Not only is Sabathia a superior pitcher, but he’s four years younger. Pitchers age poorly by definition. Why would you want to pay for Burnett’s age 32-36 seasons but not Sabathia’s age 28-35 seasons? The extra money per year is only ~$3 million plus three extra years where Sabathia will be younger than Burnett. The difference in value between Sabathia and Burnett is definitely bigger than ~$3 million the next five years and Sabathia is certainly a better bet than Burnett from age 33-35.

Ideally I would pay something like $125 million for five years for Sabathia, but I’d definitely rather have the deal he’ll get than the deal Burnett gets.

And if we can’t get Sabathia, there’s not really a pitcher I’d bet on on this market. Maybe Lowe because he’s been consistently durable through his mid-30s and he would be a decent bet to return value. I just dispute that we somehow need to pursue contending this year if the path to contention is going to tie us into terrible contracts down the road.

Could someone explain how Peavy costs “two arms and a leg”? His contract is downright affordable; even with the option picked up, it’s equal to what Burnett will get (5/81). And the cost in trade is likewise pretty low; Escobar is replaceable, Hernandez remains just the second-best CF prospect in the organization, Morton and Reyes have upside but aren’t likely to be missed, and the last players are expendable (Jeff Locke?, Blaine Boyer?).

One of the insiders I trust most, Peter Gammons, reported that negotiations died over Single-A pitching, and I can’t believe that is such an irreconcilable difference. I’m fine with Frank Wren being willing to draw a line in the sand three weeks ago, but at this point it makes a lot more sense to go back to the table with the Padres (at least to see where they stand) than up and offer five years for Burnett.

It’s not that I don’t like Burnett, I just like Peavy better, and moving Yunel Escobar and spending the spare change on Rafael Furcal makes too much sense to me. I know Braves fans have cried out over the expense of the reported Peavy package, but I just fail to see what we lose that’s all that valuable.

Maybe. But other teams can offer more per year than the Braves can, and other teams are apparently willing to go four guaranteed years. I think the Braves have to offer five years guaranteed to really have a leg up on the competition.

The ladies love Randy Johnson, he’d be the new Javy Lopez for them to swoon over.

Not sure if the money is there or not but I would rather us sign Johnson than Glavine. I would love to see Johnson bumping Campillo to the #5 hole and us using Morton/Reyes/Hanson for depth.

He’s thrown 180 innings also only three times. 69 major league starters did that last year (2-3 per team). It’s pretty necessary to consistently throw 180 innings to be considered and be paid like a top tier starter. Burnett’s last five seasons have been 120, 209, 136, 166, 221.

You are signing a just because he can hit LHP. What Burrell can’t do is hit RHP very well and isn’t very productive and really hasn’t been in his career. He has a .245 career average against RHP. Who would you rather have a guy who hits .245 against pitchers who he will face 4/5 days and be less productive 4/5 days or a guy who will hit .240 1/5 days and .250 4/5 days and still be productive against either LHP or RHP. Burrell just isn’t productive against RHP which is what you face 4/5 days in most cases. Most teams have 1 LHP and very few have 2. The Mets had 2 and the Phillies had 2 other than that name me a team that had 2 LH starters.