Anxiousness and getting fed up... it describes the way most Braves fans feel about these Jake Peavy trade talks, and apparently it is the way Braves management is beginning to feel as well. From Ken Rosenthal:
The Braves are getting fed up.
After trying for more than a month to acquire Padres right-hander Jake Peavy, the team is beginning to explore other options, major-league sources say.
The Braves would still take Peavy, mind you. But they have informed the Padres that they could shift course rapidly once the free-agent market opens on Friday.
The Padres regrouped Monday and sent revised proposals to both the Braves and Cubs, according to one source. Officials from both teams, however, insist that their offers are not likely to change.
The party line from the Padres is that they are in no hurry to move Peavy and will keep him if they do not receive the right combination of players.
Others, however, speculate that the Padres' front office might be in disarray — speculation that only figures to gain momentum now that the team is parting with Hoffman.
Owner John Moores is going through a divorce and could sell the club. Club president Sandy Alderson says the payroll could be as low as $40 million. The front office, frequently described as "top heavy," includes a wide range of opinions.
Then again, in the case of Peavy, the Padres might simply be waiting to the last possible moment to make the best possible deal.
The risk in that strategy is that it might cost them the players the Braves are willing to trade for Peavy — shortstop Yunel Escobar, either right-hander Charlie Morton or left-hander Jo Jo Reyes and either center fielder Gorkys Hernandez or Jordan Schaefer.
The Cubs might be offering a more established pitcher, left-hander Sean Marshall and perhaps a top prospect of their own, Class A third baseman Josh Vitters. But Escobar likely is the best player in either team's proposal, and the Cubs cannot give the Padres a center fielder as promising as Hernandez or Schaefer.
Still, the Padres obviously are intrigued by the Cubs' package; otherwise, they already would have traded Peavy to the Braves.
I keep waiting for the news to come that the trade has been made. The two trades yesterday -- the Holliday trade between the A's and Rockies and the Olsen trade between the Nats and Fish -- made me think that the ball will get rolling on more and more deals. Sometimes it seems like the teams are waiting for that first deal to get done, and then everyone can start wheeling and dealing.
I'm ready to have Jake Peavy on the Braves, and I've resigned myself to the fact that Yunel Escobar will have to be traded. Let's just get this done.