Jake Peavy and his agent have essentially made the point that any trade with the Braves would likely weaken the Braves to the point where Peavy would not want to pitch for them:
The subject of Escobar came up Thursday morning between Peavy and his agent, Barry Axelrod. Less than 12 hours earlier, Axelrod had met with Padres General Manager Kevin Towers to get an update on trade talks that had taken place the previous three days at the GM meetings in Dana Point.
“Escobar's a pretty good player,” Axelrod said. “To be honest, Jake and I have said, 'If that kind of trade gets made, who plays short for them?'” [...]
“One of the things we will want to look at some point is, 'Who are you giving up? How much are you weakening your team to make this deal?'” Axelrod said. “If Team X trades three starting pitchers and a starting shortstop to get Jake Peavy, that lessens their chance of being a successful team.
That's what I've been getting at for the past few weeks. Not only this point of trading away established major leaguers, but it's also important to note that trading away the prospects who are ready to contribute will hurt the team's chances of competing long term.
I appreciate a player who understands that it's not just about one guy on a team... it's about a team. Peavy understood this when he signed a below market value contract to stay in San Diego last year. It's hard to tell if this is Peavy trying to steer the Braves away from the inclusion of Escobar, or if he's trying to steer the Padres away from the Braves. Or is he really just being an overly nosy good steward of this trade which he has the full ability to block if he doesn't like one little thing about it.
While I can appreciate a player who wants to be this involved, we really haven't talked about the fact that if the Braves collapse around Peavy next year or the following year, then WE will have to go through this same hassle the Padres are going through if we want to trade him -- he will retain his full no-trade clause. This is exactly why John Schuerholz never gave any free agent a no-trade clause.
For the record, I just don't get the warm and fuzzies about this trade as it has been rumored to be constructed.