Nov 13 2008
Waiting on Peavy? Time for Braves to go fishing
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
ATLANTA — Another night, another evening of sitting and waiting for the buzz of the phone to launch us into full-blast Jake Peavy to the Braves mode.
Yes, Braves Nation, those of us who write about this team on a daily basis are as sick of waiting on this shoe to drop as those of you who cheer for this franchise. Truth be told, I’ve already started working on the background stuff in advance of the mongo-Peavy coverage we’ll launch. It’s the old newspaper guy in me coming out, doing the background stuff so when the news breaks, I can jump on it.
If it ever breaks, that is. Of course, there is no news to report at this moment, other than – depending on whom you read – the deal is either all but done or nowhere near being done, or somewhere in between. Alas, this is life in the winter, when players scatter among the four winds and a lot of the information comes out through general managers, agents, and the ever-famous “sources close to the negotiations.”
We shall see. I, for one, still believe the deal will get done and Peavy will end up toeing the slab for Atlanta on Sunday Night Baseball on April 4 in Philadelphia.
Yep, in case you missed it while holding your breath for the Peavy announcement, ESPN did it to this team again, serving them up as the opponent for their season-opening telecast in the very first game of the major league season. Last year, the Braves opened Nationals Stadium in Washington, D.C., on Sunday Night Baseball, and watched as Ryan Zimmerman drilled a Peter Moyan pitch out of the yard in the ninth inning for a storybook finish to the opening of the Nats’ new yard.
Washington couldn’t carry through the momentum from that night over the next 161 games, finishing last in the East. That night stuck with the Braves, though, and not in a good way, the bullpen letting one get away in a one-run road loss.
Yeah, kinda turned into a familiar refrain for the Bravos in 2-double-oh-8, wouldn’t you say?
So we sit, and wait. But there could be news coming soon, and not related to the hard-throwing Padres’ right-hander. The free agent period opens in earnest Friday, when free agents are free to negotiate and sign with any team. The first 15 days after the end of the World Series, free agents can talk to other teams but can’t discuss money, a move that’s geared toward giving their existing teams a first crack at resigning them.
But that window is nearly closed, and the Braves have to be chomping at the bit. We’re in quite a tough economic time right now, but for once, Atlanta has plenty of money to spend this offseason, at least $40 million and probably closer to $50 million from the 2008 payroll burning a hole in Frank Wren’s pocket.
Regardless of what happens with the Peavy deal – and again, I’m on the record as saying it will happen – Atlanta needs another starter. I think the Braves need to jump hard and heavy toward signing one of the Big Three free agents out there: Derek Lowe, A.J. Burnett, or Ryan Dempster.
Certainly, all three of those stud hurlers know what happened to the Braves in 2008 (and in 2007 and 2006). And certainly, they all know Atlanta is the likely destination of one Mr. Peavy. And of course, they know (or at least their agents know) the Braves are carrying quite a bit of straight cash, homey.
(Come on, you gotta love dropping a little Randy Moss into the old blog.)
A rotation topped with Peavy and any one of the three I mentioned, backed with Jair Jurrjens in the three spot and Jorge Campillo at No. 4, gives the Braves hands-down the best rotation they’ve had in several years. Not a weak link in the bunch, not with Campillo’s emergence and the brilliance of Jurrjens in his rookie season, fronted with Peavy at the top and a Lowe, Burnett or Dempster at No. 2.
But you also have to know there are other teams out there who need pitching, and other teams that have money to bring that pitching into their fold. The Braves need to strike first and fast, in my opinion, to bring in one of the Big Three fish swimming in the free-agent sea.
What better way to whittle the hours away waiting for the Peavy deal, by doing a little fishing.
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