AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 19
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Peavy waits, Beckett wins, Joba detoxes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No doubt, TBS had a bad Saturday with its nightmare technical glitch that caused us to miss most of the first inning of ALCS Game 6. And yes, we at AJC.com had a bad Saturday with technical problems that knocked this blog out, coincidentally just after the TBS glitch, and kept it down much longer than TBS was away from the game.
But as bad a day as it was for TBS and for us, it was worse for New York Yankees officials. Yes, the Yankees.
Not only did their arch rival Red Sox further solidify themselves as the clutch team of the early 21 century, coming back from a 7-0 seventh-inning deficit in Game 5 to force Game 6 (which Boston won Saturday), but the Yankees also learned the young pitcher the Yanks are grooming as an ace, Joba Chamberlain, was arrested at 1 a.m. Saturday in Nebraska for DUI, speeding, and open container.
So, while Boston ace Josh Beckett was showing Tampa Bay’s so-called “Big Game” James Shield what it meant to truly be a big-game pitcher, Chamberlain was holed up in something called Cornhusker Place Detox in Lincoln, Neb., which sounds more like a place ‘Husker football fans might have been sent during the Bill Callahan coaching tenure.
The horror.
By the way, I couldn’t help but wonder if Brian Cashman might have made an early morning phone call to San Diego on Saturday, before the news broke. Imagine Padres GM Kevin Towers being awakened, fumbling for his phone at 7 a.m. Pacific time.
The call might have gone like this:
“Hello,” Towers answers with raspy, sleepy voice.
“Good morning, Kevin,” says the caller. “This is Brian. Cashman. Sorry to wake you, but I knew you’d probably be up soon and going for a jog on the beach before settling in to watch college football games. So I didn’t want to bother you later.
“Anyway, look. I’ve been thinking about our chat last week about Jake. And you know what, that proposal you had involving Joba Chamberlain and prospects might not have been as unfair as I indicated at the time. I mean, we really love Joba and there’s almost no way we’d trade him. But….”
OK, that was my blog introduction on a day when we don’t have any new developments to report in the matter that hangs over Braves Nation: Peavy. Jake Peavy. Jake Freakin’ Peavy.
To say that Braves fans want GM Frank Wren to trade for Peavy, to bring the San Diego ace from Alabama back “home” to Atlanta and have him start the next four (at least) Opening Days for the Braves, would be a gigantic understatement.
Akin to saying Bear Bryant was revered in ‘Bama. Something like that.
You don’t believe me? Look at the poll on our AJC.com Braves page. The question: Should the Braves acquire Jake Peavy from the Padres? The answer choices are: “Yes,” “No,” or “Someone else.”
(OK, so the choices are quite a bit simpler than the execution and don’t take into account what the cost might be for said acquisition, and yes, that last option, “someone else,” seems a bit awkward for an answer to the question “Should the Braves acquire Jake Peavy from the Padres. But you know what it meant, so stop picking nits and go with it.)
(By the way, just so folks here know, I don’t write the poll questions. Occasionally in the past, they asked me submit a poll question, but the last time I did was months ago. Not saying the polls are good, bad or in-between, just saying I don’t write them, so that some of you might stop asking me.)
Anyway, back to this particular poll question (and by the way, say what you will, but our Braves polls generally get pretty big damn responses).
As of 12:25 p.m. Sunday, there were 5782 “yes” votes, 368 “no” votes, and 154 “someone else” votes. Folks, that’s 91.7 percent “yes” responses. Wow.
Then it’s decided. Frank Wren, get it done or let down roughly nine out of 10 Brave fans. (Man, that’s the kind of pressure that could end up putting a person in Cornhusker Place Detox.)
But seriously, I’m guessing it’s about 95-percent chance the Padres trade Peavy before this year’s July 31 deadline, and about 90 percent that it’s done this winter. OK, make that 92-percent chance it’s done this winter.
And I’ll go with — now this is really just speculating here — 65-percent chance it’s done before the winter meetings Dec. 8-11 in Las Vegas.
Speaking of Vegas, I’d say odds that the Braves get Peavy are at least as good as they are for any other team, and probably better. I believe that because of the “hometown” thing.
Atlanta ain’t Mobile, but it’s sure a hell of a lot closer, literally and figuratively, than New York is. Or St. Louis, for that matter. I do think the Cardinals have the second-best chance of getting him. Houston would, because Peavy would like to pitch alongside his hunting buddy Roy Oswalt and give the Astros the best 1-2 pitching tandem in all of baseball. Yes, all of baseball.
But do you really think the Astros are going to both part with the prospects and pay the $63 mill that Peavy’s owed over the next four years (or $81 mill for five years), when they already owe Oswalt a guaranteed $45 million over the next three seasons, plus either a $16 mill option in 2012 or $2 mill buyout?
Folks, they are the Astros, not the Yankees. I just can’t see them tying up $110 million in two starting pitchers over the next four seasons, both of whom have had at least some arm concerns, though neither has had surgery.
(And speaking of that, in regards to the concerns some have raised on the blog about Peavy’s elbow issues: People, in this day and age, seriously, how many pitchers 25 and older haven’t had arm problems, or at least some concerns? Goes with the territory.)
Again, most of you are right in that the Braves are undoubtedly going to have to have to give up multiple talented players/prospects to get Peavy. You just don’t get an in-his-prime ace, one of the best 10 in the game (and many in baseball would say he’s in the top five) and a guy who’s under a reasonable contract for the next four or five years, without giving up talent in return.
But I also think the Braves can get it done without giving up either of the “untouchables,” OF Jason Heyward or 17-year-old pitcher Julio Teheran, and probably without giving up future Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman.
Gan they do it without giving up Tommy Hanson, a potential Braves starter in 2008? That, I don’t know. Maybe they could pull it off with a package that includes two of the Braves’ other best five or so pitching prospects (they have a handful of real good ones), but that might be only if the Padres get Yunel Escobar as the centerpiece of that deal.
I don’t know if the Braves will do that. I’ll be they’re a little more willing amenable to an Escobar trade now than a year ago. Not to throw the shortstop under the bus, but he showed some aspects of his temper, and some borderline surliness, this season that appeared to be a regression to his minor-league attitudinal problems, at least that’s the way I interpreted it.
Personally, I think Yunel is an extremely talented player and a guy who’s great to have on the team and in the clubhouse when things are going well. But he seems to have a bit of an nasty edge that shows in the face of adversity, both on the field when things don’t go his or his team’s way, and in the clubhouse when he’s dealing with injuries or other unpleasantness that goes with the business of baseball.
But I know the Braves still see him as a potential All-Star shortstop, a guy with a ton of talent. And that cannon of an arm … well, you don’t find many of those in the game. I’ve seen three — Shawon Dunston, Rafael Furcal, and Yunel. The Braves not absolutely not trying to move Escobar. They’d much prefer to keep him.
However, Kevin Towers mentioned that the Padres, in a deal for Peavy, would probably be looking for a couple of major-league ready young pitchers and, after that, probably a middle infielder.
Does Kris Medlen fit the bill of near major-league ready? Maybe so, since he’s been mentioned as a possible Braves starter at some point in 2009. And how about Stephen Marek, the hard-throwing reliever the Braves got from the Angels as the overlooked-but-talented other piece in the Tex/Kotchman trade? No one would be surprised if he won a spot in the Braves’ bullpen in 2009.
So how ‘bout Medlen, Marek and Escobar for Peavy? The Padres would be getting a big upgrade at shortstop, with Escobar replacing Khalil Greene. I should say, I only think the Braves would do such a deal involving Escobar if they were either getting Greene along with Peavy, or had another shortstop possibility lined up in another trade. Greene would seem more likely in that scenario.
Or maybe the Padres like Braves 2B Kelly Johnson to have him be the middle infielder Towers seeks along with two young pitchers. I haven’t heard that yet, haven’t heard whether the Padres see Yunel or Kelly as a sought-after target.
These things should start to firm up in the next week or weeks, perhaps even sooner. You never know when it comes to Towers. He might try to play one team off another and drive up the price for Peavy, or he might decide that he’d like to move his guy now before the free-agent aces hit the market.
But he surely also knows the Braves would much prefer to trade for Peavy than try to fill their No. 1-starter need with a free agent.
Diversions: Tonight (Sunday) is one of those nights when technology is our friend. Specifically, the DVR and/or OnDemand television. Because we’ve got Game 7 of the ALCS, a riveting episode of the outstanding show Mad Men on AMC, plus another episode in what’s become a solid season (after a slow start) of Entourage. Speaking of Mad Men, the season’s ending and I’m not ready to let go of bodacious Joan Holloway. Oh my, the best thing to look at on TV…. Saw a really good movie on DVD this week, called Boy A. About a kid who goes to jail as adolescent for his part in the murder of a young girl, then is paroled years later, in his early 20s, and takes a new name and job in another part of the country. Eventually word gets out about his past, and, well, it’s a wrenching story, man. Fine moviemaking.
Musically speaking…. New Hank III album (called “Damn Right, Rebel Proud”) coming out Tuesday. Anybody heard anything from it yet? Can do so here: http://www.curb.com/artists/hw3/amazonpromo_rebelproud/
Listening a lot to the new Okkervil River CD “The Stage Names,” which isn’t quite as good as their last one, “The Stand Ins,” or “Black Sheep Boy” before that. But that’s only because those two were grade-A albums. This latest album, I’d give a B-plus. Great band. Speaking of literate, all-hands-on-deck bands, when is Arcade Fire going to release a new CD?
The recently dormant alt-country band Giant Sand is back with a cool CD, “Provisions,” released about a month or so ago. I didn’t even know they were still around until I stumbled upon the CD this past week. It’s typically experimental, trippy, mostly mellow, and fit for, oh, a dive bar in the Mojave desert. But if you’ve heard them before and dug ‘em, you’ll like this one. Got a lot of Calexico in them, but not as accessible. By the way, get the recently released Calexico album if you’ve liked any of their previous stuff. It’s strong.
Can I just say (of course I can) that the world is a better place when two tough women, Chrissie Hynde and Lucinda Williams put out new music in an eight-day span. Love the new CDs by Hynde’s reconfigured Pretenders and the ever-stellar Lucinda….
Oh, and these remastered and expanded Creedence Clearwater Revival CDs well worth the price, even if you have the stuff already. I’ve been playing “Green River” and “Cosmo’s Factory” a lot. What a great band. Americana/Al-country decades before anyone ever came up with those labels. Don at Ella Guru had a few cheaply priced copies of the CCR remasters last week. Don’t know if he still does.
R.I.P. Levi Stubbs, golden-voiced lead singer of the Four Tops. He died Friday.
”LEVI STUBBS’ TEARS” by Billy Bragg
With the money from her accident
She bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment
Out of being alone
No one could say that she was left up on the shelf
It’s you and me against the World kid she mumbled to herself
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi Stubbs’ tears run down his face
She ran away from home with her mother’s best coat
She was married before she was even entitled to vote
And her husband was one of those blokes
The sort that only laughs at his own jokes
The sort that war takes away
And when there wasn’t a war he left her anyway
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Are here to make right everything that’s wrong
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier. too
Are here to make it all okay with you
One dark night he came home from the sea
And put a hole in her body where no hole should be
It hurt her more to see him walking out the door
And though they stitched her back together they left her heart in pieces on the floor
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
She takes off the Four Tops tape and puts it back in its case
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi Stubbs’ tears run down his face
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