Precursor to a Peavy trade?

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/12/16/braves_furcal.html

Well I would personally rather have a pitcher than play KJ in LF and Furcal at 2B. I love KJ so would prefer Escobar be dealt I believe. Escobar and Furcal are probably a push on the field with Escobar having the advantage in terms of age, health and lower salary but KJ’s trade value seems low and I don’t think we have seen what he can do yet.

As far as Peavy, we will see. Wren seems pretty upset with how the negotiations took place (perhaps rightly so) and has said publicly a few times they will not reopen the talks. There are plenty of other pitchers to pursue a trade for and time to do it before we really need to start to panic. I would also like to see the Braves sign either Smoltz, Lowe (still don’t understand why they remain on the sideline here?) or Kawakami before getting to deep into talks because I still feel we are much further than one P away from competing for the division again.

Peavy is definitely a possibility, but Greinke could be a thought. I don’t think Moore would fork over Greinke unless it was an absolutely sweet deal, but say you put Escobar and a young arm or two in the mix. Maybe a Cf. Add a pen arm in the mix, perhaps allowing Moore and Hillman to shift Soria to the rotation. It might just be worth it. At the very least, if it’s a package of say, Escobar/Schafer/Rohrbough and one, Moore likely would listen, I think.

Or maybe they make a smaller deal for say, Paul Maholm as has been rumored. Maholm’s getting overhyped, but he’d be a decent addition (although to be honest, I think adding Kawakami makes more sense).

Or maybe they end up flipping Kelly Johnson for an OF bat.

Short of it is, I don’t buy the “Kelly’s in LF and that’s a wrap”. They sort of have to do that, otherwise they lose a little leverage in trade talks. I expect a move to happen.