Outsiders review of the Jake Peavy potential deal

Notsellingjeans over at Athletics Nation has a pretty good rant about how the Padres front office looks right now regarding Jake Peavy. He puts most of the blame on Kevin Towers, which is partially right...

1)  He thought he could get a Dan Haren-quality package for Peavy, and 2)  he thought that he should open up the bidding to every team possible first and then try to get Peavy's blessing for that particular team afterward, rather than covertly getting Peavy's blessing and then quietly engaging 1-2 teams only to avoid media leaks.

That much is true, but this is wrong:

The Padres and Towers' motive - extracting maximum value - is entirely logical.  But it looks like they've overplayed their hand and suffered the consequences of seeking as many bids as possible - multiple media leaks, embarrassment, and alienation from their best trade partners in terms of logical fit...and they still haven't consummated a deal.

The Padres aren't trying to extract maximum value. They're trying to extract maximum potential value while keeping the dollar figures at a bare minimum.

So what are we dealing with?

1. Jake Peavy with a no-trade clause
2. Jake Peavy basically wants a raise from whatever team he goes to
3. The fact that KT isn't allowed to take on any contracts that would even come close to Jake Peavy's contract
4. The fact that every other GM in the game knows this.

To me, putting the blame on KT is rough. We've seen his ability to completely take advantage of other teams through trades, but this is just the toughest spot possible. What the Padres basically want is a group of can't miss prospects well within their initial contracts, from a team willing to trade them away and give Jake Peavy a raise, all knowing that they're under no threat of an actual bidding war because of the no-trade clause.

Our front office is over the barrel and it's not Jake Peavy or Trevor Hoffman's agent or other GMs that put them there. It's John Moores. Let's just get the team sold already so we can quit making some of the brightest baseball minds look like complete jackasses.