Padres can't afford to keep ace Peavy; but can they afford to trade him?
Peavy's agent had this to say about the failed deal:
“The Padres asked too much. There might have been four or five total teams in baseball (that could assume Peavy's contract). ... The powers that be are going to have to be a little more objective about their strength in negotiating.”
Apparently Peavy was exasperated and his agent doesn't want to be involved in negotiations until the deal is done and Peavy can decide whether or not to veto. Peavy should have just been open to any trade this entire time and then vetoed the ones he didn't want, at least that way the Padres would have leverage.
His agent suggest that they try to move Peavy to the Giants or to the Yankees.
“He's not a total free agent like (CC) Sabathia was,” Axelrod said of Peavy. “So maybe he'd only get $150 million. ... (But) Jake's a guy who's not going to be intimidated by New York.”
Regarding the Giants: “I think they've got the money. But I don't know if they've got the prospects.”
Peavy has just worn out all of his good will by making it so painfully obvious that he doesn't want to have anything to do with the Padres now. He's is going to be miserable here next season. Can't wait to see those commercials where he's urging fans to come out to the ballpark.
“There's been somewhat of an arc of emotions,” Axelrod said. “When they first told Jake they needed to do this, he was irritated. ... It's slowly evolving into: 'If this franchise is going to run at a bargain basement (payroll), maybe it's best for me to be elsewhere.' ...