Braves GM Makes a Gutsy Move

After weeks of haggling with the San Diego Padres in trying to acquire Jake Peavy, Atlanta Braves General Manager Frank Wren called talks off on Friday. In the end the Padres simply want too much in return for the star pitcher.

Wren was never going to entertain the idea of sending star pitching prospect Tommy Hanson to the Padres. By all indications Hanson is a "can't miss" prospect.

This is the same guy that threw a 14 strikeout No-Hitter shortly after being promoted to AA. Not to mention his success in the hitter-friendly Arizona Fall League so far this winter. (4-0, 0.76 ERA, 2.00 ER, 39 K's in 23-2/3 innings)

Hanson will definitely fight for a spot in Atlanta's rotation this spring. So can you blame Wren for not including him in a potential deal?

Instead Wren came up with a great package of players not named Hanson.

Yunel Escobar was the center-piece of the Braves package. Included were one of two major league ready pitchers, JoJo Reyes & Charlie Morton, speedy CF prospect Gorkys Hernandez, and major league reliever Blaine Boyer. That sounds like a pretty good package to me.

In the end, however, Padres GM Kevin Towers would not pull the trigger on the deal. I cannot blame him for trying to hold out for Hanson. He probably thought he could get Wren to reconsider. Thankfully for Braves fans and the future success of the team he would not budge.

So for now talks for the 2007 CY Young Award winner are off. At least as far as the Braves are concerned. Many feel that it could be revisited before spring training starts and that the Braves could still end up with the ace.

But for now the Braves front office finds itself in an strange place. The team has about $40 million to spend this off-season, which is definitely not a normal thing for Atlanta in the post-Ted Turner era.

The club has already started talking with free agent pitchers A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe. Atlanta is said to be interested in Randy Wolf and Ryan Dempster as well. In addition, the Braves are looking for a right-handed, power-hitting outfielder. And rumors have persisted about Cardinals OF Ryan Ludwick.

So the next few months should hold plenty more suspense for Braves fans.

One thing is for sure, with the Braves renewed interest in rebuilding the pitching staff with young, talented new blood, Atlanta fans may have a lot more to cheer about through this year; definitely more than the last three.