Come To Think Of It...Padres GM Towers' Ugly Handling Of Peavy Trade Maddening

Stupid. This was all so stupid and unnecessary.

Jake Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, is frustrated with the Padres. So is his client, who was getting used to the idea of becoming a Chicago Cub. What Padres GM Kevin Towers has done is alienate his star pitcher, piss off his fan base, and possibly even damaged what had been a fine working relationship with his friend, Cubs GM Jim Hendry.

Towers should have been satisfied with dumping Peavy's salary, and getting the best deal he could. The Braves deal would have netted him a very good young shortstop in Yunel Escobar. The Cubs trade would have filled a lot of needs as well.

But more than anything, his camp, which are those in his front office if not Towers himself, kept negotiating in the public eye, which adds to the frustration of the entire mess.

I'm sure Hendry isn't happy that the players he may have been considering trading for Peavy were exposed in public. And the daily, sometimes, hourly trade updates only served to whet Peavy's appetite.

Well, what a botched deal this turned out to be.

Now, if Towers has a change of heart and decides to revisit trading his stud pitcher, he may find Peavy and his agent not so cooperative this time around. And who can blame them after this debacle?

Look, Peavy hates losing but it was really the San Diego Padres that came to him, wanting to move salary due to the Padres' owner's impending divorce and their horrible season last year.

This whole thing wasted a lot of people's time and got the hopes of fans up for nothing. Let's just say it wasn't Kevin Tower's finest moment as GM.

Cubs officials claim that every time they had agreed to a set of players, Towers would ask for more. And each time the players involved in the conversation had their names leaked to the media. This is not the best way to do business because now the Cubs and Braves have players wondering if their teams want them.

And the Padres hold on to a player in Jake Peavy who is understandably disillusioned and upset. 

Well, at least it's over so we can quit wasting our time wondering if Jake Peavy is going to be a Cub. It was becoming like the Brian Roberts rumors all over again and I, for one, was sick of hearing about it.

Hey, you can't blame Jim Hendry for trying to improve his club. Kevin Towers, on the other hand, is open to all the blame you want to heap on him. Stupid is as stupid does, come to think of it.