Remember those days, oh so long ago, when the Padres first began entertaining the possibility of a Jake Peavy trade? Remember how his contract was viewed as a good thing? It was a reasonable deal, a hometown discount, something that might make him more attractive to other teams -- remember that?
All of that has changed now. His contract is now officially a monster impediment. Blame the Padres, if you want, for giving him the deal. Or maybe you can decide it's Peavy's fault
for now using every crossed "t" and dotted "i" in the deal. Or maybe you'd like to blame the economy, because based on the state of our national financial circumstances, paying a pitcher $67 million over four years seems outsized.
Whatever the root cause, Peavy's contract has become the 40-pound mole on the face of the Padres' efforts to trade him, and in the end, they probably will have to resign themselves to making a poor deal out of their desperation to shed the salary -- assuming some among the dwindling ranks of interested parties still really want the right-hander.
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Buster Olney
