Prospects for Jake Peavy

The Braves are one of the many teams rumored to be the destination for Padres righty Jake Peavy. But does anybody know what we have to offer? 2B Kelly Johnson and SS Yunel Escobar have been a few of the names thats been speculated. GM Frank Wren has stated that our top prospects won't be traded, those prospects being Tommy Hanson and OF's Jason Heyward and Jordan Schafer.

Outside of these three, do we have the depth to make the deal? Yes, we do. What the Padres are looking for in the deal is a young outfielder and a young pitcher. And what we have depth in are outfield and pitching.

The two outfielders that could be included in the package are Cody Johnson and Gorkys Hernandez. Johnson, the first-round pick in 2006, has been looked down upon in many scouts and experts eyes because of his strikeout numbers (177 K's in 468 AB's in 2008). But he still has a ton of power, out of his 118 hits this year 53 were for extra bases, and is still very young, turns 20 next season.

Hernandez was the other player we acquired from Detroit for Edgar Renteria. Baseball America ranked him as the fifth-best prospect in the Braves' system and 92nd in all of baseball in 2008. He also played in the 2007 Futures Game and is highly regarded because of his speed. Hernandez has 94 stolen bases in three minor-league seasons and a high of 54 SB in 2007.

And now our pitching...

Traditionally, we are very deep here and have a lot of talent in the ranks. This year was no exception. LHP Cole Rohrbough, BA ranked him as the Braves' seventh-best prospect, could be thrown in the deal but might be untouchable. Rohrbough split time between Rome and Myrtle Beach, compiling a 5-6 record with 94 K and 39 BB in 90 IP.

Three other names that might surface in trade talks are LHP Jeff Locke, LHP Julio Teheran, and RHP Kris Medlen. Locke, who is being compared to Rohrbough, went 5-12 with a 4.06 ERA while striking out 133 in 139.2IP at Rome. Teheran spent his first year in pro ball in Danville and his numbers don't speak very well (6.60 ERA in 15 IP), but the biggest things on his side are his side are his fastball, clocked at 94+ at times, and his age, 17.

Medlen spent 2008 in Mississippi as a swingman (17 starts, 36 appearances) while posting a 7-8 record with 120 K's in 120.1 IP.

Another names that might be included in the could be C Tyler Flowers. Flowers was handling the backstop duties for Myrtle Beach this year while posting a .921 OPS but I think we're looking pretty good with McCann locked up for a while. SS Brent Lillibridge might be valuable to the Pads, if they trade Khalil Greene, who is in the middle of trade rumors as well.

Even the once golden boy Jeff Francoeur. Frenchy's stock has dropped after a dismal 2008 and is being shopped around. Even LHP Jo-Jo Reyes and RHP James Parr could be dealt, keeping in mind PETCO Park is enormous and did wonders for Chris Young.

With our options, I really think that we'll end up with Peavy. We have a lot of talent at the lower levels and still have plenty of depth after giving up the bounty to Texas for Teixeira.