Although the Boston Red Sox aren’t quite out of it in the American League East race with nearly half the MLB season left to play, they could be on the verge of trading away starting pitcher Jake Peavy.
According to Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com, the St. Louis Cardinals are interested in the veteran right-hander and watched his strong performance against the Baltimore Orioles Sunday:
WEEI’s Rob Bradford has Peavy’s thoughts on a potential move:
In fact, the Cards are so smitten with Peavy that a deal could happen in short order, per ESPN’s Jayson Stark:
Despite allowing just one earned run, the Red Sox lost Peavy’s most recent start and find themselves 10 games behind the O’s for the division lead. Peavy has been a victim of poor run support recently, but he put the onus on himself in the wake of that defeat, according to Tim Britton of the Providence Journal.
“I take responsibility for it,” Peavy said. “I’ve got to be better. We’ve got to win on this day. That’s all there is to it. I’m as sick of it as you guys are.”
The defending World Series champions may be forced to go into sell mode at 39-50 with the trade deadline quickly approaching. If that is the case, then Peavy is an obvious candidate to move since he has a $15 million player option next season, per Rotoworld.
St. Louis already has one of the best starting rotations in the league when health, but Michael Wacha, Jaime Garcia and Joe Kelly are all currently on the disabled list. That leaves a strong core of Adam Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Lance Lynn and Carlos Martinez, but Peavy could be the missing puzzle piece.
He isn’t the same pitcher who won the 2007 NL Cy Young Award with the San Diego Padres, but the savvy 33-year-old knows how to pitch. His 1-7 record and 4.64 ERA this season are certainly disappointing, but a change of scenery may be just what he needs to turn things around.
The Cardinals have had a consistent winning culture over the past several years and are just four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central despite dealing with several injuries. They are still in decent position to nab a wild-card spot as well, but they need another arm.
Peavy is an ideal fourth or fifth starter for a contending team due to his experience. He probably wouldn’t cost the Cardinals a ton either, so it is definitely worth it for St. Louis to take a chance on him.
Trading him may suggest that the Red Sox are throwing in the towel on the season, but they aren’t winning with him and have to make moves with an eye toward the future.
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