Jake Peavy won a Cy Young Award years ago and pitched in memorable playoff games, and when he tells stories, he speaks with the perspective of someone about to take the field in an Old Timers' game. It's easy to forget that Peavy is still only 30 years old; he turns 31 at the end of this month. But he has reminded hitters again this year just how good he can be.
Peavy is 4-1 with a league-best 1.89 ERA, and he's allowed only seven walks in 52.1 innings; his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.29 is easily the best of his career. But this is not a case of an old pro learning a trick pitch or successfully adapting with a set of tools greatly diminished by age. Peavy's
velocity readings are not that much different than they were in the spring of 2009, when he last pitched for the
San Diego Padres.
"It just comes down to being healthy," Peavy said the other day from Chicago. "I know it sounds too simple to be true, that's what it is."
Peavy was on the disabled list when the
Chicago White Sox traded for him in the summer of 2009, and although he had assumed his season was over before the deal was made, he worked his way back to pitch in four games at the end of the year for Chicago. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, Peavy wonders if coming back to pitch that September was a bad thing, the first domino that led to other problems.
He altered his delivery in order to compensate for the physical effect of his injury, struggled in 2010 and then got hurt. But Peavy could tell right away this spring, when he first threw, that he was back to throwing the way that he had for the Padres.
"I really believe in being aggressive," he said. "I'm not a finesse guy. I can't have another mentality. I want to be aggressive and attack the hitters. If I'm healthy, I believe in what I can do, and that's where I am now."
He's averaging a little more than seven innings
per start and has thrown as many as 122 pitches in his starts. The White Sox hold a $22 million option on Peavy for 2013, and even if they contended all summer and kept the right-hander throughout this season, it would be a surprise if they exercised that option, which would make him one of the highest paid pitchers in the majors for 2013.
As Peavy takes the ball today against the
Detroit Tigers and
Max Scherzer, the White Sox are 2 1/2 games out of first place. Some officials are beginning to compile lists of possible midseason trade targets, and Peavy has been mentioned as a possibility. "If he's healthy," an assistant GM said last week, "he's really attractive, because he's been through it all, and he knows how to pitch."
But as always, the standings will dictate who becomes available, and with the addition of an extra wild card in each league this season, teams may be even more reluctant to surrender.
Some other starting pitchers who may or may not become available for trade this summer:
2. Ryan Dempster, Chicago Cubs: Never has this statement been more appropriate than in Dempster's case: Wins and losses mean almost nothing. Dempster, a free agent in the fall, has a 1.74 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP, and 41 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. He's allowed one home run, and
opposing hitters have a .463 OPS. Dempster is 35 years old, he's had a couple of runs through the postseason, he's throwing well, he's known as a good clubhouse guy, so yeah, he'll have value before the trade deadline.
Dempster is making $14 million in the final year of a four-year, $52 million deal. That high salary may discourage the interest of some teams, because Dempster would be owed almost $5 million for the final two months, a budget-busting number for a lot of clubs.
This why the
Los Angeles Dodgers -- who have room to grow their payroll after opening this season with a relatively miniscule $90 million budget -- are poised to perhaps be the most aggressive team before the trade deadline.
3. Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies: A couple of things would have to happen before Philadelphia dealt the left-hander, who will be eligible for free agency in the fall. The Phillies' ownership would have to become convinced that the team wasn't good enough to win this year, and they'd have to essentially decide that Hamels isn't going to re-sign with Philadelphia, given the likelihood that he could command six-year offers as a free agent.
While the Phillies have called around and loosely floated Hamels' name in trade discussions, it seems very unlikely that a franchise that has had such incredible success in recent years would unload one of the National League's best pitchers in June or July. Hamels is 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA.
4. Carlos Zambrano, Miami Marlins: Time and again, we have seen that poor behavior is overlooked if a player is performing, and so far this year, Zambrano is
pitching well for Miami. His fastball velocity is up, his ERA is down to 1.88, and he has been among the better pitchers in the NL. If the Marlins remain in contention -- and right now, Miami is four games out of first -- there would be no reason for the Marlins to deal him. Zambrano would probably be smart to re-sign with the Marlins after his contract expires in the fall.
But if Miami fell out of the NL East race, Zambrano could be an attractive find. The Marlins are responsible for only $2.5 million of the $18 million salary that Zambrano is making this year, so he would be among the cheaper trade options this summer, and Miami might get something decent in return.
5/6. Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, Milwaukee Brewers: The right-handers are eligible for free agency in the fall, and after losing
Prince Fielder to free agency last fall and then suffering an early-season rash of injuries, Milwaukee may struggle to hang in the NL Central race. But keep in mind that the Brewers' ownership has developed a strong covenant with its fan base during the last five years -- the team works like crazy to compete, and the Milwaukee faithful consistently fill Miller Park. The Brewers may or may not be able to keep Greinke (3-1, 3.35 ERA) and Marcum (2-1, 3.07 ERA) after this season, but this is not an organization prone to giving up.
7. Derek Lowe, Cleveland Indians: There would be interest from other teams if the Indians placed him on the trade market this summer, given his strong start (5-1, 2.47 ERA), his experience and his versatility. But that may not happen, with Cleveland currently holding a two-game lead in the AL Central.
8. Bartolo Colon, Oakland Athletics: Oakland is among the great early-season stories, with a record better than .500, but the Athletics are chasing the best team in the majors at the top of the division. If somebody wants to call Oakland and make an offer for Colon, the Athletics will listen. He's 3-3 with a 3.96 ERA so far.
9. Carl Pavano, Minnesota Twins: He has started slowly, and so long as that continues -- he's 2-3, with a 5.02 ERA -- there probably won't be a lot of interest. But the Twins could be among the first teams that look to be a seller.
10. Joe Blanton, Phillies: He's unspectacular, he's been nagged by injuries, and from time to time, the Phillies have tried to dump his salary. But Blanton has been good this year and had another strong start on Monday night.
The Phillies needed a lift and Blanton gave it to them Monday,
shutting down the
Houston Astros.
From ESPN Stats and Info, how Blanton won:
A) Blanton used his changeup as a strikeout pitch, which has been a rarity this season. Blanton had three strikeouts with this changeup on Monday; entering Monday, he had just two strikeouts on the pitch this season. Blanton got eight outs with the pitch on Monday; he had gotten just 10 outs with his changeup in his previous four starts.
B) Blanton threw 45 of his 106 pitches from ahead in the count. Blanton has had 40-plus pitches when ahead in the count twice this season, and he went 7-plus innings with 7-plus strikeouts in both (2-0).
C) Blanton returned to his success on the ground after a rough outing against the Mets in his last start. Blanton recorded eight groundball outs on Monday and has now gotten 8-plus groundball outs in six of his seven starts this season. His 54 ground-ball outs ranks in the top 15 among NL starters.
[h3]Notables[/h3]
• The
Washington Nationals lost
another catcher, incredibly.
• Meanwhile, Anthony Rendon says
his season is likely over. I checked with the Nationals again this morning, and they said they still expect Rendon to play in July or August.
• The Royals' luck has been all bad this year: Now
Danny Duffy is looking at
reconstructive elbow surgery, as Sam Mellinger writes. You cannot overstate how important Duffy's development is to this organization, so you cannot overstate how devastating this injury is.
• John Moores is pleased with the folks
bidding on the Padres.
• The Giants' ownership should do what's right and
allow the Athletics to move, writes Mark Purdy.
• Major League Baseball
fired the arbitrator in the
Ryan Braun case.
• The AL East is playing out like a NASCAR race, with 20 yellow flags in the first quarter of the race, and this time it's the
Tampa Bay Rays who got dinged up:
Jeff Niemann suffered a
broken leg.
Desmond Jennings went on
the disabled list.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. Nick Cafardo wonders: Should
Kevin Youkilis be
handed his job back? Here's the thing: In order for the
Boston Red Sox to establish any trade value in Youkilis, he's got to play again and demonstrate that he's physically able. "That's the question about him -- is healthy?" said one GM last week. "If so, he can help somebody."
Such as the Dodgers, who might be looking for an alternative at first base if
James Loney doesn't start to hit, or maybe the
Cincinnati Reds, who could be looking for a third baseman now that
Scott Rolen is on the disabled list -- Cincinnati could use a right-handed hitter who could hit in the middle of a lineup. Keep in mind, too, that Youkilis is a Cincinnati native.
Youkilis looks
close to being ready, writes Michael Silverman. David Murphy wonders if Youkilis would
make sense in Philly. Paul Daugherty wonders if Youkilis would
make sense in Cincinnati.
2. The
Baltimore Orioles continue to scramble
with their roster: They've made 22 roster moves since their 17-inning game in Boston on May 6. The
Texas Rangers, mind you, have made
zero roster moves in the first six weeks, because they haven't had injuries.
3. Neil Huntington should get credit for his
pitching acquisitions, writes Ron Cook.
4. Jim Leyland says
Alex Avila won't catch as
much as he did last year.
5.
J.C. Romero was
cut.
6.
Shin-Soo Choo is the Indians'
new leadoff hitter.
7. The
Indians promoted pitcher
Jeremy Accardo.
8. The Cubs are keeping
Alfonso Soriano in the
cleanup spot. Here's the bottom line: Once the Cubs decide to end the Soriano chapter in the team's history, then they will promote
Anthony Rizzo and move
Bryan LaHair to the outfield. Rizzo's time
could be coming soon, writes old friend Chris De Luca.
9.
Rickie Weeks could be
back in the lineup Wednesday.
10.
Justin Upton may be rested, given
his struggles.
11.
Grant Balfour is angry he
lost the closer job.
12. The Rangers' Jackie Moore was
back in the dugout after a hospital stay.
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1.
Mark Teixeira is dealing with a
persistent cough, as David Waldstein writes.
2.
Jason Bay could be
back soon.
3.
David Robertson has
some soreness.
4. Matt Kemp's consecutive-games
streak ended.
[h3]Mondays' games[/h3]
1. The
Colorado Rockies have had a tough run of late and lost again, but only after an
impressive performance by
Christian Friedrich.
From ESPN Stats and Info: Friedrich is the 11th pitcher since 2000 -- and the first in Rockies history -- to have 10 or more strikeouts in one of his first two career appearances.
Shawn Chacon was previously the fastest Rockies player to a 10-plus strikeout game, getting one in his eighth career game.
How Friedrich struck out 10 Giants:
A) Friedrich used location rather than speed. His fastball averaged 91.5 mph, and he did not throw a pitch 94 mph or harder.
B) Friedrich threw only one pitch with a three-ball count all night. He threw 27 pitches with two strikes.
C) Friedrich registered five strikeouts on pitches in the strike zone and five strikeouts on pitches outside the strike zone. Rockies starters have registered five strikeouts on pitches outside the strike zone in just three games this year. All of them have come in the last week, and the Rockies lost all three games by fewer than two runs.
[h4]Harper's No. 1 company[/h4]
The youngest No. 1 overall picks to homer in modern draft era (since 1965).
[th=""]
Player
[/th][th=""]
Years/Days
[/th][th=""]
Drafted
[/th]
2. The Nationals won, and
Bryce Harper clubbed his
first homer.
From Elias: Harper is the youngest player to homer in a major league game since
Adrian Beltre on Sept. 25, 1998 for the Dodgers vs. the Brewers (19 years and 171 days). Harper is also the youngest player in Nationals/Expos history to homer -- Gary Carter had been the youngest.
5.
Adam Dunn homered again, but this time it was off a lefty -- and lefties had been a problem for him.
From ESPN Stats and Info: Dunn's homer off
Drew Smyly was his first off a lefty since Aug. 6, 2010, when he hit two off
Clayton Kershaw. Before Monday, Dunn's last 30 home runs had come off right-handers. He now has 12 home runs for the season overall, surpassing his total of 11 last season.
6. Clayton Kershaw and
Ian Kennedy exchanged
brushback pitches, as the Dodgers took down Arizona.
7. For the
Los Angeles Angels, it just
gets worse.
8. Once again, there was
no run support for
Anibal Sanchez, as Joe Capozzi writes.
9. The
Atlanta Braves were
shut down.
10. An
Adam Lind error
opened the floodgates.
By The Numbers, from ESPN Stats and Info:
8: Nationals scored eight runs against the Padres; entering Monday, they were the only team in the majors that hadn't scored eight or more runs in a game.
51: Percent of pitches thrown by
Jon Lester outside the strike zone against the Mariners, who did not draw a single walk.
399: Number of consecutive games played by
Matt Kemp prior to missing Monday night's game against the Diamondbacks.
429: Distance, in feet, of Bryce Harper's first major-league home run.