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| Will Jake Peavy be donning Cardinal red soon? Photo credit: Getty Images |
There are multiple reports out that say the St. Louis Cardinals are interested in acquiring Red Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy in a trade.
By: Michael Hanley
Its very easy to see why the Cardinals feel like they need to upgrade and improve their starting rotation for the second half of this season.
As it stands right now, Saint Louis is without starting pitcher Jaime Garcia who is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome. They also are missing starting pitcher Michael Wacha who is a big question mark as to when he will return to the rotation due to a very complicated and slow recovering injury in what is being called a stress reaction to the scapula bone which is located in his shoulder. And finally starting pitcher Joe Kelly is still on the disabled list. So you see the Cardinals are in desperate need of starting pitching and targeting Jake Peavy is not a bad start.
Now no one is kidding themselves here, Jake Peavy is not the Cy Young award winning pitcher he once was with the Padres who could dominate almost any opponents lineup during the season. This is a pitcher who has had to deal with a lot of ups and downs in his performance since he was traded from the Padres.
His days with the White were mixed with brilliant wins but also some very forgettable starts. His record with Chicago was a very pedestrian 36-29 with exactly a 4 ERA, not exactly lights out numbers that the White Sox were hoping to get when they got him.
Last season was a bit of a revival for him as he was able to post a 4-1 record with the Red Sox and help them on the way to winning the World series. Boston brought him back this season and the results have been disastrous so far. Peavy has so far complied a 1-7 record with a 4.64 ERA, on track for his worst season since he started his career in the major leagues.
It cannot help that he is on a team that is so far playing for pride and not in the middle of a pennant race. Now you may say the record of a team should not affect one player’s mentality when it comes to their own performance and that is a fair observation to make. Think about it this way though, Peavy is a player who is on the backside of his career who has already had his fill of lean years playing for the Padres. Its natural for him to not be totally locked in when he is on a team that is ten games out of first place and twelve games under the .500 mark. It can become a very tedious and difficult situation to be in even for an experienced major leaguer like Peavy is.
That is why a change of scenery, say to the Cardinals, might just provide Peavy with a new lease on life and get him to spark better play out of himself for a contender. The Cardinals have a great track record of reviving starting pitchers who were thought to be done and unfixable. Yet Saint Louis is able to take these guys and have them be put in position to succeed and stress the strengths of their pitching, minimize the flaws. Peavy looks like a candidate who could go through that same transformation. Plus, Peavy will not be asked to the “the guy” in Saint Louis, he can just come in and do his work without any added pressure.
Its a trade that could work out for both the Cardinals and Red Sox and prove to be on that can boost Saint Louis’ hopes of catching and passing Milwaukee in the NL Central as the second half of this season unfolds.
