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| Can Peavy help SF to the playoffs? Photo Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images |
The San Francisco Giants have been seeking a way to improve what has been just an average overall performance from their starting rotation this season. A starting rotation ERA of 3.59 has been part of the reason why they have been unable to create any gap between themselves and LA in the NL West standings.This afternoon they have made a move to try and change that.
By: Michael Hanley
First reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Giants have acquired starting pitcher Jake Peavy from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for two minor league pitchers in Heath Hembree and Edwin Escobar. San Francisco will also get an undisclosed amount of cash from Boston as well to go along with Peavy.
Heath Hembree, 25, is a right handed reliever who had a brief call up with San Francisco last season before being sent back down just as fast.This season, Hembree was at Triple-A Fresno where he posted a 1-3 record with a 3.89 ERA.
As for Edwin Escobar, 22, he is a starting left handed pitcher who also was playing at Triple-A Fresno this season and posted a 3-8 record with a 5.11 ERA.
Jake Peavy has had a very rough season with the Red Sox as he stumbled to a 1-9 record with a 4.72 ERA in 20 starts with the team. He has recently started to pitch a little bit better for Boston and the thinking started to develop of him be benefitted with a move back to the National League, where he has had a majority of his overall success in his career, going back to his glory days as a San Diego Padre.
Besides knowing Peavy would bolster their starting rotation for the stretch run in this second half of the season, you better believe the Giants brought Peavy back to the NL West division because of his incredible success against the Dodgers. His lifetime numbers against Los Angeles are truly mind blowing when you sit back and think about them. Peavy has a lifetime record 14-2 with a 2.21 ERA against the Dodgers, the true definition of what dominance looks like.
It just so happens that the rivals from the city of angels are in San Francisco this weekend for a critical three game series that started Friday night. It has been reported that Peavy will start Sunday vs the Dodgers in the finale of that series.
San Francisco is banking on Peavy being able to recapture some of that magic he had when he was winning a Cy Young award and dominating opponents back in his San Diego days to help spark this Giants team to a big run toward the postseason. Peavy is plenty familiar with pitching in the National League, specifically in the NL West, as he was part of the league for the first eight seasons of his career and had tremendous success during those seasons as he tallied a career record of 92-68 with a 3.29 ERA.
Peavy still has solid enough pitches and velocity to get people out with, he just needs the right guidance and game plan to go out there with. Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti knows a thing or two about putting together successful pitching gameplans for his starters. His body of work over his tenure in San Francisco speaks for himself. He always get the most out of his starters and maximizes their strengths and hides their weaknesses very well, better than most pitching coaches can do. Peavy is in very good hands with Righetti and should be able to turn this clean slate he has received from the Giants into a successful and prosperous one.
There's always pressure in a pennant race and it affects players in a different ways, especially who you talk about specific players. Jake Peavy has been around long enough to experience the pressure and intensity of being in a pennant race and having success in them.
Now being with the Giants in a hotly contested battle with LA for the NL Division crown will not startle him or make him nervous. If anything, it will reinvigorate him and give himself new motivation to go out and give his all since now his starts will not be merely just another game in a lost season as it was with the Red Sox, his starts now mean the difference between SF having a one or two game lead right now, a complete shift in dynamics for him.
Its a shift though, that Jake Peavy will gladly take as he has given himself a chance to make this difficult season for him a memorable one for himself and for the Giants.
