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Cafardo On Peavy, White Sox, Twins, Liriano, Rays

By Zach Links [April 22, 2012 at 9:00am CST]

The Red Sox are struggling early on in the season, but no one in the American League East seems to be off to a hot start, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. However, as one American League GM said, "I will never comment on any team or even my own based on April. You just don’t get a fair assessment. You may get a snapshot of what you may be short on, or what you may have overevaluated. But even then, you have to be careful about making hasty decisions in April because there’s a long way to go." Here's more from Cafardo..

White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy is back on some teams’ radars as a midseason acquisition after a strong start to the year. Scouts have been impressed with Peavy’s overall stuff and the fact that he is notching strikeouts and throwing 92-93 m.p.h. Peavy, 30, earns $17MM this season and the White Sox would likely have to take on a portion of what’s remaining if he’s dealt. However, he has a partial no-trade to eight teams and the White Sox may not part with him if they're still relevant in July.
The Twins had some bites on Francisco Liriano this winter but didn’t pull the trigger. Because Minnesota probably won’t re-sign him, they're hoping to land a prospect or two for him at the trade deadline. He'll have to pitch better for that to happen, however.
If the Rays pitching is clicking as expected, Wade Davis will be trade bait at some point this season. So far though, in his current role as long man, scouts love what they see.
A longtime National League scout who has been keeping an eye on the Rays this season says that the club could use another bullpen piece.
There has been some questioning of Blue Jays manager John Farrell’s pitching moves at times, according to a major league source.
Cafardo asked Pedro Martinez whether he could pitch right now and he responded, "Not right now. I would need about 20 days."
Cafardo is surprised that Ivan Rodriguez is retiring and one National League GM said that the veteran, "is probably better defensively right now than 75 percent of the catchers in the league."