With agent Barry Axelrod no longer able to represent his clients to due a new role in the Diamondbacks' front office, Jake Peavy is mulling his options for this coming offseason. Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports that Peavy is contemplating representing himself or hiring one of John Boggs or Jeff Berry (Twitter links).
Peavy's resurgence this season has been a key component to Chicago's surprising run at the American League Central Division title. The oft-injured 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner has fired 211 innings of 3.37 ERA ball with a 7.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and 36.6 percent ground-ball rate. His 90.8 mph average fastball velocity is down from his best years with the Padres when he averaged better than 92 mph, but he's still posted his highest innings total since that 2007 season.
The White Sox hold a $22MM option on Peavy for next season, but despite his bounceback campaign they're expected to pay a $4MM buyout rather than make Peavy one of baseball's highest paid pitchers in 2013.
Boggs' agency — John Boggs & Associates — represents big-name players such as Adrian Gonzalez, Cole Hamels and Trevor Cahill, as MLBTR's Agency Database shows. Berry, a high-ranking agent within CAA Sports, has many high-profile clients in his own right, including Joe Blanton, Buster Posey and a pair of pitchers that Peavy knows well — John Danks and Mark Buehrle.
Regardless of who ends up doing the negotiations, Peavy's strong season has almost assuredly earned him a multi-year deal this winter.
Peavy had a great year but $22m is obviously more than the White Sox are willing to pay.
Like to see Redsox pick him up but not at that price