The Padres have held discussions with free-agent righty Jake Peavy about a possible reunion, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Peavy, 35, last played with San Diego in 2009, when he was shipped to the White Sox in a mid-season deal that landed fellow hurler Clayton Richard — whose own return to the Pads was just extended with a one-year deal.
Peavy established himself as a dominant starter with San Diego, the organization that drafted him in the 15th round of the 1999 draft. He was a key part of the team’s last two postseason entrants (in 2005 and 2006) and won the Cy Young award with the club back in 2007.
Since that time, Peavy has gone from the White Sox to the Red Sox (by way of trade) and then on to the Giants (via trade and a subsequent free-agent contract). While he has never again been quite a dominant as he was with the Friars for a full season, Peavy has continued to provide solid innings for the vast bulk of a 15-year career.
Last year didn’t go quite as hoped, however, as Peavy managed only 118 2/3 innings of 5.54 ERA ball with San Francisco. A demotion to the pen and back issues marred his final season with the Giants, but Peavy still managed 7.7 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9. He coughed up a .320 BABIP that sat well above his career .285 mark (though that’s partially attributable to a career-worst 37.1% hard-contact rate), and also posted a low strand rate of 65.4%, so there’s some cause to see poor fortune as a driver of the results. Indeed, metrics such as FIP (4.36), xFIP (4.70), and SIERA (4.41) all suggested that Peavy performed about as well as he had in prior recent years.
While a return to his 3.58 ERA from the 2015 season may be hoping for too much, then, there’s still reason to believe that Peavy can be a useful back-of-the-rotation arm. Though he sat at a personal low of 88.9 mph with his average fastball, Peavy’s swinging-strike rate rebounded to double digits (10.5%) for the first time since 2009. And as Lin notes, Peavy still generates excellent spin rates compared to the rest of the league.
San Diego’s interest would be on a one-year arrangement, Lin suggests, which would meet with expectations heading into the winter. It’s not clear how much longer Peavy will continue to ply his trade, and certainly there are enough red flags to make a lengthier commitment suspect from any team’s perspective.
Hell yeah bring Peavy back. Numbers will get better coming back to Petco.
Peavy back to add depth and help with youngsters
Exactly. An extra coach for the younger pitchers on the team. And he could only help pitching staff.
Peavey will bring in his CY Young award to the clubhouse and let all the young guys touch it while saying, “If you try your best, you could have one of these someday…”
Yeah cause at and t is such a hitters park
Can Preller fill an entire 1-5 starting rotation within a week?
Yes, but they’ll all be number-5 starters.
Preller isn’t looking to fill our entire rotation with free agents. He started the offseason looking for 2 or 3 FA that could eat innings so the young guys can work into making 30+ starts. Right now only Perdomo has 145+ IP as a starter, so it will take some time for them to build up to that. These kids also need vets to show them how to go about their day to day preparation and how to compete when you don’t have your best stuff. I would be happy if they stopped where they are, but since Peavy isn’t going to throw more than 100-110 innings no matter what and doesn’t go past 5 innings in a game, he won’t block the development of any of the kids. Not so sure he has the stuff to compete anymore, but we really just need guys to eat up some innings.
He’ll bring hoffman back while ur at it
Back when that Peavy/Richard trade occurred I never would have thought Padres would have come out with the edge based solely on Clayton Richard. Aaron Poreda was the “big piece” of that trade and he only ended up throwing 2.1 MLB Innings for SD. Have to love to chaos of trades.
If there was an edge, it wasn’t a very big one. As a Sox fan, in retrospect it didn’t really hurt them at all. Peavy had that freak injury where no other pitcher at the time suffered that type of injury but overall he was just kind of alright. Everyone they gave up never really panned out besides a season or two of Richard.
Yeah, kind of a nowhere trade. I recall the question marks by Sox fans because they shipped Poreda and Peavy was a massive contract for an absolute question mark. This is one of the spots that the White Sox medical staff and Don Cooper earned their solid rep. Peavy has gone on to almost a decade of a second career mostly as a solid #3 on contenders and an exceptional gamer.
You kidding the Sox lost this trade because without Peavy I wouldn’t have to watch the 275pd Linebacker play RF who can’t pull a ball ………. Little Miggy
Without Little Miggy….Fielder doesnt get shipped to Texas either. That guy has had somw impact even if its not on the field.
Yes! The Pad’s could have Peavy, and then add Weaver to their rotation. Two pitchers who were once dominant and are now firey competitors lobbing meatballs. I’d love to see both of them in SD next year!
Firing competitors lobbing meatballs… Well said.
I’ve been a longtime fan of both pitchers. What I mean is: “firey competitors”—both Peavy and Weaver are well known for being intense competitors. They will often be seen exiting an inning ending strike out by yelling to themselves. “lobbing meatballs”—their decline in velocity over the last several years speaks for itself. However, both can locate (at least Weave can) their fastball/meatball with the best of them. Both would be an asset to any clubhouse, albeit a 5th spot in the rotation or a long-reliever out of the ‘pen.
It’s fiery. Not trying to be a jerk. That’s one that is spelled strangely.
I liked the description. I wouldn’t mind one of then coming to Pittsburgh. I’m a Red Sox guy but live close to the Pirates.
Thanks MafiaBass. I appreciate you clarifying and adding your disclaimer about not being a jerk. I think people often neglect to realize that tone doesn’t translate in the realm of message boards. I did think it looked strange the way I spelled it, but got lazy and didn’t check.
Pittsburgh is one of the locations I’d enjoy seeing Weaver land. I’m on the west coast and don’t know that ballpark too well; whether or not it fares better for hitters or pitchers. That might be an interesting situation. I know it’s likely the least possible situation, but I’d hate to see Weaver in a Sox uniform! Thanks for commenting.
oh, you didn’t have to explain yourself. I knew what you meant. I just thought it sounded cool. I meant to type fiery, not firing, as well.
This is probably the most likely signing of the whole winter. Peavy taking his farewell tour with the Padres. He’s not really any good anymore but if he can soak up ~150 or so innings for a few million bucks it will be fine. This Padres team is going to be really really bad.
I’d be impressed if he were able to go that many innings next year. That said, I’d love to see the guy have a great year.
Richard stayed in San Diego in the offseason and worked out at Petco with Hedges. I would say that he was the most likely signing of all.
I remember when White Sox made Trade he couldn’t stay healthy ……. Now he’s an innings Eater Who knew
The Jake Peavey Farewell Tour will commence next season
Preller can instantly redeem himself in the fans eyes for medical report gate if he brings back Peavy! Give the fans what we want!!!!
It will spark so many more people to come back to the Padres who’ve lost interest in this team!
Spark nothing no one is running out to see over the hill Peavy pitch for 100 loss team unless it’s Dodger fans flooding Petco