White Sox Rumors

One of the summer's most intriguing trade chips has likely been taken off the market, as the White Sox announced yesterday that Jake Peavy will be shut down for the next four-to-six weeks with a non-displaced rib fracture.  The veteran right-hander began to feel the injury on Sunday and attempted to make his scheduled start on Tuesday night against the Mariners but only lasted 2 1/3 innings (allowing six runs) before being pulled from the game.

“It’s just unfortunate,” Peavy told reporters, including Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. “It’s unfortunate that something crazy like this comes about….The hardest thing is there is nothing to do to help a bone heal quicker. You don’t cast it. You feel normal, but yet you can’t even ride a bike, your breathing. There’s not a whole lot.”

The 32-year-old already had a checkered injury history but appeared to be in good health and good form in 2012 (when he posted a 3.37 ERA over 219 innings and made the AL All-Star team) and through this season, as Peavy had a 3.62 ERA before Tuesday's tough outing in Seattle.

Peavy's injury hurts the White Sox on two levels.  His absence could put an end to Chicago's hopes of getting back to .500 and into the playoff race, and it also means that the club has one less major asset to sell at the trade deadline if they choose to look ahead to 2014.  Peavy wouldn't start pitching until after the All-Star break even in a best-case scenario, leaving very little time to prove that he's healthy enough for another team to give up anything significant in a deal.

Peavy recently said he had accepted the idea of being traded and was open to joining a contender, though his preference was to spend the rest of his career with the White Sox.

Jake Peavy would ideally like to spend the rest of his career with the White Sox, but the veteran right-hander tells CSN Chicago's Chuck Garfien that if the club fell out of contention and felt it necessary to move Peavy in a trade, he would accept such a move. 

“If we’re not in it, I have no problems being moved to a team who is in contention and trying to win a World Series, so I’ll go play anywhere,” Peavy said. “If it comes down to having and feeling like it’s best for them to move me, I’ll go play anywhere that feels like they have a chance. If a team’s going to trade for you, they feel like they have a chance and they’re trying to make the necessary moves. But at the end of the day, we hope and we pray that doesn’t happen.”

Peavy made his comments during a taping of CSN's "Inside Look: Jake Peavy" program (airing tonight) and made it clear that he would have no hard feelings about being traded if it meant having a shot at the postseason. 

“It’s just the business of the game. You pay players and you have players in place to try to win a division, get in the playoffs, to win a world championship and when that doesn’t go as planned, things have to happen and the organization has to sit down and look at what’s best for the organization," Peavy said.  "Is it best to keep players who make a nice salary on a team that’s not destined to do anything, or is it best to move them and get some prospects in return and shed some money? If it does and we don't play well and don't have a realistic chance to win the division, I'm sure that bridge will be crossed and I'll do anything the White Sox ask me to do at that point in time."

Peavy signed a two-year, $29MM extension with the White Sox in October that contains an option for 2015 that could become a player option if the 32-year-old pitches a certain amount of innings in this season and the next.  The deal didn't contain any no-trade protection, though as Peavy explained to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune last month, he felt a no-trade clause was irrelevant at this stage in his career since he only wants to play for a contender and only teams in the hunt would want to acquire the righty.

With a 3.62 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 4.40 K/BB ratio through 10 starts this season, Peavy is pitching well and would provide an upgrade to any contending team's rotation.  While Cliff Lee has garnered perhaps the most speculation as a midseason trade candidate, Peavy is two years younger and has a much more team-friendly contract than the Phillies' southpaw, who is owed at least $68.75MM through the 2015 season.

The White Sox are currently mired in a seven-game losing streak and are in fourth place in the AL Central with a 24-31 record.  It seems more and more likely that the Southsiders will be sellers at the deadline, and it has been rumored that the Sox could be willing to listen to offers on anyone except Chris Sale.  Peavy would be perhaps their biggest trade chip, as his reasonable contract would draw interest from both contenders and would-be contenders who would perhaps be looking to reload for 2014, such as the Blue Jays (who tried to trade for Peavy last fall) Angels, Brewers or Dodgers.