At the beginning of the season, it seemed farfetched that Jake Peavy would get another multi-year contract for 2013 and beyond, but that matter will soon be a front-burner issue for the White Sox, writes Buster Olney of ESPN.com. It’s hard to say what the 31-year-old might get on the open market as Olney notes that this time last year, few predicted that Mark Buehrle would land a four-year, $58MM contract from the Marlins. The Dodgers, Cubs, Angels, and others will have money to spend this winter while the Royals are known to be looking for someone to anchor their rotation. Here’s more from around baseball..
- The Nationals hold club options for 2014 and ’15 on General Manager Mike Rizzo’s contract, people familiar with the deal told Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post. That effectively means that Rizzo has just one guaranteed year remaining with the club. Kilgore writes that the GM may use the club’s success as leverage to get yet another contract extension, but the Nats don’t appear to be in a rush to get that done.
- While Padres General Manager Josh Byrnes believes that the club will increase its payroll for next season, he cautioned that a good chunk of that will go to arbitration raises for Chase Headley, Clayton Richard, Edinson Volquez, Will Venable, and others, writes Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com. Byrnes also talked about what he learned in his time with the Diamondbacks and the evolution of Carlos Quentin over that span.
- The Phillies have been toying with the idea of shifting Chase Utley to third base for the 2013 season, but GM Ruben Amaro is shutting the experiment down, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Now, the Phillies will likely have to turn to the open market for a solution at third, but there aren’t a ton of appealing options in this year’s free agent class.
- Jonah Keri of Grantland.com sat down with Rockies GM Bill Geivett for a lengthy discussion on the unique challenges faced by the club thanks to the altitude of their home ballpark. The Rockies turned to a unique pitching experiment this season that will continue in 2013 and are looking into other ideas that could affect the way they build their roster going forward.
