SAN DIEGO -- What the ----?
The Chicago White Sox traded for whom?
Wasn't Jake Peavy on ice somewhere? Talk about a wonderfully creative answer to Detroit's acquisition of left-hander Jarrod Washburn just a couple of hours earlier.
|
|
| 'I've just got to get my arm in shape. Health-wise, I feel strong,' Jake Peavy says. (Getty Images) |
"I looked at it as something that was going to happen in November or December as a best-case scenario."
• Peavy accepts trade to White Sox
Instead, there was ultra-aggressive, ultra-stealth White Sox GM Kenny Williams ringing Towers late Friday morning San Diego time asking about the chances of reprising that deal the two men put in place back in May before Peavy used his no-trade clause to scotch it.
That phone call led to, by far the wildest, craziest, most interesting trade of the summer.
It was the very best kind of deal, one that never even reached the rumor-gestation stage. From out of the pitch black, boom, done deal.
But before delving into the nuttiness, to address the huge question White Sox fans undoubtedly have regarding their new ace's disabled-list stint, here's the answer:
"I'm going to be pitching by the end of the month," Peavy vowed to CBSSports.com late Friday afternoon. "I've just got to get my arm in shape. Health-wise, I feel strong."
Presumably, he meant the end of August. Because there were only about seven hours left in the end of July as he spoke.
But man, is he ever motivated. The twinkle is back in his eye. Following months of the cash-poor Padres nagging at him, constantly telling him "we've got to move you", he finally relented.
And with the emergency lever pulled on his escape out of that toxic environment, he cannot wait to get back onto the field.
He has not pitched in seven weeks because of a torn tendon in his right ankle. But he began throwing from flat ground not long ago and is due to begin throwing bullpen sessions soon.
Peavy was sound asleep napping with his middle son, Wyatt, 5, when he said he was awakened with a phone call just 40 minutes before the trade deadline, proposing the same thing he shot down in May.
What changed?
"A lot changed," Peavy said, who noted that the only reason this deal was finished so quickly was because of all the ground that was covered in May.
Back then, the Padres had won six in a row and owned a better record (19-22) than the White Sox (17-23). Granted, the difference was marginal. But that's the competitor in Peavy.
"The ultimate decision is when the team you're playing for keeps telling you they have to trade you," said Peavy, who also blanched at the thought of another winter and spring of the endless rumors that dogged him last winter and spring.
How worn down was he by the time the White Sox took a second run at him Friday? He didn't demand that they pick up his $22 million club option for 2013 before packing his bags. As it is, he's owed about $2 million this year and $52 million through 2012. And the Sox are so eager to add him to their rotation that they're picking every penny up.
Talk about a bonanza for the minor league Padres, who have been set back years by owner John Moores and former president Sandy Alderson.
Things are so bleak by the beach these days that Towers even was moved during the news conference to insist while answering one question that "No, I don't think we should be blaming John and Becky's divorce on the demise of this club."
Whatever, the White Sox will gladly pick the carcass.
Talk about vision and guts. Who has the onions in this business to actually trade for an ace pitcher currently chained to the disabled list?
Kenny Williams, that's who.
"Kenny is pretty persistent," Towers said. "He's a great guy to deal with. He's probably my favorite GM. He's to the point, not a lot of BS. He can make a decision quickly. He's got a great relationship with [Sox owner] Jerry Reinsdorf.
"And he keeps his mouth shut. You can do a deal with him and things don't leak out. That's how deals get done. In May, nobody knew about that deal until Jake vetoed it. And nobody knew about this deal."
Publically, while the general feeling in May was that feathers were ruffled and feelings were hurt when Peavy told the Sox to take a hike, privately, it couldn't have been further from the truth.
Said Towers: "He told me in May, 'Somehow I'm going to end up with Jake Peavy. I don't know when and I don't know how. But I will.'"
Flash back to last year's trade deadline, when the White Sox acquired Ken Griffey Jr. from Cincinnati. Who here remembers the previous July, when the Sox struck a deal only to have Griffey employ his no-trade clause to veto it? Uh-huh.
"When he wants something, he usually ends up getting it," Towers said.
During those nine weeks since the first deal with the White Sox unraveled, Peavy noticed something else besides the South Siders heading north and the Padres heading south: Not only were the losses coming in bunches in San Diego, but it reached the point where Peavy, the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner, had very little left in common with his own teammates.
"I feel like I'm at a different place than most everybody in the clubhouse," Peavy said. "I had established myself as a major league player. Some cool stuff like individual awards has happened. I have a long-term contract. There is no motivation other than to win at the end of the day."
Surrounding him in the clubhouse, Peavy said, "are a lot of kids trying to prove themselves. I felt like I was at a different place in my career than most everybody else in the clubhouse."
All well and good, yes. But my goodness, talk about getting carried away.
Now, about to plop down in the middle of the AL Central race, he's seriously in a different place.
Jake Peavy, Chicago White Sock.
Who would have ever guessed?
"If I was a betting man, I'd say that Kenny Williams is going to look pretty good on this deal in the end," Towers said. "I think Jake is going to start five or six games before the end of the year. And then there's October, and then he's got him for at least three or four more years."
