Cardinals Not a Player for Peavy
There’s lots of chatter out there about the Cardinals making a pitch for esteemed Padres starter Jake Peavy, one of the NL’s top pitchers.
The Padres, wanting to downsize, want to move Peavy’s contract. He is due to receive $8 million in 2009, $15 million in 2010, $16 million in 2011, $17 million in 2012. And there’s a club option of $22 million for 2013. If the option isn’t picked up for 2013, then Peavy gets a $4 million buyout.
Peavy has a limited no-trade clause in the deal, and wants to remain in the NL, and St. Louis is acceptable to him.
My friend Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union Tribune does a fine job of explaining the situation from the Padres’ standpoint, and handicaps the race for Peavy’s services: link
Other potential suitors include Atlanta, Houston, the Chicago Cubs, NY Mets, LA Dodgers and Milwaukee. The Braves, at least so far, are believed to have the inside track in the bidding for Peavy.
And the Cardinals?
They’re not a serious player for Peavy at this point.
Monday, I talked to multiple sources in the organization who downplayed the Cardinals-Peavy connection. I was told that the Cardinals and Padres have had only one conversation concerning Peavy, and the discussion didn’t lead to any follow-up negotiations. And so the chances of the Cardinals getting Peavy appear to be pretty cold right now. “It doesn’t have legs,” I was told.
Why the Cardinals won’t make a serious run for Peavy is left to the imagination.
It could be Peavy’s contract, which isn’t prohibitive, unless Cardinals management believes they’ve already tied up too much long-term money in deals with Chris Carpenter and Kyle Lohse.
There’s also the health-risk factor; the Cardinals got burned on pitching deals with Carpenter and Mark Mulder.
It could be the unwillingness to part with the load of prospects that the Padres reportedly are seeking in exchange for Peavy.
Or it could be a combination of all three factors.
But for now, the message is clear: don’t expect the Cardinals to make a push for Peavy. The conversation between the Cardinals and Padres didn’t ignite, and now other teams have apparently moved into better position to get him.
I wonder what the reaction will be among Cardinals fans if Peavy ends up with the Cubs, Astros or Brewers?
-B
that is way too much money to spend on a pitcher. I too would like to see the Cards players in the free agent market but not for that money. Lets take a look at the past. The Cards took a pass on Kevin Brown, the fans complained, then the he got injured and bounced around. You can say the same thing about Mike Hampton and you can add Schmidt on to that list. There have been too many times that big name pitchers got big money only to go down with injuries. Now I am not saying that Peavy will go down, but that is too big of a risk for that much money.
It’s an interesting point about Peavy not being as effective away from Petco Park. For his career on the road he has a .380 ERA, has given up 82 homers on the road opposed to only 47 at home. So he has, as do most pitchers, gained an advantage pitching the majority of his games at Petco Park.
I think the Cards need to let Raz continue to develop. He is only 22 years old, and how quickly we forget the way he killed the ball in AA. Before we take on Peavy’s contract we might have a talented and cheap everyday player in Raz. There will be other elite pitchers like Peavy become available to trade for or sign as a free agent, but before we trade a potential all-star lets see what Raz is capable of.
The smart approach would be to continue to build from within. Peavy is not a guy who is going to put us over the top. We have plenty of other needs that have to be addressed first. If we had lock down closer in 2008, we would’ve at least won the wild card, if not the division. Finding a closer and LH relievers should be at the top of the priority list. And, as previously stated, adding a bat to protect Albert would be huge!
Sorry, but trading away the future and paying big money to Peavy is not good business!