Jerry Lai-USA Today Sports
The trade deadline in major league baseball is nearing its annual hoopla and the rumors surrounding current Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy are beginning to heat up. On Tuesday, more reports began to circulate surrounding the starter, listing a couple of potential suitors in the process.
One of those teams in mention with Peavy is the Boston Red Sox, who are looking to bolster their starting rotation as the calendar nears August and keep their push to stay atop the American League East the primary focus. Boston has had a terrific season thus far and in fact, they entered Tuesday night with the most wins in baseball. However, Clay Buchholz has been battling injuries over the course of the past couple of weeks and the Red Sox have been forced to call upon a few unproven starters.
Peavy, who is 7-4 on the season with a 4.19 ERA, could certainly interest a few playoff contenders and the Red Sox are not the only organization being linked to the right-hander at this time. The St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks could also be in the mix as next week’s deadline nears.
From Boston’s perspective however, Peavy would certainly fill a need and help bolster that starting five. The AL East may very well be the best division in baseball and the dog fight is not going to get any easier as the months of August and September approach. Peavy would add another solid arm in the rotation and a reliable one to boot. In addition, Red Sox pitching coach Juan Nieves was a bullpen coach for Peavy in the past, so there’s an established connection there.
We will see if any ground in picked up upon in the coming week or so, but there’s no denying that Peavy would be an ideal fit and a great mid-season addition in Boston.
Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS
