Jake Peavy: Who Will Strike Gold?

So it seems Jake Peavy will be the biggest fish this trade deadline for many teams. Hell the Cubs want him, the Angels are a possibilities, the Yankees and Red Sox are always involved in major players. Three of those teams are a great chance for Peavy to blossom.

He played with Youkilis and Pedroia in the WBC  and they had nothing but great things to say about Peavy. the Cubs are very familiar with Peavy, after all they did rock his world in a playoff elimination game.

The Angels if they don't sign Lackey would be a great fit and if they do sign Lackey the signing might attract Peavy. A Lackey-Santana-Weaver-Peavy rotation hands down best rotation in the league.

Honestly is Peavy that good of a baseball player? Sure he won a Cy Young award in 2007, he won pitching's triple crown that year too. He quietly became one of the game's best pitcher while still flying under the radar.

All of those accomplishments are great for a pitcher great way to fill their resume when they are selling themselves to other teams, but when it counts what has he done?

In 2005 Jake Peavy's  debut in the playoff,  his lone start in the NLDS he got rocked by the Cardinals. He took the loss, his ERA was 16.22, he pitched 4.1 innings, 8 earned runs, 2 HR's, 3 SO. The Padres definitely needed him there, and he stunk up the mound. The Cardinals swept that series and eliminated the Padres.

Fast forward to 2006, Jake Peavy gets his redemption against the Cardinals in the NLDS again. Great time for revenge, one year under his belt your coming off a pretty good season no reason why you can't beat the Cardinals.

Yet he falters again, although he had a stronger outing this time around, 5.1 IP, 11 hits, five earned runs with 2 SO. He still failed and as an ace you are under the microscope and when you're starting a game one in a playoff series, you set the tone for your team.

After all, it only counts in October right? That's when clutch pitchers are born.

So if you're keeping that's there that's a 0-2 record with a 12.10 era  13 earned runs and 19 hits. we can argue that he was injured with ribs and that his regular season benefits him because he plays in a pitcher friendly park.

Not great stats at all, granted Peavy is still a very dominant pitcher in the regular season, and yes we can argue that "its only two starts in the postseason so let's factor that."

No, I'm not cutting a player any slack because of postseason appearances either your there and make the best of it or you go home.

Then we have 2007, Peavy's best year, he got voted to the All Star for a second time, seventh in MVP voting and unanimous Cy Young winner.

One game playoff against the Rockies, the same Rockies who have no playoff experience, the same Rockies who didn't have any players who played in the postseason and if they did it was less than a handful.

Peavy's line after the game looked similar to the rest of his lines: 6.1 IP, 6 earned runs, 6 K's, 2 HR's and 4 BB, he received a no-decision. Please save the "he pitched in Coors Field, which works against him."

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