Jake Peavy Plays Hard To Get

It hurt this offseason when Jake Peavy turned down my favorite team, the Atlanta Braves.

Your turn to feel the wrath of Peavy, Chicago.

The Chicago White Sox join the list of jilted suitors of the San Diego Padres' ace.

When Peavy turned down President Barack Obama's favorite team, my only conclusion was that Peavy was headed to the eventual destination of most big-time players looking for lots of money: Boston or New York.

Peavy is a great pitcher, a triple threat so to speak. He reminds many of a bigger, stronger Greg Maddux. He pitches lots of innings, doesn't concede too many home runs, and has a good strikeout-to-walks ratio.

He says he prefers to pitch for a National League team, but he has already turned down the Braves, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, and St. Louis Cardinals.

There's more than meets the eye here.

Peavy went 10-11 last year and began this year 3-5. His ERA is still decent and he still strikes out a lot of hitters, but his numbers aren't the same as the pre-2008 Peavy.

To his credit, Peavy's run support in 2008 was a joke (not for Peavy though). He also pitched for a team that lost 99 games last year and is not playing much better this year.

Coincidentally, Peavy made his announcement that he wasn't going to the Sox after they lost 20-1 at home against the Minnesota Twins.

Perhaps, Bartolo Colon and Sox shouldn't give up 20 runs and produce one run at the same time they are pursuing one of the National League's best pitchers. 

Suddenly pitching in San Diego doesn't seem too bad.

If Peavy wasn't excited about joining the American League before, he is adamant about remaining in the National League now.  

How long will he hold the majors hostage?

If Manny Ramirez can get a deal months before a 50-game suspension and C.C. Sabathia can get huge deal based on half a season of dominance, what is Peavy worth?

Money is the most likely issue here. Apparently, Peavy wanted to leave after last year's dismal season and Padres don't want to pay him for the remainder of his contract.

Leave it to New York and Boston to decide Peavy's worth.

They have the money, good records, and the guts to make the move.

Luckily for Peavy, the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox don't lose any sleep when they sign aged players for too much money with too little windfall in the postseason.

These teams would be raring for the chance to make a splash. The pressure to win drives these franchises to overpay pitchers like Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Brown, and Carl Pavano.

The Yankees seemed like a good fit until their new stadium became the league's launching pad. Boston has plenty of pitching and the Mets are spending a lot of money on Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez.

If San Diego can improve their record, maybe Peavy will decide to stay after all.

Fail to provide him with more run support though and Peavy could be headed to the Northeast.