Peavy pitches well in his possible White Sox swan song
A no-decision with very little run support? It could only be a Jake Peavy start for the Chicago White Sox. And very likely the last one he makes in that uniform.
Peavy went eight innings Tuesday in Chicago's eventual 4-3, 12-inning loss to the Cleveland Indians, and he allowed three runs on three hits.
Bigger picture? The free-agent-to-be showed this season that all the health concerns surrounding him were in the past, going 11-12 with a 3.37 ERA in 219 innings, which was a team high. It was also the most innings he's clocked since 2007, when he went 223 1/3.
With Peavy likely headed elsewhere, the rotation will take on a very different look, with possibly four left-handers. Chris Sale is a staff ace, John Danks is expected back from season-ending shoulder surgery, Jose Quintana showed a lot in his rookie season, and Hector Santiago has put himself into position to be a leading candidate to start.
Gavin Floyd, who also has a $9.5 million club option for next season, would be the lone right-hander, unless the Sox let him walk into free agency and search elsewhere for a righty. The other option is the Sox could look to trade one of the lefties, but Danks is the only one they would want to move, and he is coming off an injury.
"Listen, if they are good, they are good pitchers," pitching coach Don Cooper said of potentially having four lefty starters. "I don't look at that as saying we can't do that. They are different guys, different styles, too, a little bit. ... Santiago with his screwball is a different style than the other guys."
The Sox were still getting over the disappointment of losing 10 of 12 games to blow the division lead to Detroit and get eliminated Monday, but Cooper was trying to put the season in perspective as far as all the young arms that emerged.
"We didn't get where we wanted to go, and that's a disappointment, no question," Cooper said. "But I'm not so sure we didn't get everything out of the guys as best we could out of them.
"Am I happy with Chris Sale? You bet. Am I happy with (Jake) Peavy? You bet. Am I happy with Quintana? You bet, coming out of A-ball. Am I happy with Santiago? Yes. (Addison Reed)? Yeah, rookie year. I don't know how many saves he had, but he had a nice rookie year.
"We lost our Opening Day starter (Danks), and it seemed like we had to plug holes throughout the year. I think we did that to a large degree."
