DownSwinging.com

We actually don’t hear about players exercising their no-trade clause that often. This is partially because many teams are not granting full no-trade clauses anymore, with more opting against the idea altogether or allowing the player to pick, say, 10 teams they can be traded to. But Jake Peavy does have a no-trade clause. And he exercised it. And really, why wouldn’t he have? He just bought a house in San Diego. Everyone wants to live in San Diego. He has a family. And he was going to a maybe-sort of-contender: the ChiSox.

When a player like Peavy is being surrounded by rumors its usually because they are in the final year of their contract and they play for a crappy team. While San Diego is not going to make the playoffs, Peavy is contracted through 2012. So it is a little strange that so soon after granting a contract extension in ‘07, and without any decline in production, the Friars want to rid themselves of Peavy. Most teams would rather hang on to him and build their franchise around him, but I guess the Padres just want to rebuild their franchise, period. That means they are looking for a team to pick up at least the majority of the $53 million they owe Peavy between 2010 and 2012. More or less, they need a team who has prospects to trade and money to spend. Yes, the Cubs are still the frontrunner, and the Dodgers can meet both criteria as well. But I want to suggest two teams that I haven’t heard in the media in relation to Peavy. The Angels and Red Sox.

The Angels, the regular favorite of the AL West look to almost certainly surrender the division this year unless they do something about it, and Peavy would really be doing something about it. They are a wealthy club, and have some money to spend (after striking out in the Teixeira sweepstakes). I could see a deal where they pay almost all of Peavy’s contract and give up infield prospect Brandon Wood, who is mostly stuck in their franchise anyway.

The Red Sox don’t really need pitching. They don’t need it at all actually, and are trying to trade Brad Penny for a regular shortstop because they have enough depth with Smoltz coming back and Clay Buchholz dominating in triple-A. But if they were to say trade Buchholz (and again use money tagged for Teixeira) to nab Peavy, you are looking at sure-fire spot in the playoffs, and the most ridiculous playoff rotation ever of Josh Beckett, Jake Peavy and Jon Lester. Daisuke, Smoltz and Wakefield would work the ‘pen. You wouldn’t even need a bullpen, you could just pair up one of the second three with the first three and you’d have a great complete game every time. It’s not going to happen, but that’s about as close to a World Series guarantee as you’re gonna find.

Note: Credit Cot’s Baseball Contracts for all of the contract info