BoSox Pet Peav(y)!

The trading deadline just past, which brings angst to players and fans alike. Many players are on edge, wondering if they or any of their teammates will be picking up and making a new home in a new city. The fans are on edge as well. Some are apprehensive as to whether their team will trade off their favorite player and some are stressed as they hold out hope that their beloved team will make an impact trade or two to position themselves for a run at the World Series Championship!

But this year, most Red Sox fans were dually anxious. They simultaneously waited eagerly for the Red Sox to make a splash to strengthen their team and prayed that they didn’t “sell the farm” to do so.  With the likes of Jackie Bradley Jr., Allen Webster and Xander Bogaerts, along with a handful of other young prospects, primed to make their presence felt at the MLB level in the near future, the Sox are set up nicely for the foreseeable future.  Having so many talented players in the minor leagues could also be a drawback. A drawback during trade negotiations because other teams with leverage the Sox farm system to up the ante on prospective trades and a drawback because the Sox top brass could easily feel that they could give up a couple of blue chippers because they had so much minor league depth.

I was one of those fans, glued to my Twitter feed as the day waned on, hoping that they made a move without sacrificing the future. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine; sacrificing the future to make you marginally better. I still have not gotten over the Jeff Bagwell for Larry Anderson deal in 1988. I mean, really, the Oakland A’s were head and shoulders the best team in the American League and picking up a 40 year old middle reliever/set up man was NOT going to close the gap with Oakland all that much. But to give up Bagwell??? (Still SMH!)

Going into the season, I was resigned to the fact that this might be a re-tooling year with a new Manager, new players and especially based on last year’s disappointing record.  Now don’t get me wrong, I never give up on my Sox and I always feel that “this could be the year” but given the previously mentioned factors and my gut feeling that the Sox prospects needed more time in the minors to be fully baked and ready to make an impact that this night be a “bridge” year.  At the All-Star break I can honest say that this still might be a bridge year, but rather than bridge the gap until next season, it’s a bridge that spans the worst to first Red Sox journey from 93 losses to a team on the path to finish with one of the best records in baseball.

Sure enough, the Red Sox pulled the trigger and went out and got a quality starter!  But we waited in anticipation as to what they gave up.  When the deal was finally announced officially, we learned that the Sox had parted ways with one of their top 10 prospects, but not any of their top 3 to 5 prospects.  Jose Iglesias has Gold-Glove caliber defensive potential but there are questions about his ability to hit consistently. He has had an exciting rookie season, but with the emergence of the #6 prospect in all of baseball, Xander Bogaerts, Iglesias became expendable.  I was and still am excited to see if Iglesias can have the kind of career that Omar Vizquel had, getting better offensively over time while setting the standard defensively.  In my opinion the Sox gave up the one top 10 prospects in their system that may have the least detrimental impact because of their depth at the position in their system.  Pet peeve averted!

Here’s Looking At You, AL East!

So how about Peavy?  What are the Red Sox getting?  Obviously, they are getting a former Cy Young Award winning, solid, Major League pitcher, but more so, they are getting a hungry pitcher.  By all accounts, Peavy is a competitor, a bulldog with a will to compete and a stronger desire to win!  That plays well given the current band of Red Sox and the positive, tenacious, never-say-die culture that is the earmark of this 2013 Red Sox team.  Sure I would have loved to get Jake Peavy circa 2004 when he had a microscopic 2.27 ERA or 2007 when he won the NL CY Young Award, but at 32 years old, Peavy has a lot left in the tank. And jumping on board with a contender like Boston should add jet-fuel to Peavy’s tank in the second half.  A rotation of (a healthy) Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Jake Peavy and John Lackey in the playoffs to go with their solid offense would make the Sox very dangerous team!  Peavy solidifies the starting staff and gives them insurance should one of the starters get injured or if Buchholz hits any more obstacles in his projected timeline to return.

The Red Sox and Red Sox Nation welcomed Jake Peavy with a 6-run, come from behind, walk-off win against Seattle in his first game in uniform on Thursday night. If that didn’t get him jacked about what Red Sox Nation and this Red Sox team are all about, then nothing will. (Passionless players, that’s a whole other pet peeve). Peavy plays the game with passion & I think he’ll have no trouble fitting in here in Boston. My guess is that Peavy was jacked up before seeing that Fenway magic in person! Welcome to Boston Jake Peavy, we are #BostonStrong! (Editors Note: They will turn on you, Jake.  Mark My Words!)

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