So White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy recently had something interesting to say following his first good outing of the spring: "If I can't stay healthy for 200 innings, if somebody says something about closing or being a reliever, I can do that, I can be a reliever," Peavy said. "How do I know that? I can be a reliever because I think I can. That's the bottom line. I can do something because I believe I can do it. If it comes down to that, I'll do it because I love this game.
Peavy, the 2007 NL Cy Young winner, has been unable to stay healthy since his trade to Chicago. In fact, since being acquired from the Padres at the non-waiver deadline in 2009, Peavy has spent 155 days on the disabled list, mostly because of shoulder problems. Given recent history, it's all but certain that Peavy's days as a rotation workhorse are over. So perhaps Peavy's on to something.
There is, of course, Peavy's contract. He'll make $17 million this season, and then the White Sox will surelyy opt for the $4-million buyout on his $22-million team option for 2013. In a vacuum, you don't want to pay a closer that much money -- a good starter is preferable to even a great reliever. But the Sox are going to be on the hook for Peavy's salary no matter what, and the ultimate choice may be to overpay him as a closer or overpay as a starter on the disabled list. Easy choice, it would seem. Besides Peavy's health issues, he's also suffered from a steady decline in fastball velocity over the last five seasons, so the short-burst relief role could also be good for his stuff.
While any number of failed starters have been successfully converted into relievers, it's much less rare for a good-to-great starter to embrace a relief role. Dennis Eckersley and John Smoltz are, of course, the prototypes (with a slight nod to Tom Gordon). Like Eckersley and Smoltz, Peavy leans heavily on a hard fastball-slider combo. Like Smoltz, Peavy also throws a cutter and is adept at missing bats, and like Eckersley, his arm slot is somewhere between three-quarters and sidearm. While that's not much of a tested model, Peavy seems to fit it.
Perhaps the biggest impediment to such a transition is willingness on the part of the pitcher. Apparently, that's not a concern with Peavy. While Matt Thornton, who's likely to win the Sox's closer battle this spring, is an excellent reliever, moving Peavy into the role could be a worthwhile gamble for both sides. Peavy, in advance of probable free agency this winter, would like to reposition himself on the market, while the White Sox would like to extract as much value as possible from a bad contract.
Ideally, Peavy will log 200 innings for the first time since that Cy Young season of 2007, but, as Peavy seems to suspect, that's highly unlikely. Perhaps, though, Peavy's straits present the opportunity for the next Eckersley or Smoltz.
