The White Sox traded for Jake Peavy again, only this time the deal actually went through as the former San Diego starter agreed to waive his no-trade clause. Chicago will be on the hook for all of Peavy’s contract, which means they’ll pay him $56 million by the end of 2012 and even more after that if they agree to pay his club option in 2013.

In exchange for their one-time ace, the Padres acquired left-handed pitchers Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard, as well as right-handers Dexter Carter and Adam Russell. It’s essentially the same deal that the two teams agreed to in May, although this time the Sox included Richard, who wasn’t in the original offer.

According to Peavy’s agent Barry Axelrod, the ace signed off on the trade because there was no guarantee that the Cubs or Dodgers (his preferred teams) would have made a move for him in the offseason.

This move is surprising on the part of the White Sox seeing as how Peavy probably won’t pitch again the rest of the season, yet Chicago is still on the hook for all of his salary. Then again, with Peavy under contract through 2012 (and possibly 2013), GM Kenny Williams clearly made this move for the future (albeit at the risk of surrendering a massive amount of pitching depth).

You knew Williams wasn’t going to stand pat and let the deadline go by without making a move and he certainly one-upped the division rival Detroit, who acquired starter Jarrod Washburn today. He has always been a bit of a gambler and if Peavy returns to full health and makes the Sox a winner (whether that means a World Series winner or otherwise), maybe we’ll look back on this trade and commend Williams for making such a bold move.

That said, this was a massive risk by Williams. For starters, there’s only about a 50-50 chance that Peavy will pitch again this season. So not only is there a decent possibility that the Sox won’t get any use out of him this season, but they also paid a higher price for him now then they did when the deal didn’t go through in May because they included Richard.

Even though they gave up their ace and a popular player, San Diego and their fans have to be happy with the haul they got from Chicago. It’s not like the Padres had to sweetener their offer in order to get Richard too; they’re still giving up the same piece (Peavy) to acquire more than they would have in May.

Well done, Kevin Towers.

If the Cubs are interested in acquiring ace Jake Peavy from the Padres, the clock could be ticking on the opportunity.

Peavy said he would waive his no-trade option to join either the Cubs or Dodgers, but San Diego seemingly doesn’t want to deal the ace to someone in their division, so that would leave Chicago as their best trade partner at this point, unless another team emerges (Milwaukee?) in the upcoming days/weeks.

But according to Daily Herald’s Barry Rozner, if the Padres can’t move Peavy’s contract off their books soon, then they might begin “offloading salaries” and if they do that, then they might as well just keep their top pitcher.

The Cubs and Peavy seem like an excellent match, but as I recently wrote in my latest column, if Chicago is going to trade for anything right now it would probably be another bat. Milton Bradley has been dismal, Aramis Ramirez is on the DL and Derrek Lee has been as inconsistent as ever.

The Cubs’ starters on the other hand, have been solid. Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster have pitched well, Carlos Zambrano just got off the DL and Randy Wells has been a pleasant surprised as a fill-in for injured starters.

So why give up prospects to add Peavy to a rotation that’s already good enough to win? The timing is off for the Cubs, which means in the end they could inevitably pass on the opportunity to trade for Peavy.

The White Sox thought they had added an ace last week when they worked out a deal with the Padres that would have sent (among others) their top two pitching prospects – Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda – to San Diego in exchange for starting pitcher Jake Peavy. But with his desire to stay in the National League at the forefront of his decision, Peavy exercised his no-trade option and nixed the deal before it was completed.

Now that that deal has been squashed, where will Peavy wind up when the curtain closes on the 2009 baseball season? Or will he even be traded at all?

I’ve ranked the top 5 landing spots for Peavy and why each club will and won’t land the San Diego ace.

1. Milwaukee Brewers
Why they’ll land Peavy: If the Cubs’ offense continues to struggle, then Chicago will more than likely trade for a bat instead of adding another arm to its starting rotation. With the Cubs seemingly focused on their offense, a path could clear for the Brewers to make the Padres an offer for Peavy. Don’t forget that the Brewers surprised a lot of baseball pundits who believed they would never trade top prospect Matt LaPorta for ace CC Sabathia last season, but Milwaukee did just that. So while the Brewers don’t have the young pitching prospects that San Diego might covet, they certainly have a ton of young position talent that they could offer to pull off a deal. Plus, even though they lost Sabathia to free agency in 2009, Peavy would be under contract through the 2013 season, so at least the Brewers wouldn’t have to worry about giving up more top prospects for a pitcher that’ll walk again at the end of the year.
Why they won’t: After almost acquiring the White Sox’s top two pitching prospects, indications are that San Diego is looking for young arms in exchange for Peavy – which Milwaukee simply doesn’t have. The Brewers have a slew of young position talent, but outside of Jeremy Jeffress they don’t have many top arms in their farm system. If the Padres have their heart set on acquiring starting pitching, they’ll have to look elsewhere, because the Brewers just don’t have enough to make a worthwhile offer. Plus, a small market team like Milwaukee might eventually be scared away by the $63 million ($11 million is still owed to him in 2009) that remains on Peavy’s contract.

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