The White Sox are considering shutting down Jake Peavy for the rest of the 2009 season at the risk of further injuring his elbow.

From the Chicago Tribune:

“Believe me, if we fall more and I don’t think deep inside my heart and my guts that we have a chance, I will tell [general manager Ken Williams and pitching coach Don Cooper] to just shut him down and wait for next year,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I am honest with myself. It’s funny, because you can tell the fans anything you want. But when you go to sleep and think about how good you are or how bad you are, you’re not lying.”

Time could be against Peavy because the minor-league regular season ends Monday. Double-A Birmingham will advance to the playoffs, so that could be Peavy’s option if he recovers in time to pitch in a minor-league game.

Even though it would be disheartening for fans to see the White Sox’s new toy shut down without making his Chicago debut in ’09, it would be the right move. The Chi Sox are currently 7 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central and it isn’t worth risking injury to Peavy when he’d only pitch in three or four games anyway.

Shut it down.

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.

It looks like the White Sox won’t be getting the pitching help they need after all.

The White Sox were able to strike a deal with the Padres for ace Jake Peavy, but Peavy exercised his no-trade clause to officially veto the deal before it could be completed. Peavy cited his desire to remain in San Diego as the main reason he nixed the trade, but many believe he doesn’t want to leave the National League either.

The conspiracy theorist in me questions whether or not this was a move to wake up the Cubs, who were hot after Peavy in the offseason but eventually walked away from the negotiation table with the Padres. Did San Diego GM Kevin Towers pursue a deal with the White Sox in an attempt to get the Cubs back into trade negotiations?

Think about it, if Towers knew that Peavy would never agree to join an American League team, then he could pursue a deal with the White Sox to piss Cub fans off and maybe get GM Jim Hendry to come back to the negotiation table. The trade attempt would also show the Cubs that Peavy is still available.

Again, this is just speculation on my part and my attempt to think outside of the box. The deal with the Sox could have very well been legit and had absolutely nothing to do with the Cubs. But if Towers has his eye on a prospect or two in the Cubs’ farm system, wouldn’t it be sly of him to use the White Sox as patsies to get the Cubs back into negotiations?

And isn’t it ironic that the day before Peavy rejects a trade to join the White Sox, the Cubs are in town for a three game set with the Padres?

According to a report by ESPN.com, Jake Peavy’s agent has expressed doubt that his client will agree to waive his no-trade clause in order for the Padres to complete a deal with the White Sox. Apparently the two teams have already agreed on a trade, but Peavy signing off on the deal is the final step.

The issue apparently is that Peavy wants to stay in the National League, where he’s played his entire career. It’s obviously much easier to face NL hitting than it is to go to the AL, where they DH the pitcher. It makes sense that he wants to give himself the best opportunity to succeed.

If this trade doesn’t go down, I wouldn’t fall asleep on the Cubs. They seemed hell bent on trading for Peavy in the offseason, but they eventually walked away. If Peavy doesn’t sign off on his no-trade clause in order to join the White Sox, will it wake up the other team in Chicago?

Despite battling a slew of injuries, the Cubs remain only three games behind the Brewers in the NL Central. Ace Carlos Zambrano is expected to come off the DL on Friday and start against the Padres (ironically), but adding Peavy to a rotation that already features Big Z, Rich Harden and Ryan Dempster would be killer.

The question is – do the Cubs have enough prospects to make a deal for Peavy? There probably isn’t a chance in hell they’d be willing to give up a young hitting prospect like Josh Vitters, but what about pitchers Jeff Samardzija and/or Andrew Cashner?

Nothing at this point suggests that the Cubs will try and re-enter trade talks with the Padres for Peavy, but it could be something to keep an eye on.