Jake Peavy is being traded. One of the most exciting pitchers to watch throw a game is on the block. It sounds like he’ll be staying in the National League so I won’t get to see him pitch except on a rare occasion – maybe on WGN, against the Cubs.
Anticipating the trade reminds me of last winter when the Twins were trying to trade Johan Santana. Rumors flew around for months and a good portion of the Hot Stove League season was occupied by Santana news. The build-up was more fun than the result. The trade itself, which brought the Twins Carlos Gomez, was anti-climactic. The best pitcher in baseball was gone.
Gomez is an exciting player. He does things on a baseball field Little League coaches scold their players for doing, but he’s exciting, nonetheless, and has a chance to be an excellent player. The Twins may well have won the Central Division title if they had Santana last season. Gomez won some games for them; and lost some as well. Denard Span would have been his equal, or better, over the course of the season.
The Pad’s will find similar circumstances, I suspect, after Jake is traded. Fans will be disappointed in who they get in return, simply because Jake Peavy or Johan Santana can’t be replaced with comparable talent in a trade.
I’ll be watching, and cheering for the Cubbies to fork over a few young players no one has heard of for possibly the best right handed pitcher in baseball. Then, once or twice next spring and summer, I’ll settle back in my easy chair, tune in to Windy City television, and watch a great pitcher do his thing.
