Peavy Shut Down, Reality Sets In

Jake Peavy has been shut down for the season due to arm fatigue, as was first reported by MLB.com on Saturday.

The move doesn’t really come as a surprise. Peavy’s season has been the perfect microcosm of the White Sox season – flashes of brilliance from time to time, but they were nothing more than flashes. Vaguely recognizable, but not repeated often enough to call it a successful season.

Peavy has his excuses, and we will grant him those. He had an injury nobody had ever seen before and he was back on the mound less than a year later. To compete at such a high level after your MUSCLE IS DETACHED is an impressive feat. There’s a reason everyone calls him a bulldog.

So is this the white flag on the White Sox season? Not exactly, but the writing is already on the wall. Detroit has a magic number and they come into town for a three-game set starting Monday. The White Sox need the most epic collapse in the history of Major League Baseball to occur in order to make the playoffs, and the 2011 Tigers are nowhere near the caliber of chokers as the ’07 Mets. I know this.

Alex Rios and Adam Dunn continue to see playing time dwindle as their production level stays about the same. Rios hit a walk-off grand slam on Saturday to resurrect an utterly miserable game. I honestly wouldn’t be able to choose who has been more frustrating – Dunn or Rios. Both have dragged this team to mediocrity with their lack of production.

What’s ironic is I’m very confident that both will come back next year and be productive. Rios is in a contract year and tends to be an every other year-kinda guy anyway. I think the toe issue that Ozzie Guillen alluded to early in spring training bothered Rios more than he would let on. Hopefully he gets it all taken care of in the offseason and comes into camp healthy.

Dunn just had so much pressure on him coming to Chicago, he never got settled. I’m not trying to make excuses for them, I’m merely speculating as to why they suffered so much this season and I’m putting it on the record that they will be back to their old selves next year.