Hoge's Spring Training Notebook: Peavy Blames Himself Too
By Adam Hoge-
GLENDALE, Ariz. (CBS) -- Jake Peavy isn't exactly denying the White Sox mishandled him, but he's also putting a lot of blame on himself.
After pitching in a minor-league game Tuesday at Camelback Ranch, Peavy cleared up comments in a Chicago Sun-Times report that insinuated the White Sox were to blame for his injuries.
"Are there things that I think we all would have done differently looking back? Maybe so. Myself included," Peavy said Tuesday. "There's no sense in living in the past and I don't want to do that.
"I certainly don't have anything bad to say about the White Sox. Herm Schneider and his staff have been outstanding to me through all I've been through. The way things kind of happened, it was a perfect storm. Me being traded when you're hurt, and then trying to get through the arm injury, and them not knowing me, and me pushing my body to the limit. It was just a perfect storm."
Everyone seems to be on the same page with this one, including Peavy. The White Sox might not have known the best way to handle the hard-throwing, max-effort right-hander, but Peavy isn't exactly in tune with what his body can handle either.
"I pushed my body to the limit and I thought I could get through it and that just wasn't quite the case," he said. "A mixture of a little bit of everything, but you live and you learn. I certainly know my body now and I'm going to push it, there's no doubt about that, that's just being who we are as competitors."
Peavy, Crain, Beckham All Play In Minor League Game
Tuesday morning's minor league game had a major-league flavor as Jake Peavy and Jesse Crain started against each other and Gordon Beckham led off every inning by bunting.
Minor league games allow coaches to be flexible and get players exactly the amount of work they need.
Peavy went seven innings, giving up 12 hits, five earned runs, 1 walk and seven strikeouts. That's not exactly a stellar line against mostly Triple-A and Double-A hitters, but it's somewhat deceiving because the approach wasn't the same as it would be in a major-league game. Pitching coach Don Cooper had Peavy throw a lot of fastballs late to test his velocity as his pitch count neared 100. That's when he gave up a majority of his hits and runs. Overall, Peavy wasn't unhappy with his performance.
Crain was only scheduled for one inning of work, but because Beckham led off with a pop-out bunt right to him and because of a pickoff after a walk, the right-hander also pitched the second inning. Overall, he threw 24 pitches and was very happy with his outing. He had no issues with his strained oblique and is hoping for three outings in major league games before the season starts. The first of those will come Thursday against the Dodgers.
Meanwhile, Beckham, who was not in Tuesday's major league lineup, used the minor league game as an opportunity to work on his bunting. He led off the top and bottom of every inning with a bunt and had enough success that Peavy yelled out, "Hey we got Gordon out!" when he retired him with a throw to first in his last inning of work.
"(Bunting) just needs to be another tool in my game that I can do," Beckham said. "I can run a little bit and there are a lot of times where people are back on me. So if you're not feeling good, a cheap hit like that is really good. It goes a long way."
Roster Battles
Tuesday morning cuts left Eduardo Escobar and Ray Olmedo as the last two players battling for the final infield spot on the roster. Despite Robin Ventura saying he likes what Olmedo is doing, it would be a shock for Escobar not to get the final spot.
Ventura said Brent Lillibridge remains ahead of Escobar on the infield depth chart, despite his ability to play the outfield well. Lillibridge prefers the infield though.
Meanwhile, there are still two final spots to be decided in the bullpen. Dylan Axelrod, Brian Bruney, Nate Jones, Zach Stewart and Eric Stults are in competition for those spots.
Stewart pitched really well in Tuesday's start against the Indians, giving up just three hits and one earned run in five and a third innings. Bruney pitched two scoreless innings in relief as the White Sox beat Cleveland 7-1. Axelrod will start Wednesday's split-squad game at Camelback Ranch, while Gavin Floyd starts against Colorado in Scottsdale.
Ventura said the 25-man roster will be decided by Monday when the team breaks camp.
White Sox 7, Indians 1
Paul Konerko continues to look ageless as he added two more doubles – one to each corner – Tuesday against the Indians… Brent Morel and Alejando De Aza both hit their first home runs of the spring… Matt Thornton pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
For more White Sox spring training coverage from Glendale, Ariz, click here. Find all of Adam Hoge's spring training blogs here and follow him on Twitter (@AdamHogeCBS).
