Jake Peavy

A year ago, Jake Peavy was shipped to the Boston Red Sox and subsequently helped his new team win the World Series. The San Francisco Giants will be hoping he can make a similar impact in 2014. The team confirmed the news on Saturday:

Don't look away now. The MLB player-swapping season is just days away from ending (except for the occasional waiver-wire deal), and every team is exploring potential angles for success.

There is no shortage of trade talk with the July 31 deadline fast approaching. Let's take a look at the latest rumors on tap in the majors. 

Cardinals Showing Interest in Peavy

Although the Boston Red Sox aren't quite out of it in the American League East race with nearly half the MLB season left to play, they could be on the verge of trading away starting pitcher Jake Peavy.

According to Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com, the St. Louis Cardinals are interested in the veteran right-hander and watched his strong performance against the Baltimore Orioles Sunday:

Once the MLB All-Star Game and break comes and goes, well, you can bet the trade market is going to heat up more than the New York City blacktop on a July afternoon.

Now that Matt Garza has traded in his deep-dish Chicago pizza for Texas barbecue, perhaps the biggest remaining question before the 2013 MLB trade deadline will be whether a certain hurler on the South Side will do the same.

Forget for just a moment that the Chicago White Sox hit .271 as a team and went 18-8 in the month of May.

Forget that the Sox had 39 dingers and scored 156 runs for the month for an average of 5.38 runs per game.

The MLB trade deadline brings excitement each summer as contenders try to improve their team while pretenders look to the future.

The saying in baseball is that you can't have too much pitching, so starting pitchers are always at high demand around the deadline.

An elite starting pitcher can be the difference in reaching the postseason or making a run at a World Series Championship.

Cliff Lee was traded at the deadline to the Texas Rangers a few years ago and led them all the way to the World Series.

In fantasy baseball, everyone knows Albert Pujols is the best player available.  If you have the first pick in a draft, you take him and go get a snack because you have two rounds till your next pick.  

But Pujols isn't going to win you the league.  

If he gets hurt, you he might lose you your league. If you don't do a good job with the rest of your draft, it's not going to matter what Pujols does. 

After his latest start, Jake Peavy reported feeling a distinct discomfort in his pitching shoulder. With further review, it was eluded that Peavy may be diagnosed with tendinitis. His current pitching schedule has been slowed down, and his hopes to make Opening Day are slowly fading away.

The question stands to be asked, if Peavy is not ready to go come April 1st, what do the White Sox do?

Finding pitchers who help in the WHIP department is not always an easy task; finding one late in your draft (after Round 18) is even tougher. 

Here are five pitchers who I have projected for a 1.30 WHIP or better who are available late in your draft (based on Mock Draft Central’s ADP):

Brian Matusz – Baltimore Orioles

He may be a tough sell, considering that he is entering his second full season and is pitching in the AL East.