A career that almost fell into a labyrinth, but a momentary choice turned out to be a turning point and changed his entire life.Eric Peddy (31, Chicago White Sox), who resurrected his major league career by winning the KBO League MVP, is now being called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers to join Shohei Ohtani in what has been called the best team in baseball.
Peddy has been the ace of the Chicago White Sox this year. In 18 games and 106 innings, he has a 6-3 record with a 3.13 ERA. He’s 10th in the American League in ERA and seventh in fWAR with 2.4. He is one of the best starting pitchers in the league.
His performance hasn’t gone unnoticed, as the team is 25-64 and in last place in the majors, but the major leagues have taken notice. The White Sox have put their entire roster on the trade market this year as a warehouse clearance ahead of the trade deadline. The plan is to trade away key players to add prospects and push the rebuilding button. Pedi is a valuable commodity for a team in need of starting pitching.
A year ago, it was hard to imagine Pedi’s rise to this level.
He was a highly touted prospect drafted by the Washington Nationals in the first round of the 2014 draft. However, after making his major league debut in 2017, he was given a steady stream of starts, but he didn’t develop as expected. In 2022, after going 6-13 with a 5.81 ERA in 29 games, he was designated for non-tender, but his new home was not in the majors, but across the Pacific Ocean in South Korea, where he dominated the KBO. He started 30 games and pitched 180⅓ innings for the NC Dinos, posting a 20-6 record with a 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts. 바카라사이트넷 He won the Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts, and was named league MVP and won the Gold Glove for pitching. This was a huge turning point in Pedi’s baseball career.
The “old man” who had stagnated and failed to fulfill his potential stepped up overseas, attracted the attention of Major League Baseball, and won a two-year, $15 million, 207 million won jackpot.
And in less than half a season, he has become a trade blue chip for teams in need of starting pitching.
MLB.com described Pedi and teammate left-hander Garrett Croce (6-6 with a 3.02 ERA in 101 1/3 innings in 18 starts) as prime commodities on the starting trade market, saying, “The White Sox, who signed Pedi to a two-year, $15 million deal in the winter, hoped his performance in Korea last year would translate to the majors. Pedi proved it with a 3.23 ERA in his first 17 starts, but with the White Sox rebuilding, he has emerged as a prime trade target this summer,” explaining, “He is due $7.5 million this year and $7.5 million next year. He could be a cheap option for a team looking to bolster the middle of the rotation. The North American sports media outlet The Athletic released its 30-team power rankings and trade market outlook on March 3 (Korea time). The publication said of the White Sox’ prospects, “They’re going to have a fire sale. They will rebuild by trading away veterans at the end of their contracts. The focus of White Sox operations this year is to sell more. ‘Garrett Crochet and center fielder Luis Robert Jr. are the most sought-after commodities, as is Peddy, who has resurrected his major league career. The White Sox have no reason to pass up this opportunity,” predicting that the trade market will be rife.
One team that might want Pedi is the “Earth Defense Force” Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers have signaled their intentions to win the World Series this year by signing Shohei Ohtani (10 years, $700 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million), Tyler Glasnow (5 years, $136.5 million), Teoscar Hernandez (1 year, $23.5 million), and James Paxton (1 year, $11 million) to explosive contracts. With Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and other talent already on the roster, the Dodgers are poised to make a run at the title.
The Dodgers are currently 53-35 with a .602 winning percentage and a comfortable lead in the National League West. They are 6.5 games behind the second-place San Diego Padres (48-43). But they’re hanging on by a thread. The starting rotation is particularly dire. Glasnau and Paxton are the only two players who have been consistently rotating through the starting rotation. Gavin Stone, who has flown relatively under the radar, has stepped up to fill the void, going 9-2 with a 3.03 ERA in 16 games. However, Yamamoto went down in mid-June with a rotator cuff injury in his shoulder, and right-hander Walker Buehler, who has been called the “heir apparent to Kershaw,” was placed on the disabled list with a hip injury. Fastball prospect Bobby Miller, who left in April with shoulder inflammation, returned in late June but hasn’t gotten back on track. He did get a glimmer of hope on March 3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, allowing two runs on four hits (one homer) with three walks and four strikeouts in five innings.
Clayton Kershaw, who underwent shoulder surgery, has only recently resumed pitching out of the bullpen, and Yamamoto is now pain-free and playing catch, but it’s hard to say when he’ll return.
That’s why you might be interested in Pedi, who is a solid performer and won’t add to your payroll.
“The Dodgers will try to get Garrett Crochet first, but they’ll get rejected, rejected, rejected,” said The Athletic, “but Pedi should be good enough. He had a great first season back home. ‘With Walker Buehler, James Paxton and Ryan Yarbrough all set to become free agents in the offseason and the future of Clayton Kershaw unclear, the Dodgers will be looking to add to their starting rotation in the offseason while waiting for young pitchers to return from injury. “Pedi would be an ideal target,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Dodger. “He struggled in Washington, but returned to the U.S. with a breakout season, including being named the KBO League MVP last year. The fact that he’s due a club-friendly $7.5 million in 2025 makes him an attractive trade chip for more than a two-month rental.
Pedi has become a hot commodity, attracting interest from postseason contenders. Most importantly, if he joins the Dodgers, he will go from being a hapless last-place ace to a key starter for a World Series championship run as part of the Earth Defense Force. Could Pederson’s second half of the season really be in a blue Dodger uniform?