Sox GM was confident of Peavy deal, still thinks it's a possibility

Kenny Williams thought it was close to being a done deal. Real close.

When the White Sox general manager got off the phone with Jake Peavy on Wednesday, he was pretty sure the San Diego Padres ace was going to approve a trade and head for the South Side.

"I had a very nice conversation with him," Williams said before the Gavin Floyd and the Sox beat the Pirates 2-0 in an interleague game at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night. "I woke up (Thursday) morning thinking that we had a 70-30 shot."

The trade is not completely dead after Peavy said he wants to stay with the Padres "as of right now."

But the right-hander did at least partially exercise the no-trade veto clause in his contract, and Williams has no regrets.

"Here's what I heard and what was articulated to me," Williams said. "It was a very impressive conversation. It caught him and his family off guard. I'm sure he was expecting talk like this to happen, things like this to happen, but come July.

"When it happens in the third week of May and you're forced to make a decision so quickly that affects your entire family, I think it's probably a wise thing for him to take a step back, review the situation, and go from there."

Can the trade still happen?

"As I explained to him, we won't sit around," Williams said. "We've got business to take care of. We've got to right our ship. So we're not going to sit around waiting for this, but who knows what will happen in the future?"

Williams has been shedding high-priced players such as Javier Vazquez, Joe Crede and Nick Swisher since the end of last season.

So how did he plan on paying for Peavy, who has a guaranteed $63 million left on a contract that runs through 2012 and also has a $22 million club option for 2013?

"We were going to figure that out along the way," Williams said. "That's not too much of a stretch. The funny thing was, when I told Jerry (Reinsdorf) what was going on - I kept this from him for a long time - when I finally told him what was going on, I should have asked him, 'Hey, where are you?' Because evidently, when I finally told, he almost stepped off the curb and got hit by a car in New York."

Reinsdorf verified the story Friday, and he jokingly said he approved the deal because he was strolling down Park Avenue.

"Walking down Park Avenue, I felt rich," Reinsdorf said. "Good thing I wasn't walking down Third Avenue."

Williams said he's been eyeing a trade for Peavy since last July. Former Padres reliever Scott Linebrink also spoke with Peavy on Wednesday to deliver a sales pitch.

When Williams talked to the 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner, he was impressed by Peavy's knowledge of the White Sox.

"He was very familiar with our history," Williams said. "He was very familiar with my history, as well as our players and where they are right now and what the potential is for this club. It was a very positive conversation. Evidently, not positive enough.

"Hey, listen, like I've said before, if you don't take a bat up to home plate and take a whack at it, you can't hit a home run. So, we'll keep taking our cuts."

The Sox didn't get many good cuts against Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke on Friday night, getting just 2 runs on 6 hits against the left-hander.

But White Sox starter Gavin Floyd was even better, allowing just 2 hits over 8 innings before turning the game over to closer Bobby Jenks.

Floyd (3-4) won for the first time since April 19 and delivered his first quality start since April 29.

"That's the Gavin we'd like to have," said Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "Obviously, it's not easy and it's not going to happen every time. Hopefully, this puts him on track for the rest of the season."

Floyd had a no-hitter until catcher Jason Jaramillo singled with two outs in the fifth inning.

"This is the Gavin I'd like to have, too," Floyd said. "I was able transfer what I did in the bullpen to the game."

Scot Gregor's game tracker

Friday's grade: B. Gavin Floyd was brilliant, finally. The White Sox' offense was quiet, again.

Closing time: Bobby Jenks is now 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season.

Hammer time: Alexei Ramirez went deep in the eighth inning. It was the slumping shortstop's first home run since April 25, a span of 72 at-bats.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=295801">Williams threatens to make changes to White Sox' infield<span class="date"> [5/22/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>