CHICAGO -- Ask Jake Peavy whether he is 100 percent healthy for this season and this is the answer you get:
"I'm as 100 percent as I can be. I don't know if I'm 100 percent as to what I was four years ago. I know I'm as 100 percent as 100 percent is going to get after what I had done" surgically.
One thing seems certain about this summer on the South Side: If Peavy isn't 100 percent - whether you use his San Diego scale or the post-surgery scale - the White Sox's chances of a rebound season is close to 0 percent.
Starting pitching wins championships and Peavy is penciled in to one of the five rotation slots for Chicago. And few expect him to live up to the $17 million he will be paid this season. They just hope he will hold up the bottom of the rotation.
But Peavy expects more, despite being limited to only 36 games the past two seasons.
"I would be terribly disappointed," Peavy said of not making his expected 33 starts. "It's something I want to do and I've done before. I just haven't been healthy since I got traded over here."
His final two full seasons in San Diego produced a 29-17 record, 2.68 ERA and a Cy Young Award in 2007.
His first two-plus seasons in Chicago have produced a 17-13 record, 4.49 ERA and a trip to the operating table.
"I know fans and everybody have been frustrated, but there's nobody more frustrated than me," he said. "When you play a certain caliber and level and you haven't been able to get back there, it's tough. This year, I have left no leaf unturned and I'm ready to see what I have."
DETROIT: Brad Penny, who went 11-11 last season for the Tigers with a 5.30 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 31 games, signed a one-year contract with the Softbank Hawks of Japan's Pacific League.
Softbank announced the signing on its website.
TAMPA BAY: After spending the past two offseasons bulking up in workouts, third baseman Evan Longoria is 10 to 15 pounds leaner and considerably looser, emphasizing flexibility in an effort to avoid the muscle injuries (hamstring, quadriceps, oblique) that have plagued him during the past two seasons.
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