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Guzman Clears Waivers, Perez Falls and Peavy’s Number to be Retired
By Chad Gramling | March 27, 2008
Three very different - yet equally interesting - stories involving former Wizards today.
The first involves Freddy Guzman. Guzman played in Fort Wayne during the 2002 season, when he hit .279 with 53 hits and 39 stolen bases over 190 at-bats. Yes, 39 stolen bases. They guy is fast! And that has always been his promise. As MLBTradeRumors reports, “coming up with the Padres, Guzman was highly regarded by Baseball America for his game-changing speed.” He is currently in the Detroit Tigers system. They didn’t have a place for him on their roster, so they placed him on waivers. Since no other team placed a claim on him, he’ll go to their farm system - presumably Double-A.
The second story involves Oliver Perez. Today, while fielding a ball hit by Josh Anderson, Perez fell to the ground. And he didn’t immediately get up, sending the rest of his Mets teammates into near shock. Fortunately, he just had the wind knocked out of him.
And finally, Jake Peavy is getting his number retired . . . by Lake Elsinore. According to The Raw Feed, the reigning NL Cy Young winner will be on hand April 3 when Lake Elsinore opens their season. In his honor, they will retire his number.
After the unveiling of his number 22 in center field, Jake will kickoff 2008 by throwing out the season’s first pitch. The entire Storm team will pay tribute to the hard-throwing right-hander by wearing number 22 Peavy jerseys. When the Storm became a Padres affiliate in 2001, Jake was the first San Diego prospect to take the mound at The Diamond.
To my knowledge, the Wizards have no retired numbers, but Peavy would be a logical first choice should they ever decide to do so.
[tags]Freddy Guzman, Oliver Perez, Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres, Lake Elsinore Storm, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers, Spring Training[/tags]
