Peavy wants to be Sox’ front-end guy

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Jake Peavy knows exactly how it looks.

How it looks in the eyes of a White Sox organization that hunted him down for months before they could finally acquire him in a trade, how bad it looks with his teammates, who have yet to see how dominant he can be for a full season, and how it looks in the eyes of South Side fans, who have felt that he is more talk and bravado than action.

And frankly, “it pisses me off,’’ he said without an ounce of hesitation in his voice.

But his emotions aren’t directed at the doubters as much as the man in the mirror.

After all, it was Peavy who excited the masses last offseason when he spoke about wanting to be in that “dog-pile’’ celebration with his new team, and how his talents in the National League would translate to the American League.

The dog-pile was done by the Minnesota Twins as far as the division went. And his talents? Well, it’s more of an incomplete than an A through F grade.

“Do I have unfinished business? Absolutely. Am I embarrassed, yes,’’ the White Sox right-hander insisted in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I am yet to be in a Sox uniform completely healthy, feeling like the guy I was for seven years before that.

“When you get traded, you get traded for a reason, to be a front-end guy. I haven’t lived up to that and I’ll tell you what, it’s put a big chip on my shoulder to put that Sox uniform on and be that guy. Be that guy for [Sox general manager] Ken Williams, for [board chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf], for [manager] Ozzie [Guillen], for my teammates and for the fans … a big chip.’’

The problem is that a chip is the smallest concern with Peavy’s shoulder right now. The 2007 Cy Young Award winner is coming of a 2010 in which he underwent season-ending surgery to repair a detached lat muscle in the shoulder.

The timetable was said to be six months. The reality? Peavy might be the first pitcher to come back from such a serious injury, simply because it really hasn’t happened to many other pitchers.

So where is he with the injury right now?

Well, about 105 feet away from the target, playing catch on Wednesday.

Peavy flew to Chicago to meet with Sox doctors, trainers and pitching coach Don Cooper to show everyone where things are.

“The biggest issue is that you can tell right now that the right lat muscle is still smaller than the left one because of non-use,’’ Peavy said. “As far as how I feel, I’m pretty optimistic. What I have to be aware of is in talking to doctors and hearing them say ‘significant injury,’ there is a certain amount of time it takes.’’

What Peavy was told Wednesday was everything is in place and there is no reason why he can’t “go full-bore’’ come February.

“Once we turn it loose, we’ll see,’’ he added.

While signing Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski over the last week were huge for the organization, having Peavy back in the starting rotation sooner than later is the most important domino of them all.

After a slow start in 2010, Peavy was starting to dominate in June, going 3-2 with a 1.75 ERA. What his presence does is give the Sox a true ace, but even bigger, allows rookie Chris Sale to go to the back end of the bullpen, his rightful spot.

“I know what’s at stake and what the team’s plans are,’’ Peavy said. “We have the make-up of a contender with the only question marks some depth in the bullpen. Me being [in the rotation] makes it so we could have a lefty that throws 100 in there at the end of ballgames.

“I just got off a Nike trip with [Twins catcher] Joe Mauer and he spent a lot of time telling me how uncomfortable he felt facing that kid [Sale], and this is coming from one of the best hitters in baseball.’’

So that’s the fine line Peavy is walking right now — rushing against time, but listening to his body in the process.

He will make $16 million this year, the highest salary on the team, and he intends on earning every bit of it.

Then again, that’s a lot of chips for just one shoulder.