Ah, the joys of baseballâs trading deadline. No, it is not very dramatic and is painfully lacking in team executives acting like game show contestants (see: N.H.L. and N.B.A. trade deadlines), and as we know, it is not actually a deadline. Trades made before 4 p.m. Eastern time do not require a trip through waivers. We get another month until the waiver trade deadline. And then after that, teams have to have a note from Mom. We all know how complicated that can be.  So these are the seasonâs uncomplicated days. That is unless youâre factoring in how the wave of impending drug suspensions is mucking all this up. That doesnât seem to be the case with the Red Sox snagging pitcher Jake Peavy from the White Sox, which seems purely motivated by the Red Soxâ desperation to avoid flirting with the wild-card game, as Jeff Passan writes on Yahoo.com, with the Rays suddenly looking like fierce rivals for the American League East title.  Peavy, then, seems like a no-brainer. He has won a Cy Young and pitchingâs triple crown. Unfortunately, that was in 2007 and now heâs 32 and has a pedestrian 4.28 earned run average. Playing for the currently moribund White Sox, however, has something to do with that and as it turns out, Peavy comes with some added skills. He plays well on the Web, both as part of a scientific experiment (wait until you see what peanut butter does to a fastball) and as a guitar player. Forget five-tool players, heâs got tools, instruments and a well-stocked pantry.  Feel free to hum along with him here.  And best of all, Peavy has never been caught on video celebrating a victory like Miamiâs Chad Qualls after polishing off the Mets on Tuesday night. At least, as the announcers say, Qualls stuck the landing.  Qualls' overexcitement leads to a tumble  The Raysâ relief pitchers donât have a lot to brag about in this moment captured on video, when a hard liner scatters them like scared birds while the ball boy calmly makes the catch.  Ballboy makes catch, Rays' bullpen runs away  But hey, the Raysâ pitchers can all take solace in the fact that they are not Alex Rodriguez. The Yankeesâ pariah isnât much of a video star these days, at least until, as expected, baseball drops a suspension on him and the expected legal histrionics begin. That should totally help his reputation. When youâve got Roger Clemens stepping up to give you a vote of confidence, well, you know things have sunk to historically low levels.  The N.F.L., you may have noticed, does not have these problems. Thatâs because it has an almost cosmetic drug-testing program, which players like Denverâs Von Miller still reportedly manage to fail, but not because the league is actually trying very hard. No, the N.F.L.'s most visible issue at the moment is players dropping like arcade ducks in training camp. Receiver Percy Harvin, Seattleâs free agency coup, is the latest, announcing he needs hip surgery. The most surprising part of this is that, if you watch Harvin highlights, almost no one manages to hit him.  There is a push to make N.F.L. training camps seem like fun, as opposed to a series of medical emergencies. To this end, we have the helmet-cam, this one worn by the Vikingsâ Adrian Peterson, which is brave considering how recently Peterson was being carted off with a knee injury. So far in this one, he shows mainly how hard it is to see out the front of a helmet.  Adrian Peterson Helmet Cam + Wired For Sound  At least Adrian Peterson wonât get traded in a fit of deal-making frenzy. The N.F.L. has an even lamer trade season than baseball. Thatâs why they need helmet-cams.  Follow Leading Off on Twitter: twitter.com/zinsernyt
Baseballâs simmering drug investigation could boil over into suspensions and then there is the new Red Sox, Jake Peavy, and his peanut butter pitch.