Denis Poroy / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jake Peavy is 6-6 with a 3.97 ERA in 13 starts with the Padres this season but has been on the disabled list since June 13 with a strained tendon in his right ankle.

Williams said he’d been interested in Peavy since the trade deadline a year ago and then was close to landing him in May. This time he worked on the trade with few people even knowing about it.

“I was shocked,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We got better and now we got one guy we wanted for a long time.”

Williams said he had a good talk with Peavy when the White Sox first tried to acquire him. He was convinced that Peavy’s real reason for blocking the trade was that he wasn’t ready.

“At the time the Padres were in just as good a position as we were (and) to have it sprung on him without all the information,” Williams said. “I got it. I understood. It was a little disheartening to hear some of the insinuations about him not wanting to pitch in the American League or pitch in our ballpark. I got none of that when I spoke to him. It was simply about him being surprised.”

Now Peavy, whose future has been the subject of much speculation since the offseason, is ready to move on. He is making $11 million this year.

He will have a salary of $15 million in 2010, $16 million in 2011 and $17 million in 2012. His initial contract included a $22 million club option for 2013 with a $4 million buyout.

“I certainly knew this day was going to come, whether it be now like it’s happening or in the offseason. Now it’s here, and I’ll go to Chicago and I won’t look back,” Peavy said.

Richard, who pitched well in his past two starts, was the scheduled starter Friday night against the Yankees before the trade was announced.

The 25-year-old lefty was 4-3 with a 4.65 ERA in 26 games, including 14 starts, with the White Sox this season.

“Pretty surprised,” Richard said, sitting in the dugout after the trade was announced.

“Because I really just thought he didn’t want to come over here. He turned it down and it was put to rest. Then, out of nowhere, it happens again. But I’m excited to go over there. We’ll see how it goes.”

Poreda, 22, went 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 10 relief appearances with the White Sox before being optioned back to the minors on July 21. The 6-foot-5 lefty was a first-round pick by Chicago in 2007.

Russell was 4-0 with a 5.19 ERA in 22 relief appearances for the White Sox last season and has spent this year at Triple-A Charlotte. Carter is 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA at Class-A Kannapolis.

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