SEATTLE -- When Jake Peavy first experienced soreness in his right elbow three weeks ago, he opted to skip his bullpen sessions between starts with hopes the pain would go away.
But the pain hasn't gone away, which means that instead of making his scheduled start on Monday against St. Louis, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner will have an MRI exam to determine what's wrong with his elbow.
Peavy will miss at least one start and could very well be a candidate for the disabled list, which isn't something the Padres -- who carried a Major League-worst 16-28 record into Sunday's game in Seattle -- want to think much about.
"It's to the point where we need to step back," Padres manager Bud Black said.
Left-hander Wil Ledezma will start in place of Peavy on Monday. There are no current plans as to when Peavy will go back into the rotation. That will depend on the results of the MRI, which should be known before Monday's game at PETCO Park.
As for Peavy, he sounded cautiously optimistic that he won't need to go on the disabled list. He's uncertain as to when his elbow first started to bother him, saying that the pain has bothered him for his last "three or four starts."
"I just felt something in there and we haven't really had progress with it," Peavy said before the start of Sunday's game against the Mariners. "It's not normal soreness. It's sore all the time. That's the reason we are missing the start."
Peavy, who is 4-3 with a 2.91 ERA in nine starts this season, has allowed two or more runs in each of his last five starts after allowing a combined four runs in his first four starts this season.
Peavy allowed four runs in four innings -- his shortest start of the season -- on May 14 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Peavy said that the elbow soreness has occasionally left him without a full arsenal of pitches on any given game.
He indicated that the last time he felt fine was likely during an April 27 start against Arizona.
The Padres first tried to treat the soreness internally and by having him skip his usual bullpen sessions between starts. But that didn't work.
Peavy has some history with problems in his right arm as he missed five weeks in 2004 with a strained flexor in his right forearm. He returned to go 10-3 with a 2.18 ERA in his 18 starts after returning from the disabled list.
Peavy and the Padres are certainly hoping that he won't land on the disabled list and that the right-hander will miss just the one start Monday.
"It's early in the season ... hopefully we can figure out what's wrong, treat it the right way and get back out there," said Peavy, who agreed to a four-year, $52 million deal before the season.
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