ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Jake Peavy fell four days short of lasting an entire year with the Red Sox. Acquired last July 30 in a three-way deal with the Tigers and White Sox, Peavy was traded Saturday to the San Francisco Giants.

There were three key players involved in last July’s three-way deal: Peavy, shortstop Jose Iglesias, who went from the Sox to the Tigers, and outfielder Avisail Garcia, who went from the Tigers to the White Sox.

Only Peavy is still playing this season, as both Iglesias and Garcia sustained season-ending injuries. Iglesias was discovered to have stress fractures in both shins during spring training and was shut down for the season. Garcia played eight games for the White Sox before injuring his left shoulder; he underwent season-ending surgery.

Iglesias and Garcia each figure prominently in his team’s plans going forward; Peavy, of course, is gone. He was 4-1 with a 4.04 ERA in 10 starts for the Sox last season, then started three more times in the postseason, going 0-1 with two no-decisions and a 7.11 ERA. This season, he was 1-9 with a 4.72 ERA in 20 starts, and his rate of home runs per nine innings was 1.5, highest in the AL (20 HRs in 124 innings).

How does Sox GM Ben Cherington view the trade nearly a year later?

“Well, we won the World Series and he was part of it,’’ Cherington said Saturday. “I think it worked out well. Hopefully he feels that way.

“At the time we made the trade we felt like the most important thing to do at that time was to protect the starting rotation. You don’t know exactly what’s going to happen down the stretch, but we thought we had a chance to win and felt if there was one thing to do to protect our chances to do that, it was to protect the rotation.’’

The Sox at the time were without Clay Buchholz, who made just 16 starts because of a strained shoulder.

“So we made that trade,’’ Cherington said, “and you obviously have to give up something to get a starting pitcher. In retrospect, our big guns stayed healthy in October and that helped us win a World Series.

“I would certainly make the trade again. He certainly added a lot, particularly last year. I remember the bunch of outings he had early, coming over at a time in the season when things were not as clear.’’

Peavy won his Fenway Park debut with a strong seven-inning performance against Arizona, then pitched his best game of the season Aug. 25 in Los Angeles, a complete-game, three-hitter. Six days later, he beat his former team, the White Sox, in Fenway Park.

“He really gave us a jolt and helped us get through that stretch in good shape, then we played well down the stretch,’’ Cherington said. “I think he was a real key guy in the 2013 season and so we’re glad we traded for him. Hopefully this gives him another opportunity to do the same. He’s going to a good place, he’s going to a good team, he’s going to a manager he knows (Bruce Bochy) and a team that’s certainly in it.

“We hope it works out well for him and wish him the best.’’