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December 16, 2014
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December 16, 2014The Indians front office knew they had to improve the starting rotation this off-season. To do so, they have signed right-handed pitcher Gavin Floyd to a one-year, $4 million deal. Floyd can receive an additional $6 million if he reaches certain performance bonuses throughout the season if he reaches a certain number of starts and innings pitched in the 2015 season.
Floyd, 31, was with the Atlanta Braves last season. He posted a 2-2 record with a 2.65 ERA in 9 starts last before his season was shortened due to right elbow fracture that occurred on June 19th. Floyd had Tommy John surgery on the same elbow in 2013 (only had 5 starts that year before the surgery).
In his career, Floyd is 72-72, with a 4.40 ERA in 208 Major League games (196 starts). He has played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and Atlanta Braves. With the White Sox, he had five consecutive seasons with double-digit victories (2008-2012). He has a 27-28 record against the American League Central division, including a 7-3 record against Detroit.
Following the announcement of the signing, Chris Antonetti informed the media that four of the five spots in the rotation are secured – Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, and Gavin Floyd. He stated that T.J. House, Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin, and Zach McAllister will compete for the final spot in the rotation.
The big question with Floyd is whether or not he can stay healthy. He has a lot to prove after back-to-back seasons with injuries to his right-throwing shoulder.
4 Comments
If he can come back healthy very nice move. Interesting he is named starter already.
I’d like this move better if he was a non-roster invitee. As-is, we’re talking about a guy who has 14 starts in the last 2 seasons for a .7 WAR, translating to a roughly 1.5 Win pitcher if his rates were to be maintained over a 30-start season. That’s consistent with his 2012 campaign, which had him as 1.9 WAR pitcher (fangraphs WAR, for what that’s worth).
For comparison, Salazar was 1.8 WAR in 20 starts last year, House was 1.5 in 25 starts, McAllister was 1.4 in 15 starts and 7 relief appearances, and Tomlin was .4 in 8 starts and 30 relief appearances. I’m not sure why Floyd automatically gets a spot over anyone but Tomlin. Unless you think there’s some reason that Floyd will magically turn the clock back to 2011, I don’t see how his current profile makes him any better than internal options.
McAllister honestly should be getting that spot. He has the third highest FIP among starters last year (Kluber and Carrasco were better), but his ERA was awful because he had a terrible defense behind him. It shouldn’t be surprising that House, Salazar and Bauer all looked much better after we traded Cabrera, moved Santana to 1B (and stopped playing him at C or 3B), Swisher to DH and put in Ramirez as our SS. McAllister didn’t get to pitch with that improved defense, and his BABIP numbers suggest that (.332). It’s also reflected in his FIP and xFIP being 3.45 and 3.84, where his actual ERA was 5.23.
If you sign a guy you kinda have to pencil him in. If he goes all Brett Myers on us I’m sure they’ll cut bait if necessary. I would imagine McCallister will have every chance to earn that last spot since he’s the guy who is out of options. Salazar and House will be the potential hard luck losers in that battle because they can both start the year in AAA without major consequence. At the end of the day this move was about depth, though, so there will be somebody waiting in the wings who we’d like to see in an Indians uniform no matter what.
You’re not getting a pitcher of even Floyd’s caliber without spending a few million bucks and guaranteeing a roster spot. The Dodgers spent $10M on Anderson, the Yankees $5M on Capuano, the Padres $2.5M on Morrow.