Floyd and Danks on the Move?
Along with the indication that Chris Sale will be joining the rotation (the subject of yesterday’s post), general manager Kenny Williams said that he’s open to shopping starting pitchers Gavin Floyd and John Danks. Williams put it plain and simple at the GM meetings, stating “I’m not ruling anything out.”
Right-hander Gavin Floyd is coming off of a season that was his worst in a White Sox uniform. With a record of 12-13 and an ERA of of 4.37 Floyd was far from what we expected. Like most pitchers Gavin is streaky, winning three, losing three, winning three, losing four, so on and so forth. It’s been like that for Floyd’s entire career. When he’s good he’s really good but when he’s bad he’s really bad.
Lefty John Danks was just as bad, sporting an 8-12 record with a 4.33 ERA through twenty-seven starts. For the past three years John was one of the best pitchers on the staff but last season he just fell apart.
What could we get for these guys? Well, their 2011 seasons weren’t very attractive to teams looking for starting pitching. While many GM’s should have the mindset of “you don’t pay for the past, you pay for the future” not many do. And they shouldn’t with these two guys. Fortunately MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the New York Yankees happen to be interested in Danks and the Sox like the idea of Austin Romine behind the plate. The only hold-up is that the Yankees don’t want to trade a quality prospect for a pitcher they’ll only have for a year. The Yanks would also like Gavin Floyd on their pitching staff – perhaps a package deal could be in the future?
Without Danks and Floyd our pitching staff is quite empty. Jake Peavy, Zach Stewart, and Chris Sale are the three guys we know will be in the rotation come 2012. Unless the Sox get starting pitching in return for Danks and/or Floyd they’re going to have to look within the system for two viable arms. Pitching prospect Addison Reed (one of the top prospects in the system) has only started two games in two years in the minor leagues.
Nathaniel Stoltz over at Seedlings to Stars has told me that two candidates for the Sox rotation are a pair of right-handers: Dylan Axelrod (who you can read about here) and Terry Doyle. Should Mark Buehrle remain a free agent that would leave Chris Sale as the lone lefty in the starting five.
Trading these two starters could hurt our team but at the same time so could keeping them. If the Sox want to compete in this division we’re going to need starting pitchers who won’t allow four+ runs per start.
I still say we sign Garland and Garcia.
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