Jake Peavy on for Two More Years; Floyd Extended For One

Things are happening! The White Sox chose to buy-out the 2013 option for Jake Peavy and have agreed to terms on a 2-year deal worth $14.5 million. Within the contract are thresholds that, once hit, will give Peavy the option of activating a 3rd year which will keep him a White Sox through 2015. Those are presumably innings thresholds to ensure that a third year of Peavy is a healthy year. The $4M buyout involved will be paid in equal installments between 2016-2019. Peavy’s bulldog attitude has gone over well with fans, and it seemed that Peavy enjoyed his time in Chicago once he was healthy. His re-signing could be an indication of the White Sox looking to remain competitive in the next few years rather than angling for a rebuild.

I don’t know what he’s so mad at. $15 million is a lot of money! Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

The option for Gavin Floyd has been exercised. It’s good to keep him on the Southside for another year to the tune of $9.5 million. This seems like a lot at first glance for a guy that people seem to love to hate. He had his injury issues in 2012 and was, of course, prone to toss his patented Gavin Floyd clunker from time to time but he’s proven to be capable of approaching 200 innings on a yearly basis, last season excluded and does so while performing above the league average. Hard to believe, perhaps, but true. There just aren’t that many quality starters available and what he’s receiving in 2013 from the White Sox is probably less than he could fetch on the open market considering he does still possess the potential to exceed his past performance in the long term.

With the welcoming back key pieces to the starting rotation, comes likely farewells to a pair of mid-season acquisitions with club options of their own. Both Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers have had their options declined for 2013 (worth $13M and $10M respectively). The team can still negotiate with both players, though any sights of Myers in a White Sox uniform would be a surprise. The Sox still have a major hole to fill with the third base position, which looks as though it may have to be filled by Brent Morel lacking any free agent moves. For that reason at the very least, Rick Hahn will have to engage Youkilis in at least some sort of discussion.