Gavin Floyd is an Intriguing Trade Option for Red Sox

The Red Sox did not pull the trigger on the Gio Gonzalez deal, saving their prospects rather than sending them to Oakland.  While it was good news, but still doesn’t solve the starting rotation.  There are still free agents that the Red Sox could target, but there still remains an interesting trade possibility, one that Cherington has looked at already; Gavin Floyd of the Chicago White Sox.

Cherington has already met with the White Sox management back at the winter meetings where he discussed both Floyd and the newly re-signed John Danks.   But it was there that we learnt that the asking price for either pitcher would be costly.  Thanks to the Mat Latos deal and now the Gonzalez trade the bar has been set, meaning Floyd won’t come cheap. 

Last season with the White Sox, Floyd went 12-13 in 31 starts, produced a 4.37 ERA, a nice WHIP of 1.162 and a SO/9 of 7.0 while working in 193.2 innings. He struck out 151 batters for the second straight year and most noticeably his walks were a career low since becoming a starter, issuing just 45 free passes.

The soon to be 29 year old is a monster on the mound, standing in at a Randy Johnson like 6’6″ and since becoming a full time starter in 2008 he’s averaged 193 innings per season.  Something the Red Sox will need if last year was any indication with John Lackey and Tim Wakefield gone, both who ate a lot of innings.

Floyd had a WAR rating of 2.8 last year, 3.0 in 2010, 4.0 in 2009 and 3.5 in 2008.  He’s consistently won at least 10 games, with 2008 being a career year for Floyd going 17-8.  You could argue that his last two seasons have been subpar but what his numbers do represent is consistency.  His WAR rating has been steady, his WHIP has averaged around 1.25 over the past four seasons and he consistently strikes out an average of 7.0 batters per nine innings.  What more could a club ask for in either a number four or number five starter?

Consider he’s still relatively young and is cost reasonable at $7 million next season and a team option of $9.5 million in 2013, he appears to be the perfect fit right?

So what would it cost to get him?  Despite reports that the White Sox were in rebuild mode, Danny Knobler of CBS Sports says the opposite.  Knobler reports that the White Sox would like to shed some salary in some grossly overpaid, under producing players, but a complete re-build is left for the other Chicago team.  Knobler says that the White Sox have high interest in Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, hinting that re-building is not part of their plans.

This is good news for the Red Sox.  Maybe they won’t have to trade four highly touted prospects to get one pitcher.  Rather they could look at dealing a Josh Reddick with a Bryce Brentz or Brandon Jacobs as part of the package.  Would this be enough to get Floyd?  Probably not, but I don’t think the Red Sox would have to give up more than one top 10 prospect in the deal.  We only have the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals to thank for setting the ridiculously high standard of what to expect in return.

Floyd is a starting pitcher that would fit nicely into the Red Sox rotation. He’s only been starting for four years and has average over 30 starts every season.  This guy is consistent, something the other Red Sox pitchers can’t say.

When the White Sox inked John Danks to a five-year contract extension, it quite possibly opened up the option to deal Floyd.  With an overpriced Jake Peavy becoming impossbile to move, Floyd could be expendable if only to acquire some help in other areas.

Cherington could be reluctant to go the trade route to acquire some starting pitching help, but this one would at least be worth exploring again.

For all the latest news and analysis from BoSox Injection, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or with our RSS feed.