White Sox 2009: Gavin Floyd

After showing very little in 2007 aside from the raw stuff he's always had, Floyd, behind some mechanical (and mental) adjustments with Don Cooper, Floyd went 17-8 in '08 with a 3.84 ERA over 206.1 innings. It was enough to convince Kenny Williams to sign him to a four-year, $15 million deal. One year shouldn't warrant a four-year deal, but Floyd backed it up with a positive '09.

It just took him a couple months, because through eight starts, Floyd looked like a player coming off a career year and a multi-year contract extension. Aside from two starts, Floyd was passive around the zone, afraid of contact. He was the mentally weak pitcher that made him a bust in Philly.

Fortunately, it wasn't anything the Pirates couldn't cure, because after facing them on May 22 (throwing 8 scoreless innings), Floyd settled down. While his 11-11 record was a drop-off from the 17 wins last year, made strides as a pitcher, showing more confidence in his change-up and slider, and a better K/BB ratio.

Going Forward

The rotation questions for the White Sox heading into '09 revolved around Gavin Floyd and John Danks and whether 2008 were fluke seasons. Floyd may never be the ACE his stuff hints he can be, but with Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, John Danks and the new Garcia around him, he doesn't need to be. The only concern with Floyd is the hip injury that ended his season in the final week. Ozzie Guillen said the injury may be serious enough to force Floyd to change his mechanics. If so, the results could be anybody's guess.