Braves Sign Gavin Floyd

UPDATE (12/16)

Gavin Floyd has passed physical and agreed to deal with #braves. He'll make $4M base and can earn $4.5M more in incentives.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 16, 2013

For a one year deal, it is about as low as you will get him for. I am guessing the incentives are based on number of starts. According to FanGraphs crowdsourcing project, the crowd projected him to get 2/$13.7M, although that likely doesn't take into account the extended time he will miss (May/June) due to Tommy John. The Braves project to have around $10M left to spend if needed.

Overall, I don't think it's that bad of a deal. Yes, it is risky with a pitcher coming off injury, but I'm sure the Braves went through all the medicals thoroughly before handing out this type of money. I think it is a good gamble to take, you can NEVER have enough starting pitching as we have all seen over the past two seasons.

-Andrew

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The Braves, who are supposedly looking for a veteran pitcher to slot into their rotation, could be close to signing Gavin Floyd.

#Braves are the "mystery team" that's been talking with Gavin Floyd. Believed to be close to a deal, but not finalized yet.

— David O'Brien (@ajcbraves) December 14, 2013

Floyd will turn 31 next month. He only pitched 24 innings in 2013 due to an elbow injury that eventually led to Tommy John Surgery. Over the course of 1,150 big league innings, he's got a career 4.48 ERA and 4.19 xFIP to go along with a 7.06 K/9 and 3.05 BB/9. He gets a fair share of ground balls and has always given up a few more homers than most, though that could be a product of pitching in U.S. Cellular Field.

Floyd was really good from 2009-2011 with the White Sox, posting an 11.6 fWAR in that time. He's certainly not a bad pitcher, though he's one that wasn't really on anyone's radar as the offseason began.

I'd be really surprised if there's much guaranteed money in the deal, especially with his elbow issues. Even if Floyd is indeed heading to Atlanta, don't expect him on the mound anytime soon.

Floyd sought multiple opinions on the injury, hoping major surgery could be avoided, but he received bad news every step of the way.

Not only will Floyd have surgery on the tear in his flexor muscle near his right elbow, but he also will have his ulnar collateral ligament repaired. Recovery time is expected to be anywhere from 14 to 19 months.

He underwent surgery in early May. Fourteen months from then would be around the All-Star Break, and that would probably be a best-case scenario, according to the ESPN story. Other guys have been able to come back in 12 months or so. Each case is different, and the Braves will just have to keep their fingers crossed that Floyd comes back sooner rather than later.

Stay tuned...