congratsThe White Sox made headlines in recent days for two different announcements:

  1. Chris Getz has won their starting 2B job.
  2. Gavin Floyd was signed for 4 years, $15.5 million.

I’ll start with Chris Getz. He was the favorite to win the starting 2B job going into spring training, so there’s no real shock that he’ll be the starter come opening day. Two months ago, it was thought that the battle would be between Getz, Brent Lillibridge, and Jayson Nix (do not bother googling those names), but it turned out to be 2008 1st round pick Gordon Beckham who gave Getz the biggest run for his money. Offensively, Beckham performed as good as any other player on the White Sox this spring. I don’t know if that’s a bigger implication of the White Sox as hitters or more of a compliment to Beckham, but I do think that at the very least, Beckham proved himself as the real deal. The question now becomes where do the White Sox play him in the minors? He’s a natural SS (at least he played there in college), but the White Sox think they have an answer there already in Alexei Ramirez. So will they have Beckham play his natural position every day in the minors, or will they move him to 2B permanently? It’s a tough question, especially since they don’t really know what Ramirez will give them at SS on a daily basis. If it were me, I would put Ramirez in CF (where they’re still trotting Brian Anderson and Dewayne Wise out there), make Beckham my starting SS, and keep Getz at 2B. Obviously the White Sox are beyond that, so we’ll just have to wait and see now. As for Getz, he is what he is. How’s that for analysis? Okay I’ll make a prediction: .252/.329/.399 and solid defense up the middle. That’s a big “meh”.

Also yesterday, the White Sox announced that Gavin Floyd has signed over his arb years to the tune of 4 years and $15.5 million with a club option of $9.5 million in the 5th year. Floyd will be paid $750,000 in 2009, $2.75 million in 2010, $5 million in 2011, and $7 million in 2012. As a White Sox fan, I like this deal because it’s minimal money and it buys out Floyd’s peak performance years. A lot of analysts are still not sold on Floyd and I’m not holding my breath for repeated performances like he had in 2008, but for a 26 year old pitcher who has not shown any injury signs, it seems like a bargain to me. I predict a handful of 200 IP seasons with above-average performances for the duration of the contract. Four years from now, Kenny Williams will look back on this as a solid move for his team.

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