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Atlanta Braves, Gavin Floyd close on deal - ESPN
Free-agent pitcher Gavin Floyd is closing in on an agreement with the Atlanta Braves, a baseball source confirmed to ESPN.com.
A deal for the right-hander could be in place as early as Monday, the source said.
Floyd, 30, is 70-70 with a 4.48 ERA over parts of 10 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox. His best season came in 2008, when he went 17-8 with a 3.84 ERA in 206 1/3 innings with Chicago.
Floyd underwent Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow last May, and is hoping to be back in the big leagues by May 2014 barring any setbacks in his rehab.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier reported that the Braves were nearing an agreement with Floyd.
The Atlanta rotation currently consists of Mike Minor, Julio Teheran, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy and Alex Wood, with David Hale as an additional rotation candidate.
Tim Hudson, a member of the Braves' rotation since 2005, signed a two-year, $23 million deal with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in November.
The Braves are among the teams pursuing Tampa Bay's David Price and Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago Cubs in trade, but general manager Frank Wren said last week that he's hesitant to dig too deeply into the farm system to add a top-of-the-rotation starter.
Pitchers Lucas Sims, J.R. Graham and Jason Hursh and catcher Christian Bethancourt are Atlanta's most highly-regarded prospects.
"Trading players you have for a long time for one year or two years of service [from a player] doesn't work and doesn't make sense," Wren told ESPN.com Thursday from the winter meetings in Florida. "We're in a good spot. We like our five guys. They're all homegrown, and they're all on the ascent. We think we can go into the season with our rotation as it is and have a very solid group."
A deal for the right-hander could be in place as early as Monday, the source said.
Floyd, 30, is 70-70 with a 4.48 ERA over parts of 10 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox. His best season came in 2008, when he went 17-8 with a 3.84 ERA in 206 1/3 innings with Chicago.
Floyd underwent Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow last May, and is hoping to be back in the big leagues by May 2014 barring any setbacks in his rehab.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier reported that the Braves were nearing an agreement with Floyd.
The Atlanta rotation currently consists of Mike Minor, Julio Teheran, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy and Alex Wood, with David Hale as an additional rotation candidate.
Tim Hudson, a member of the Braves' rotation since 2005, signed a two-year, $23 million deal with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in November.
The Braves are among the teams pursuing Tampa Bay's David Price and Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago Cubs in trade, but general manager Frank Wren said last week that he's hesitant to dig too deeply into the farm system to add a top-of-the-rotation starter.
Pitchers Lucas Sims, J.R. Graham and Jason Hursh and catcher Christian Bethancourt are Atlanta's most highly-regarded prospects.
"Trading players you have for a long time for one year or two years of service [from a player] doesn't work and doesn't make sense," Wren told ESPN.com Thursday from the winter meetings in Florida. "We're in a good spot. We like our five guys. They're all homegrown, and they're all on the ascent. We think we can go into the season with our rotation as it is and have a very solid group."