Name: Gio Gonzalez is a 26 left handed pitcher for the A's. Small for a pitcher, 5-11, 205 lbs
Contact: He is going into his 1st of 3 arbitration years (3 years of team control). He is close to being a 3 to 4 WAR pitcher. He would be worth, as a FA, $17.5m/year using 1 WAR = $5M/yr. Using a weighting of 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 for his arbitration years, he looks to make $7M, $10.5M and $14M. Note: I am not the best with contracts so it would be great if someone checked these numbers.
Pitches:
Fastball (4 seam): 93 to 95 MPH (used 30% to 40%)
Fastball (2 seam): 91 to 93 MPH (used 20% to 35%)
Curveball: 10 to 4 curve: 80 to 85 MPH (used 25% to 30%)
Change: 81 to 85 MPH (used 6% to 8%)
Results:
| Year | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | GB% | HR/FB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP | SIERA | WAR |
| 2008 | 7 | 34.0 | 9.0 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 41.8% | 23.1% | 7.68 | 7.04 | 5.11 | 4.90 | -0.6 |
| 2009 | 17 | 98.2 | 9.9 | 5.1 | 1.3 | 46.1% | 13.9% | 5.75 | 4.47 | 3.96 | 4.05 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 33 | 200.2 | 7.7 | 4.1 | 0.7 | 49.3% | 7.4% | 3.23 | 3.78 | 4.04 | 4.18 | 3.2 |
| 2011 | 32 | 202.0 | 8.8 | 4.1 | 0.8 | 47.5% | 8.9% | 3.12 | 3.64 | 3.73 | 3.78 | 3.5 |
A key to remember with Gio is that he plays half his games in Oakland, which suppress offense. The park factors for wOBA 95/94 (LHH/RHH) and Home Runs 89/80. He does a good job of keeping the ball on the ground and a great K rate. His main problem is the 4+ BB/9 walk rate.
Injuries: none yet
Conclusion: Gio would become the Royals top pitcher if we traded for him. His numbers are close to Paulino's with a better K/9. I would expect his ERA to be closer to his FIP, xFIP and SIERA since he would be getting out of the spacious park in Oakland.
A trade would have to center around Montgomery or Myers or both. I am not sure what market inefficiency Beane is after now, but I am sure the Royals will probably get the short end of the stick. Gonzalez would be a nice addition to the rotation depending on what it would cost the Royals in return.
Other Royal Starting Pitching Targets: