White Sox sign Miguel Gonzalez to a minor league deal

The White Sox have signed Miguel Gonzalez to a minor league deal. Gonzalez was released by the Orioles on Friday.

Gonzalez, 31, has been with the Orioles for the previous four seasons. This past offseason he went through arbitration with the Orioles and settled on a $5.2 million deal. This was after a 9-12 season with a 4.91 ERA and a 5.01 FIP. This spring, he's struggled with his velocity and has has been unable to get past the upper 80's.  Gonzalez had options available, but the Orioles released him with hopes of renegotiating his deal.  The Orioles are still obligated to pay him $1.3 million for this season.

If you are hoping that he might be a possible player for the fifth starter spot, you may want to readjust your expectations a bit. While he's been able to put together a 3.82 ERA over the past four seasons, his career FIP is 4.70.

Giving up the long ball has been his biggest concern over the past few seasons. With an HR/9 of 1.42 in 2014 and 1.49 in 2015, he's well beyond just being unlucky at this point. He'll be starting the season in Charlotte working on regaining his lost velocity, his fastball averaged over 92 mph last season. Along the way, if he can fix some of his problems with the long ball, he could be someone that can help out the team later this season.