Because managing editor Dave Cameron has chosen recently to reproduce himself, the responsibility of running and editing this site has fallen temporarily to idiots not only like the present author, but actually to that present author himself. A poor choice, that — and one that surely jeopardizes the health of FanGraphs.

A pleasure of editing is that it affords one the opportunity of working more closely with this site’s learned contributors. What else it means, though, is that certain less exhilarating transactions that require coverage typically require coverage by the editor, regardless of his qualifications for analyzing same. Which, that’s how it’s come to pass that I’m now writing this brief post about Emilio Bonifacio and Emilio Bonifacio’s one-year, $4 million deal with the Chicago White Sox.

Emilio Bonifacio is a known and mostly unremarkable quantity. So cajoled, one could probably manufacture a hot take of some sort regading him. What his resume indicates mostly, however, is that he offers a floor of about -1 win, a ceiling of about +3 wins, and is a strong candidate to produce something precisely in the middle of that given 600 plate appearances.

Here’s a haphazardly composed histogram, based only on the author’s whim, featuring a slightly more nuanced version of that same estimate:

On the one hand, paying $4 million for what Bonifacio is likely to produce over 500-600 plate appearances — that’s probably about right, given the market. That said, there have been a number of players with the ability to play second base — Dean Anna, Buck Britton, Ty Kelly, Tommy La Stella, Cord Phelps — who are projected to approximate Bonifacio’s production and who’ve required a less substantial investment.

Moreover, if the White Sox harbor notions of qualifying for the postseason — and given their acquisitions this offseason of Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche and David Robertson and Jeff Samardzija, it would appear as though the front office does harbor such notions — Bonifacio doesn’t so much actively help the club achieve that goal as he does protect them from catastrophe.

Protecting a club from catastrophe is important. Notably, however, the White Sox already appear to have a number of players qualified for that role. Here, for sake of reference, are the Steamer projections (per 600 plate appearances) not just for Bonifacio, but also the other second base-types also on Chicago’s 40-man roster:

Garcia’s projection is something less than inspiring — and Saladino’s might be half-a-win optimistic insofar as he receives the entire shortstop positional adjustment despite possessing slightly below-average shortstop defense. Those caveats having been made, there do appear to be alternatives to Bonifacio.

So why sign him? Taking for granted that the White Sox front office is populated by intelligent people compensated decently to consider such questions, there’s probably a reasonable answer to this. What one must acknowledge first is that the commitment isn’t that large in the context of the current market. And that Bonifacio is also capable of playing the outfield. Also, the presence of Bonifacio allows the club to enter spring training without the obligation of handing the starting job to a rookie or near-rookie. That, augmented by Bonifacio’s actual value in wins, is the service for which the White Sox have paid $4 million.