Freddy Today

[SSH2005]

29 then.  You still don't lose that kind of velocity over 1 offseason.

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And I agreed. I just wanted to make it known that Freddy is closer to 30 than 28.

[Jordan4life_2007]

And all the velocity talk aside, let's not forget that Freddy was going up against a pretty good team today. It's not like he got lit up by the Royals. The Indians are gonna knock around a lot of good pitchers this year.

[greasywheels121]

It was too cold for Freddy today; you know he likes to sweat. I blame the weather.

[SSH2005]

And all the velocity talk aside,  let's not forget that Freddy was going up against a pretty good team today.  It's not like he got lit up by the Royals.  The Indians are gonna knock around a lot of good pitchers this year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bad example. The Royals are usually the type of team that does light him up, hehe...

 

Freddy Garcia (career stats vs. Royals):

19 starts

8-7 record

112.0 IP

5.63 ERA

1.54 WHIP

.313 BAA

Edited April 4, 2006 by SSH2005

[Jordan4life_2007]

Bad example.  The Royals are usually the type of team that does light him up, hehe...

 

Freddy Garcia (career stats vs. Royals):

19 starts

8-7 record

112.0 IP

5.63 ERA

1.54 WHIP

.313 BAA

 

I hate you.

 

You know what I was trying to say, though.

[Balta1701]

They are a great benefit to relievers, but starting pitchers typically would gain little benefit. 

 

They help relievers gain velocity and help them rebound faster.  In fact I'd venture a guess that the highest % of users in this league are a combo of relievers and hitters (more relievers than people think were using this stuff).

See, I still dislike this sort of posts...where you presume that steroids wouldn't have been as much of a help to 1 guy over another because of some reason. Why? Because there are a lot of steroids out there, and there never as far as I know has been a double-blind study on the effects of heavy use of each particular steroid under each circumstance. You can find steroids like Winstrol, which don't make you explode as much (Palmeiro), or you can use THG (Bonds) and turn into a giant.

 

All we really have are rumors about what steroids can and cannot do for any particular player. For crying out loud, in the mid 90's, you could find plenty of people who would say "Steroids aren't a problem in baseball because having huge muscles won't help you in baseball like it would in football" (See: what people say about basketball these days).

 

For all we know, you could easily find a steroid that would help you get your arm in better shape, or not lose as much stamina during 120 pitches, etc. We just don't know.

 

I for one can think of several guys who are starting pitchers who I really think were juicing a few years ago and have since stopped (and have fallen off accordingly). Freddy, is not one of them IMO.

[southsideirish71]

I just got back from the game.

 

Freddy was frustrating. He labors on the mound going deep in counts, relying on his fastball and his sinker to get out of it. In previous years he would throw a lot of breaking pitches early to get strikeouts and then revert to his fastball. Today he looked like he was playing lob league. He was getting behind hitters putting himself in dangerous hitting counts but didnt have anything on his fastball to get past it. When you get behind a major league hitter and can throw a 94 mph fastball you have a chance, when you throw a 88 mph fastball down the middle of the plate on hitting counts you are going to get lit up like today. The other thing that was a bother today was that Freddy had some hitters in 0-2 and 1-2 counts, he couldnt put the guy away. He would either draw full on the hitter or would give up an 0-2 screaming line drive. He looked like he was frustrated.

 

One other thing that contributed to his poor outing was the fact that Mack didnt play great defense in center. There was a line drive that I am pretty sure Anderson would of ran the right route to. It rolled to the wall a few runs scored. Mack came in on the crack of the bat and the ball kept going out. That was a play that should of been made. I understand that Ozzie is going to rotate people in an out, but after the kid goes 2-3 lets see what he can do. We need the CF defense right now more than the lefty-righty matchup.

Edited April 4, 2006 by southsideirish71

[CWSGuy406]

One other thing that contributed to his poor outing was the fact that Mack didnt play great defense in center.  There was a line drive that I am pretty sure Anderson would of ran the right route to.  It rolled to the wall a few runs scored. Mack came in on the crack of the bat and the ball kept going out.  That was a play that should of been made.  I understand that Ozzie is going to rotate people in an out, but after the kid goes 2-3 lets see what he can do.  We need the CF defense right now more than the lefty-righty matchup.

 

I thought the same thing, SS71, but wasn't 100% positive, as it was very tough seeing fly-balls off the bat from the Upper Deck today.

 

Mack is a huge step-down defensively from Anderson. Anderson, in all reality, is extremely important to the Sox this year -- we don't have ONE replacement who can cover CF half as good as he can.

[WCSox]

And I agreed.  I just wanted to make it known that Freddy is closer to 30 than 28.

 

According to Baseball-reference.com, he's supposed to turn 31 in June.

[Chisoxfn]

See, I still dislike this sort of posts...where you presume that steroids wouldn't have been as much of a help to 1 guy over another because of some reason.  Why?  Because there are a lot of steroids out there, and there never as far as I know has been a double-blind study on the effects of heavy use of each particular steroid under each circumstance.  You can find steroids like Winstrol, which don't make you explode as much (Palmeiro), or you can use THG (Bonds) and turn into a giant.

 

All we really have are rumors about what steroids can and cannot do for any particular player.  For crying out loud, in the mid 90's, you could find plenty of people who would say "Steroids aren't a problem in baseball because having huge muscles won't help you in baseball like it would in football" (See: what people say about basketball these days).

 

For all we know, you could easily find a steroid that would help you get your arm in better shape, or not lose as much stamina during 120 pitches, etc.  We just don't know.

 

I for one can think of several guys who are starting pitchers who I really think were juicing a few years ago and have since stopped (and have fallen off accordingly).  Freddy, is not one of them IMO.

I base my stuff on what I've heard from various people close to the game. And I've never heard of many of those people suggesting many starters were on roids. Your right there are different kinds of roids, after all olympic sprinters use them to get faster and body builders use them to get bigger.

 

There are tons of variations, but from what I've heard for starting pitchers there isn't one that would really make a great difference. Thats not to say there aren't starters that use them, cause I'm sure plenty do, just not as much as relievers and hitters.

[OilCan]

guys guys guys.....

 

If anyone falters from our starting rotation, then we have a pretty darn good equalizer:

 

Two words: Brandon McCarthy.

[fathom]

guys guys guys.....

 

If anyone falters from our starting rotation, then we have a pretty darn good equalizer:

 

Two words:  Brandon McCarthy.

 

And then our bullpen is even more of a question mark.

[SSH2005]

According to Baseball-reference.com, he's supposed to turn 31 in June. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've noticed before that the birthdates on Baseball-Reference.com are sometimes off by a year. Here's Freddy's WhiteSox.com profile...

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...layer_id=150119

[WCSox]

I've noticed before that the birthdates on Baseball-Reference.com are sometimes off by a year.  Here's Freddy's WhiteSox.com profile...

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...layer_id=150119

 

Ah. Info from the Sox site is probably more reliable.

[WSoxMatt]

Freddy was hitting 91 on the ballpark gun

[SSH2005]

Freddy was hitting 91 on the ballpark gun

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How many times did you see him hit 91 on the ballpark gun?

[WSoxMatt]

How many times did you see him hit 91 on the ballpark gun?

 

 

Twice

[Rowand44]

Freddy was hitting 91 on the ballpark gun

Ha, good. I wasn't the only one seeing that.

[DBAHO]

Having seen Freddy Garcia for a season and a half now, you know he's going to go through these type of "flat spots" during the season. It happened last season around August when teams like the Royals were hitting him hard.

 

And as I think Greasy said before, when the conditions get hotter and he can start to work up a sweat, he should be better. Is it a concern? Absolutely, you'd love to have all of your SP's rolling from day one. But it ain't something that we should lose sleep over.

 

Let's just hope, there's nothing wrong with his arm, and he's just going thru a bit of a "dead arm" period.

[Balta1701]

Manager Ozzie Guillen had dinner Tuesday night with Freddy Garcia, his friend and the losing pitcher in the second game against the Indians. Garcia reassured Guillen that there's nothing wrong with him physically, and that the seven runs allowed on nine hits over four-plus innings stemmed from a bad day.

 

Of greater concern than Tuesday's results was the fact that Garcia consistently was clocked in the mid-80s on his pitches and rarely topped 90 mph. Even with those cold, hard facts, pitching coach Don Cooper backs Guillen and Garcia's opinion and refuses to panic after one poor outing.

 

"OK, he had a tough outing. End of story right there," said Cooper of Garcia. "It was a poor game, and not what he wanted to do. It was not what we were hoping would happen yesterday. That's going to happen from time to time.

 

"He kind of got through the first three innings without really extending himself, but yesterday he wasn't able to reach down and get that something extra. And he had a tough ballgame."

 

Cooper pointed out that Garcia will have one extra day before his next start Monday afternoon in Comerica Park, and that they might play a little extra long toss and get Garcia to break a sweat before he takes to the mound in order to help him get loose easier. But one game does not an issue make, even though Garcia's velocity also was down during a previous Spring Training contest.

 

Of course, if Garcia has the same trouble his next time out, then Cooper has something new to ponder.

 

"Now, my concern grows if that happens," Cooper said. "I'm concerned, but I'm concerned about everything, even when things are going well. Yesterday, things didn't go well and I'm concerned. If it happens again, I'll be even more concerned."