THAT'S A WHITE SOX WINNER!

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Floyd, for all the hate this kid gets on here for not being Cy Freakin Young. He is our 5th starter. And he pitched well today. He will have good days and bad. His breaking stuff is pretty good, and unlike a lot of our previous 5th starters with his talent he can shut down a team.

 

I don't think it's hate as much as pessimism. I guess he does become a beacon of misdirected anger at the organization overall though.

 

Some of the problems with Floyd are:

 

1. His career MLB numbers

2. His loss of velocity out of the stretch

3. His slow delivery and weak pick-off move

4. His tendency to sort of lunge forward off the mound instead of staying back which hurts his location

5. His inability to consistently throw his curve for strikes

6. The fact that his change often disappears entirely for stretches

7. The ease with which he turns into a one-pitch pitcher

8. The fact that the Sox play in a hitters park which is brutal on mediocre to bad flyball pitchers, especially in the summer

9. The fact that he's never even pitched 180 innings in a season, much less 200

10. That he's out of options so the Sox can't send him down without putting him on waivers, which means they are likely to allow him to suck for a considerable length of time before pulling the plug

11. His lack of mound presence and documented confidence issues

 

Sox fans have plenty of reasons to worry about Floyd. Hopefully he does well, but it is going to take a lot more than one start or even one half season for the majority of people to think he has turned the corner. You are right in that he certainly has the physical talent (low 90's FB + vicious curve when it's working + decent change) but he is going to have to overcome a LOT in order to get to that point.

 

IMO, Floyd is either going to find his confidence and learn to throw all three pitches with consistency, which will make him more of a middle rotation guy (a couple #2-like seasons, typically a #3), or he's not going to survive in the league at all. I can't see him as #5.

 

As a side note, while watching the game on Fox they cut over to Floyd on the bench next to Danks and he was laughing. I also saw an interview in ST where he still looked kind of nervious/camera shy, but he didn't look anywhere as near as bad as last spring. Anyway, just seeing Gavin laughing on the bench impressed me just as much as his start yesterday. If he can loosen up, build some confidence, get a bit of an edge/ego/whatever, then he has a chance.

[RockRaines]

1. His career MLB numbers

2. His loss of velocity out of the stretch

3. His slow delivery and weak pick-off move

4. His tendency to sort of lunge forward off the mound instead of staying back which hurts his location

5. His inability to consistently throw his curve for strikes

6. The fact that his change often disappears entirely for stretches

7. The ease with which he turns into a one-pitch pitcher

8. The fact that the Sox play in a hitters park which is brutal on mediocre to bad flyball pitchers, especially in the summer

9. The fact that he's never even pitched 180 innings in a season, much less 200

10. That he's out of options so the Sox can't send him down without putting him on waivers, which means they are likely to allow him to suck for a considerable length of time before pulling the plug

11. His lack of mound presence and documented confidence issues

I honestly havent laughed so hard in a long time. Are you comparing him to a pitcher on xbox? A robot perhaps?