caulfield12 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 As for Floyd, he has much better raw physical ability than Danks and just about every other pitcher in baseball. If Floyd can keep it together mentally, he's going to win even more games than the eye-popping 17 last season. www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=277539&src=162 That and the insight that we won't see Contreras until May. John Danks was consistently throwing 92-93-94 for most of last season, I don't get where so many people shortchange him and treat him more like Mark Buehrle. He was a first round draft pick, too. I don't think you can make the statement Gregor does simply based on the fact that Floyd has an awesome curveball when it's on, which is about 30-40% of the time. Yes, there are lots of pitchers that have the ability to be the best in baseball based on pure stuff alone, but a little hyperbole for your Sunday morning...I think everyone in White Sox Nation would be pleased as punch if Gavin somehow managed 15 wins this season. Gregor predicting 18 or more? Well, he's out on a limb, I hope he's right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 When he's throwing it well, Gavin's best pitch is his changeup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 8, 2009 -> 01:35 PM) When he's throwing it well, Gavin's best pitch is his changeup. I would say his curveball. He has true 80 deuce when he locates it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 8, 2009 -> 01:33 PM) As for Floyd, he has much better raw physical ability than Danks and just about every other pitcher in baseball. If Floyd can keep it together mentally, he's going to win even more games than the eye-popping 17 last season. www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=277539&src=162 That and the insight that we won't see Contreras until May. John Danks was consistently throwing 92-93-94 for most of last season, I don't get where so many people shortchange him and treat him more like Mark Buehrle. He was a first round draft pick, too. I don't think you can make the statement Gregor does simply based on the fact that Floyd has an awesome curveball when it's on, which is about 30-40% of the time. Yes, there are lots of pitchers that have the ability to be the best in baseball based on pure stuff alone, but a little hyperbole for your Sunday morning...I think everyone in White Sox Nation would be pleased as punch if Gavin somehow managed 15 wins this season. Gregor predicting 18 or more? Well, he's out on a limb, I hope he's right. On this team, I would say Danks gets more out of his stuff than anyone except Mark Buehrle. I can actually agree with Gregor if you word it a little differently. I really believe that Gavin Floyd has better pure stuff and potential than Danks does. Danks just has a HUGE edge in the mental aspect of the game, which we all know how important that is in the game of baseball. Gavin Floyd is blessed with more potential and stuff than most of baseball. He just has to learn to harness it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 01:13 PM) On this team, I would say Danks gets more out of his stuff than anyone except Mark Buehrle. I can actually agree with Gregor if you word it a little differently. I really believe that Gavin Floyd has better pure stuff and potential than Danks does. Danks just has a HUGE edge in the mental aspect of the game, which we all know how important that is in the game of baseball. Gavin Floyd is blessed with more potential and stuff than most of baseball. He just has to learn to harness it. One thing about Gavin though is that his fastball so far doesn't seem to hold up as well as Danks. At least last year, if you looked at the gun, you couldn't tell whether Danks was in the 1st inning or the 6th, whether it was April or August. Gavin declined a bit more during the games and declined a bit more as the season went along, although he gutted out a fair number of huge wins in August and Sept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Conditioning? Gavin hadn't pitched so well for so long before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowand44 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 There is just too much movement on Danks' fastball for me to say that Gavin has better pure stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 01:43 PM) Conditioning? Gavin hadn't pitched so well for so long before? Certainly could play a part in it, but there's got to be more to it than that. Floyd's innings jump last year was about 25 innings over 2007, Danks's innings jump was like 75 innings. Some people just develop differently. If Floyd's in a little bit better of a position to throw 200 innings this year after throwing 200 last year, he could take another major jump. Just look at his August/September splits. His ERA was 4.56 and his OPS against him was .808 after August 1. He kept winning games and giving us huge wins, a lot of it simply on balls, but compared to the 3.43 ERA and .695 OPS against him through July 30th, his 2nd half was a downer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanOfCorn Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) There is just too much movement on Danks' fastball for me to say that Gavin has better pure stuff. That's just it. A moving fastball is probably the most important pitch in baseball today. No matter what secondary or tertiary pitch you throw, if your fastball is straight, you are going to have a rough time. Case in point...Matt Anderson. A hell of a fastball at 96-100 mph. But, no movement and he got smoked. I'll take an 88 mph fastball with movement over a 92 mph straight one. THAT'S why Danks is better than Floyd right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 It's also why Thornton and Poreda look better as relievers (as of today). Both of them throw pretty flat fastballs. If Poreda can keep improving his slider and change, then he might be able to make it as a starter...but he really has to have at least one pitch that's 10 MPH slower than his 93-95 MPH fastball. In the first inning of his appearance, maybe he was just overthrowing and his fastball had little movement. If he's just pitching with his fastball, well, we saw what happened to Danksie today and what happened to Thornton when he'd get behind in the count and have to come with fastball after fastball, even at 96-98. I think it's a case like many pitchers that when you let up just a little, the ball actually has more life, even though it's travellling at a slower rate of speed. Garland is a perfect example of this with his sinker. Contreras is best when he throws a mid 90's FB and then takes even more off his forkball and doesn't throw it too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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