Posts tagged GavinFloyd at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Sometimes it sucks to have everything you said in writing for all to see. It's not like you are sitting there in the bar sipping on some cold ones while making proclamations. In those cases, you can easily claim you were misconstrued or your friend wasn't paying close enough attention.

But when you do post something, and watch the last Wednesday Cubs/Reds contest (to recap, Lieber was awful and Volquez was brilliant), well, that sucks. It's times like those that one must remind himself that giving fantasy advice isn't fortune-telling. It is something I hold near and dear to my heart, though, and that's gambling.

In the case of full disclosure, I made four really good calls (the non-Volquez five down ones) and six really, really bad ones. We should know going into this column that it is the bizarro world pitching write-up. I'm going to tell you "no-brainer starters" to not play, and "don't start this guy" pitchers to start. Disasters like last week's version are bound to happen.

Remember, you are gambling here, and we love gambling. Please keep that in mind as you delve cautiously into the world of craziness that will follow the jump.

(Oh yeah, and Brinson had to remind me after the Cubs/Reds game that homerism doesn't really work in fantasy. I should know better anyway... )

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

St. Louis Cardinals (23-15) at Milwaukee Brewers (17-19) - 2:05 PM ET

Milwaukee, already known for its consumption of beer and brats, has been the Tums capital of America this weekend. First, Jason Isringhausen blew a save on Friday after having the Brewers at two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning ... which led to Jason being demoted from the closers role. Then the very next day, there was Eric Gagne blowing yet another save, which was Gagne's ... oh I've lost count this season, how many blown saves is that? Gotta be between 50 and 80 (actually, he only blew a tie game in the ninth, but Gagne did get the loss). And that led Gagne to muse that maybe he should go the same path as Isringhausen. So can anybody here close today's game? Hey, at least extra innings will be fun.

If you thought what the White Sox violated blow-up dolls with baseball bats, you should see what they do to space heaters with them. Mark Buehrle didn't have a very strong performance to follow Gavin Floyd's near no-no on Tuesday night, as he allowed 7 runs in 5.2 innings and fell to 1-4 on the season.

Needless to say, Buehrle isn't too happy with the way the 2008 season has been going for him, and he let the frustration boil over after being removed from yesterday's game.

Moments after rookie Carlos Gomez hit a two-out RBI double to cap a five-run sixth-inning rally, Buehrle already was off the mound when he gave Guillen the ball.

Buehrle went to the dugout, grabbed one of Juan Uribe's bats and whacked it five times against a space heater and a dugout bench before tossing his cap and shaking his head.

"It was everything building up," Buehrle said after the Sox lost for the seventh time in eight games. "It was the way I pitched, the way we're playing. It was one of those games where you can't hold it back."

As of now, the League of People For Space Heater Rights haven't filed a complaint, so Buehrle or the White Sox haven't issued a fake apology for Mark's actions yet. When asked about it after the game, manager Ozzie Guillen had this to say.

"It's bull[bleep]. What Mark did to that space heater is [bleep]ing bull[bleep]. That space heater is the [bleep] of Mark Buehrle. Two weeks ago, it was the greatest [bleep]ing space heater in the [bleep]ing history of space [bleep]ing heaters. Now it's horse[bleep]. I'm tired of it. [Bleep]. [Bleep]. [Bleep]......[bleep]."

When you hear about a guy going 8 1/3 innings without giving up a single hit, it's usually safe to assume he had a pretty good night, right? Maybe most of the time, but not always. Here's Twins beat reporter La Velle E Neal III in his blog for the Star Tribune on what he saw:

If Gavin Floyd had pulled off a no-no against the Twins on Tuesday it would have been the sloppiest, most unjust no-hitter that I can remember.

Floyd was far from overpowering. In fact, I sent Joe C. a text message around the fourth inning remarking how Floyd couldn't get ANY breaking pitches or his change up, over for strikes. I was convinced that the Twins would sit on the fastball and start pounding him. [...] The Twins should have hit this guy. I know its easy for me to write that from my position but geez....

(Joe C., for those non-Twins fans reading this, is Joe Christensen, a fellow reporter for the Star Tribune.) Looking at the box score, Floyd walked only three guys while throwing 62 strikes in 105 pitches, so either he was getting more of the plate than Neal is giving him credit for or the Twins will swing at anything (which is more or less an organizational philosophy).

In any case, even if Floyd doesn't have complete command of his pitches, it's hard to deny that he's at least been (very) effectively wild. This is the second time that he's thrown at least 7 1/3 innings without a hit, and on the year he has a paltry 2.50 ERA while allowing batters to hit just .149.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Toronto Blue Jays (16-17) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (16-15) - 7:07PM Est.

It's been a few weeks since the Blue Jays cut themselves loose of slugger Frank Thomas because he just wasn't contributing anything on offense for them. Since that move, the Blue Jays still haven't scored very many runs, pushing only 37 runners across the plate in the 14 post-Thomas era games. Generally when you're only scoring 2.6 runs a game, you aren't going to win much, and the Blue Jays haven't going 6-8 in those games.

Over the last few days, though, Toronto has figured out how to win without scoring runs, and that's just not letting your opponent score any either.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. After getting off to a hot start in April, the White Sox had caught just about everybody by surprise when they found themselves atop of the AL Central throughout the month. Sure, it had something to do with the horrible starts that the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians had gotten off to, but really, the White Sox actually were playing like a first place team for the first 21 days or so of the season. It seemed as though the offense had returned after taking last year off, and the pitching was far outperforming the expectations.

Then the last few weeks started. The White Sox have lost seven of their last ten, including four in a row, and they've looked horrible doing so. It's gotten to the point where I've been watching and I came to the realization that I hate this team. Seriously, they drive me insane while watching them, and up until yesterday they were in first place.

How does one end up hating their favorite team while they're in first place? It's easier than you think. Especially when your favorite team is hitting an American League worst .235, and continues to waste solid starting pitching. For example, on Friday night Mark Buehrle pitched 8 innings allowing no earned runs, scattering five hits, and striking out seven Blue Jays without walking anybody. His reward? A loss. The Sox were only able to manage two hits of their own that game, both of which came off the bat of Orlando Cabrera.

Now it's pretty easy to just say that the offense is going through a funk right now, and that once they break out of it, I'll fall in love with them again. Unfortunately, I know better than that.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Chicago White Sox (11-9) vs. New York Yankees (12-10) - 8:11PM Est.

Any minute now, Hank Steinbrenner is going to be on a New York radio station demanding that Brian Cashman trade Alex Rodriguez as soon as possible, because "that overpaid bastard has been holding us back! Anybody that would keep him on their team is an idiot! Joba Chamberlain should be playing third! Now bow down before me and kiss the rings, bitches."

Then when Brian Cashman says that Alex is a great player, and that there's no way the Yankees will trade him, Hank will have him shot in Times Square while hundreds of teenagers who were just there hoping to catch a glimpse of Miley Cyrus in the TRL studios or something will scream in horror. It's going to be pretty awesome.

The reason for all this? Well, the Yankees are looking to complete their first three-game sweep of the season, and they've won the first two games of their series against the White Sox without Alex Rodriguez in the lineup. He won't be back today either.

Fantasy Felony tells you how to melt other owners' faces via swindling them in trades.

If you Google "Gavin Floyd Fantasy", you'll see plenty of articles mentioning his hot start. Trust me, I just did it. I wanted to make sure he was a sell high candidate. Just in case his 2-0 record, 1.40 ERA and 0.88 WHIP didn't make him a hot enough commodity. I found no less than four articles (just scanning quickly) that recommended picking him up. So the hype is there.

So are the stats, at least on the face of things, as you can see above. But if we dig a little deeper, we'll see that Gavin might be pitching above his head (kind of like the White Sox are playing -- no way!)

First of all, Floyd is experiencing a spike in fly balls allowed this season, up to 53.7%. No big deal; outs are outs. Until you see that he's only allowing 6.9% of those fly balls to become home runs, an unsustainable pace. Like, that's not even my opinion or anything, man. It's just a fact.

Also unsustainable? His strand rate of 85.5% and his BABIP of .136. In other bad news, his K/9 and K/BB are both down (to 4.66 and 1.25, kind of respectively) while his BB/9 is actually up (3.72).

So to recap: basically every peripheral stat that we look for to determine if a pitcher is getting lucky with a really nice start points the wrong way for Mr. Floyd.

Gavin is a very talented pitcher with a wicked curveball. People have been talking about him as a great prospect for several years now. And they're talking again, because he's pitching well. But every single one of the peripherals surrounding his hot start point to him being lucky. And, yes, it is very difficult to peddle that young talent-ridden, upside-mcgriddled prospect that's been teasing fantasy owners for years. But facts is facts.

He's going to come back down to Urf, and you would be immensely better off packaging him with another player to deal for a struggling stud. Players that come to mind are Roy Oswalt or the almost recovered John Lackey and Scott Kazmir. All three would be absolute hijacks, even if you had to include another midlevel player for Roy.

I haven't been able to find anything to verify it, but MLB Trade Rumors is citing a report on Impacto Deportivo that says the White Sox have come to terms on a deal with free agent pitcher/donut connoisseur Bartolo Colon.

Impacto Deportivo indicates tonight that the White Sox reached an agreement with starter Bartolo Colon, pending a physical. We'll have to see whether his shoulder passes the test. Impacto Deportivo has a good track record but often jumps the gun, so we may see some semi-rebuttals from the Sox.

Considering there's no confirmation any deal has actually been reached, I can't tell you how long the contract is, or how much it's worth.

If it is true, it will be Colon's second tour of duty with the White Sox where he spent the 2003 season and put up a record of 15-13 while eating up 243 innings. I like the signing for the White Sox (again, if it's true) because it's a low-risk, high reward type deal.

If Colon doesn't pan out and can't recover from the injuries that have dogged him the last few seasons, who cares? He can't be any worse than Gavin Floyd, right? If Colon does somehow manage to get back to his old form, he might just help the Sox compete in the AL Central and get the south siders back into the playoffs.

UPDATE: The White Sox are denying Impacto Deportivo's report.

"Under The Gun" takes a look at one player from each team who will bear all the pressure for the upcoming '08 season.

There was a time when Jose Contreras was probably the best pitcher in all of baseball. For a 12-month period between the 2005 All-Star break through the 2006 All-Star break, Conteras couldn't lose. Literally. He went 17-0 during that span.

Ever since then, though, Jose has been atrocious. Since July 14, 2006, Jose is 14-26, finishing the 2007 season with a record of 10-17 and an ERA of 5.57. Not surprisingly, Jose's slide coincides directly with the slide of the White Sox.

So as the Sox enter the 2008 season with hopes and delusions of competing with the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians in the AL Central, they need Jose Contreras back. Since they sent Jon Garland to the Angels for Orlando Cabrera, there's quite a large void left in the starting rotation. Mark Buehrle and Javier Vazquez are the only two pitchers Chicago has that can be considered reliable. After that it's Contreras, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd.

Danks showed promise last season, but quickly burned out under the heaviest workload of his young career, and anybody who has seen Gavin Floyd pitch knows he's not going to be in the rotation very long. So if the White Sox are going to have any chance of competing for a playoff spot, Jose Contreras is going to have carry the back load of the rotation.

Given the fact that Jose has exhibited the mental strength of a toasted marshmallow in his career, I highly doubt it's going to happen.

One of the more disappointing aspects of the White Sox season in 2007 was not only the fourth place finish in the AL Central, but also the relative lack of insanity and hi-jinks from manager Ozzie Guillen. Say what you will about the the White Sox manager, but whether you love him or hate him, you could always count on him giving you something to talk about.

Not in 2007 though. As far as Ozzie standards are concerned, it was a rather tame year. He didn't get into any arguments with opposing managers, and he didn't question the sexuality of any local sportswriters. Hell, much like the team he managed, he was boring.

That's all going to change in 2008 though, because Ozzie says he's going to get back to being Ozzie this season.

"Last year was my fault because I think I was laid-back too much," Guillen said Friday at the rain-soaked Kino Sports Complex. "I have to be back to being Ozzie, have fun, smile with the players but be on top of everything. [If I have] to scream at somebody, I will do it and get back to what I was. I don't care if I'm going to be on TV, and people hate me for that. I get paid to win."

Given the fact that the White Sox currently have Jose Contreras and Gavin Floyd slotted in their starting rotation, I get the feeling that Ozzie is going to be screaming at a lot of people this season. I know I will.

Just in case you thought that there was a chance Freddy Garcia might redeem himself in Philadelphia, it's probably time to face reality. He opened the year with a 5.90 ERA and hasn't pitched since early June due to a strained shoulder. He's trying to get to the majors, but he's struggled to regain his stuff so far while pitching on a minor league rehab assignment. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

He recently made three rehab starts - one for the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Phillies and two for single-A Clearwater - but he plans to meet Thursday with orthopedist James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., to talk about his shoulder.

If Andrews recommends an operation, Garcia could have surgery that day.

Garcia has not been throwing particularly well, although he has thrown a combined 61/3 scoreless innings for Clearwater. But reports are that his fastball has been hovering around 84 m.p.h., which indicates he is not close to returning to the form that made the Phillies trade Gio Gonzalez and Gavin Floyd to the Chicago White Sox for him in December.

He's set to become a free agent at the end of the season, and for some reason I'm guessing he's not going to find a team willing to match his $10 million salary from this season. It's worth pointing out that Floyd has been abysmal, as well, what with a 7.36 ERA in 33 innings for the White Sox, but at least he's still 24 years old with a legitimate future ahead of him, while Gonzalez is only 21 years old and pitching well at Double-A. At 31 years old, Garcia looks like he's already two years past his peak.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Chicago White Sox (43-55) vs. Detroit Tigers (59-38)-2:05PM Est.

The White Sox and Tigers are two of the four teams that will be playing a double header today. For the Tigers, playing five games against the White Sox in four days could be the best thing to ever happen to their division lead. Jeremy Bonderman doesn't hurt either, and he'll be starting for the Tigers in Game 1. Bonderman is 10-1 on the season, but only 5-6 in his lifetime against the White Sox. Of course the last time the White Sox took place in a double header, they ended up allowing 32 runs to the Minnesota Twins. It'll be up to Javier Vazquez to try and keep the Tigers under 20 this time around. Vazquez has been fantastic for Chicago, winning his last five starts, and looks to keep his streak alive against Detroit. Gavin Floyd and Virgil Vasquez have both been called up and will start the second game of the double header this evening.

It appears that the White Sox have come to a conclusion on whom the fifth starter in their rotation is going to be, and it doesn't look like it will be Gavin Floyd.

While the decision will be made by a group, John Danks already has manager Ozzie Guillen in his corner.

"Right now, I'm voting for him to be there, but that decision is a group decision. The way he throws, Danks should be on the club. He throws strikes and attacks the [strike] zone. What I see, I like and I think [general manager] Kenny Williams will agree with what I say."

That's right, he said all of that without dropping a single F-bomb. I couldn't believe it either.

Anyway, Danks is coming off of another strong performance on Friday in which he allowed only 1 hit to the Colorado Rockies in 4 innings. Gavin Floyd came in to start the fifth inning and promptly gave up a grand slam, which may have sealed his fate.

The only problem facing the White Sox if they choose Danks would be opening up a spot for him on the 40-man roster, but the Orioles took care of that when they claimed Sean Tracey off of waivers this week. As for Floyd's future, it's uncertain. The team could use him in long relief, but with Boone Logan, Charlie Haeger, David Aardsma and Adam Russell already in the mix, it's likely Floyd will end up in Triple-A.

Previously at the Fanhouse:

Danks You Very Much

Gavin Floyd Starts Off On The Wrong Foot

Coming into the spring the White Sox were going to have an open competition for the fifth spot in their rotation, but for the most part it was expected that Gavin Floyd would assume the role. Of course, the only reason there was an open spot was the surprising trade of Brandon McCarthy to the Texas Rangers.

Well, maybe Ken Williams knew what he was doing after all.

Floyd's biggest competition so far in camp has been John Danks, the 21-year old lefty the Sox got in return for McCarthy. It hasn't been much of a competition. Both Danks and Floyd were scheduled to pitch on Tuesday against the Rangers to help the Sox figure out who's going to win the job.

Well, it looks like it's Danks' job to lose now. Gavin Floyd started the game and went 3 2/3 innings, giving up 9 hits and 6 runs while striking out 3 and walking 2 batters. Danks started the 4th inning and lasted 3 innings allowing only 2 hits and 1 earned run. The outing raised Floyd's spring ERA to a gaudy 8.53 while Danks' sits at 2.00.

Though the White Sox haven't come out and said it yet, it's becoming apparent that Danks is the leading candidate. Ozzie Guillen didn't hide his feelings after the game. (Emphasis is mine.)

''[Floyd] struggled,'' Guillen said. ''He struggled to command, he was behind guys, couldn't put them away. It wasn't the outing we were looking for.''

Guillen then went on to say that knuckleballer Charlie Haeger, who pitched very well in a B game earlier Tuesday, is also back in the mix.

As for Floyd, it seems everything I heard about him from Phillies fans is true. The guy seems to have the mental strength of a bowl of Jell-O.