Interesting podcast with sporer. Fantasy focused but still very interesting talking about the pitch arsenal and peripherals of kopech, giolito and others.

https://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/category/podcast/

 

I needed to hear the Lopez bit.  I was trumpeting him as the prize in that trade but people talking about spin rates and whatnot got me feeling low on him lately.  

This is one of my favourite podcasts. They seem high on all the pitcher's except that they noted Orson has been extremely lucky this year. They were surprisingly high on reylo stating he could be a top 25 so if he ever finds consistency.

 

44 minutes ago, iWiN4PreP said:

This is one of my favourite podcasts. They seem high on all the pitcher's except that they noted Orson has been extremely lucky this year. They were surprisingly high on reylo stating he could be a top 25 so if he ever finds consistency.

 

The only thing positive about Lopez and Gio's years is that they have managed to mostly stay healthy and get MLB innings under their belt.  Both should end up around 170 IP this year.  Need to see some big jumps in their peripherals next year.   Neither guy currently has anything better than 5th starter stuff.   That said, the Sox really just need to find a 4th and 5th starter out of Gio, Lopez, Dunning, Hansen, Cover and anybody else they got on the farm or can acquire via FA/Trade.  At the top it looks like you've got Rodon, Kopech and Cease starting in 2020 and that looks like a pretty damn good big three on paper.

2 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

The only thing positive about Lopez and Gio's years is that they have managed to mostly stay healthy and get MLB innings under their belt.  Both should end up around 170 IP this year.  Need to see some big jumps in their peripherals next year.   Neither guy currently has anything better than 5th starter stuff.   That said, the Sox really just need to find a 4th and 5th starter out of Gio, Lopez, Dunning, Hansen, Cover and anybody else they got on the farm or can acquire via FA/Trade.  At the top it looks like you've got Rodon, Kopech and Cease starting in 2020 and that looks like a pretty damn good big three on paper.

Did you listen to the podcast in full? In *general* I agree with you, but I think you are taking the strong pessimistic outlook here.

 

On Gio:

Gio started off horribly this year, but in his last 6 or so starts he has shown a completely different side of him. His velocity is getting back up and he has strongly rated pitches. This is a guy that was highly touted as a prospect. I think Gio has the potential to be a SP2 here if he continues to show that the first half of this year was not who he is.

 

On ReyLo:

This is a guy that has the 3 pitches, but they are horribly inconsistent. When they are all on together he could be a top 25 SP in the league as he has shown flashes of in games. The question is if he can flip the switch and have them all on consistently.

 

Lopez and Giolito kinda remind me of the first year the Sox had Danks and Floyd pitching together.  Both had abysmal first years overall for the Sox, but looked decent at times.  They both finished with balloon ERAs ...however the following years were actually pretty good years for them.  I think the experience overall for this year is HUGE for both, I'm expecting way better results next year.