FireKennyWilliams.com

[YASNY]

Garland performed well enough to have earned enough respect that some of these comments are entirely ridiculous.

[wbicker2424]

I think Garland is an important part of the team's success over the last 8 or so years. He has been durable and shown consistency year to year. It is quite possible that the subtraction of Garland is greater than the addition of Cabrera to this teams success. Unless of course Danks or Floyd can step it up this year and replace some of what Garland offered to this team. I hope both of them have great seasons, but in reality nobody knows until those guys get out there. I believe they both have the potential, however whether or not they will fufill that potential is just not a question that can be answered at this time.

[YASNY]

I think Garland is an important part of the team's success over the last 8 or so years. He has been durable and shown consistency year to year. It is quite possible that the subtraction of Garland is greater than the addition of Cabrera to this teams success. Unless of course Danks or Floyd can step it up this year and replace some of what Garland offered to this team. I hope both of them have great seasons, but in reality nobody knows until those guys get out there. I believe they both have the potential, however whether or not they will fufill that potential is just not a question that can be answered at this time.

 

Whether they fulfill that potential is one question. When they do so is another. It may not be in 2008. It might be 2009 or 2010. As I said earlier, it took Garland a few years.

[sircaffey]

Floyd and Danks actually have plus pitches though. that is the thing. Garland doesn't have plus anything.

 

Floyd and Danks also have below average pitches. Garland is at least average across the board, and he can throw each for strikes. Danks and Floyd can't.

[iamshack]

Floyd and Danks also have below average pitches. Garland is at least average across the board, and he can throw each for strikes. Danks and Floyd can't.

 

That's not true. Floyd has a very plus curveball, and an above average fastball. If you want to talk about "plus" pitches, this is Floyd's greatest strength.

 

Danks, I'm not so sure about. He appears to have a plus curve, but everything else appears prettty average to me.

[fathom]

That's not true. Floyd has a very plus curveball, and an above average fastball. If you want to talk about "plus" pitches, this is Floyd's greatest strength.

 

Danks, I'm not so sure about. He appears to have a plus curve, but everything else appears prettty average to me.

 

Floyd's fastball is in the 92 mph range. It's far from being an above average pitch.

[iamshack]

Floyd's fastball is in the 92 mph range. It's far from being an above average pitch.

 

I think he hits higher than that. And I should preface my comment: If he is locating his curveball, his fastball easily an above-average pitch.

[fathom]

I think he hits higher than that. And I should preface my comment: If he is locating his curveball, his fastball easily an above-average pitch.

 

Nope, he was consistently in the 90-91 mph range, and only a few times would he reach 93-94 mph. And it's not like it's a deceptive fastball (like Neal Cotts), where he gets a lot of swings and misses on the pitch.

[iamshack]

Nope, he was consistently in the 90-91 mph range, and only a few times would he reach 93-94 mph. And it's not like it's a deceptive fastball (like Neal Cotts), where he gets a lot of swings and misses on the pitch.

 

Well the scouting report says he hits 92-93 consistently, occasionally hitting 95. Perhaps he was more customarily around 90-91 last year, but I seem to recall him hitting 93-94 more than a few times.

 

"Physically, Floyd is close to being a perfect pitching prospect. He is tall and lanky, but not too thin. He has both a strong upper body and strong legs. His fastball can hit 95 mph, and is a consistent 92-93 mph offering, with movement."

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1794552

 

Regardless, the point is that Floyd does not have "below average pitches."

[Jack Parkman]

On the gun on the MLB website for gameday, which I have heard is the most accurate, Floyd was consistently 92-95 with the 4 seamer(I'd watch the game on TV and look at the computer for the gun) with a few pops at 96 and worked in the 93-94 range. He'd have at least one or 2 fastballs per inning with a reading of 95-96 mph. The the 89-91 mph fastballs had 2-seamer/sinker movement on them.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Elgin Slim

[fathom]

On the gun on the MLB website for gameday, which I have heard is the most accurate, Floyd was consistently 92-95 with the 4 seamer(I'd watch the game on TV and look at the computer for the gun) with a few pops at 96 and worked in the 93-94 range. He'd have at least one or 2 fastballs per inning with a reading of 95-96 mph.

 

I've heard the total opposite, and that the readings on that site were off the whole season.

[Balta1701]

I've heard the total opposite, and that the readings on that site were off the whole season.

I don't know if I saw a gun I was happy with all of last season. I will say that the numbers on MLB's gameday at least seemed to do 1 thing; they seemed to be comparable from game to game. So if you thought a guy was throwing harder one game than another or harder one pitch than another, Gameday at least reflected that. It's entirely possible they were all off by 2-3 mph all year, but at least they struck me as comparable from 1 game to another.

[Jack Parkman]

I've heard the total opposite, and that the readings on that site were off the whole season.

It has to be better than the Comcast/WGN guns. They had Jenks' fastball as low as 88-89 multiple times last season, which, judging by his effectiveness is BS. I didn't see Jenks hit 95 on the WGN/Comcast guns more than four or five times the whole season, and that was the highest reading I saw from him. He did hit 94 countless times. If Bobby was throwing in the low 90s the whole season, he would have been knocked around as hard as JoeBlow IMO. For Gavin, The comcast readings were anywhere from 86-88 for the 2-seamer/sinker and 89-93 for the 4-seamer, which leads me to believe that the guns were 3-4 mph slow the whole season.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Elgin Slim

[fathom]

It has to be better than the Comcast/WGN guns. They had Jenks' fastball as low as 88-89 multiple times last season, which, judging by his effectiveness is BS. I didn't see Jenks hit 95 on the WGN/Comcast guns more than four or five times the whole season, and that was the highest reading I saw from him. If Bobby was throwing in the low 90s the whole season, he would have been knocked around as hard as JoeBlow IMO. For Gavin, The comcast readings were anywhere from 86-88 for the 2-seamer/sinker and 89-93 for the 4-seamer, which leads me to believe that the guns were 3-4 mph slow the whole season.

 

Jenks was in the low 90s for a portion of the season. I don't know if he ever got his fastball consistently over 96 mph this seasion.

[Jack Parkman]

Jenks was in the low 90s for a portion of the season. I don't know if he ever got his fastball consistently over 96 mph this seasion.

I know his fastball was slower at the beginning of the season, but the 2nd part is BS. If he was throwing 94-95 at the highest the whole season, then he would have been crushed. His fastball has practically no movement and hitters would have teed off on him. It would have been Shingo 2005 part deux. I doubt he hit 100 this season, but from June on I'd bet that he was consistently 95-97 with a few at 98-99. Otherwise that stretch of 41 retired batters could have turned into 41 straight batters reaching base.

 

[fathom]

I know his fastball was slower at the beginning of the season, but the 2nd part is BS. If he was throwing 94-95 at the highest the whole season, then he would have been crushed. His fastball has practically no movement and hitters would have teed off on him. It would have been Shingo 2005 part deux. I doubt he hit 100 this season, but from June on I'd bet that he was consistently 95-97 with a few at 98-99. Otherwise that stretch of 41 retired batters could have turned into 41 straight batters reaching base.

 

He was using his cut fastball a lot more this past season, and he was throwing it around 93 mph.

[Jack Parkman]

He was using his cut fastball a lot more this past season, and he was throwing it around 93 mph.

If he was working exclusively with the cutter the whole season, then that would explain the 93-95 readings. I just think that if he couldn't throw the 4-seamer faster than 94-95 then his cutter would suffer as well and be 89-91.

[sircaffey]

Well the scouting report says he hits 92-93 consistently, occasionally hitting 95. Perhaps he was more customarily around 90-91 last year, but I seem to recall him hitting 93-94 more than a few times.

 

"Physically, Floyd is close to being a perfect pitching prospect. He is tall and lanky, but not too thin. He has both a strong upper body and strong legs. His fastball can hit 95 mph, and is a consistent 92-93 mph offering, with movement."

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1794552

 

Regardless, the point is that Floyd does not have "below average pitches."

 

You misread what I said. I said they also have below average pitches. Floyd's fastball and curve are not below average. His other pitches are.

Edited December 20, 2007 by sircaffey

[iamshack]

You misread what I said. I said they also have below average pitches. Floyd's fastball and curve are not below average. His other pitches are.

 

Well pretty much every pitcher in baseball outside of perhaps the top 5 in each league have "a" or "some" below average pitches. That isn't saying a whole lot...