In 2008, the Chicago White Sox won the AL Central largely because of their young pitching staff. A crucial part of that solid starting rotation was Gavin Floyd, 25 years old at the time, and seemingly reaching his prime. He led the team in wins with 17, also good enough for 6th in the American League. Additionally, he was eighth in winning percentage, 5th in starts and tenth in innings pitched.
In 2009, he improved upon his WHIP (good for 5th in the AL) and greatly augmented his strikeout-to-walks ratio, despite his win-loss record falling to .500 and a slight rise to his ERA.
In 2010, the wheels have come off completely.
By Paul M. Banks
“I was hoping to go and keep on going and have three starts in a row but it just seemed like I was out there trying to get outs and everybody was hitting everything,” Floyd said after getting rocked by a very good Texas Rangers lineup (to be fair, Floyd was lucky that Texas was missing it’s biggest bat in Vlad “the Impaler” Guerrero).
In just 2 2/3 innings pitched, Floyd gave up 8 hits and 6 runs, all earned. He took the loss, dropping his record to 2-6 with an astronomical 6.64 ERA. After the 9-5 loss to the Rangers (a game that was more lopsided than it sounds), he told the media:
“I want to go deeper. My whole goal is to keep us in the game and to go deep into games.”
Instead, opposing hitters are taking him deep, and he now has the dubious honor of leading the American League in earned runs allowed. He could find himself on top of the leader board in losses soon too, as “Pretty Boy Floyd” is looking more like “Pink Floyd.”
But maybe this is who he really is- a pitcher who serves as de facto batting practice on days that he can’t properly locate his breaking pitch. Maybe his great 2008, and good 2009 seasons are the fluke; and what’s happening now is (unfortunately for the White Sox) actually anything but a fluke.
After the game, I asked Sox manager Ozzie Guillen how Floyd’s confidence is holding up during this very rough season.
“If you’re not confident pitching for Ozzie Guillen and Don Cooper, I don’t think you’re going to find confidence anywhere else, cuz I never, never make this guy lose confidence, I’m going to give him the ball everytime he gets a chance,” Guillen responded.
“I hope it’s just one bad game, and he bounces back because he didn’t throw that bad against Tampa in his last outing. Today, it’s just one of the games you want to forget about it, and hopefully his next start will be better. I don’t think he can be any worse,” Guillen elaborated.
On the same exact night Floyd had a nightmarish outing, the Philadelphia Flyers defated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime of the Stanley Cup Finals, game 3. Perhaps Philadelphia also got the best of Chicago on December 6th, 2006 when the Phillies traded Gavin, along with Gio Gonzalez to the White Sox for Freddy Garcia.
Floyd’s career numbers as a Phillie (2004-06) read: 6.63 earned run average (40 ER in 54.1 IP), a 3-2 record (8 starts in 13 appearances), 32 walks and 41 strikeouts. Is he regressing back to this?
What’s more frightening is the fact that his decline occurs while he’s earning more money. He made $350,000 more in ’09 than in ’08, and he’s “earning” (cough, cough) $2,000,000 in 2010 than he did last season. It appears the Sox are getting negative return on investment from a rapidly depreciating asset.
The south side is more than just the location of the Sox ballpark; it’s also the direction where both the Sox season (22-30, 9.5 games out of first) and the career of their fourth starter is heading.