ESPN 1000 Gallimaufry

In contempt that Mack, Jurko and Harry were touting Gavin Floyd and John Danks as Cy Young worthy pitchers, I called in ESPN 1000 to argue.

Noting that Gavin Floyd and Danks (but Floyd in particular) are flyball pitchers in a home run park, backed up by the worse defense in baseball, I asked them "how much budweiser have you all had to drink today?"

It's ok, though, because as Mack replied (to paraphrase): "I don't care how many home runs a guy gives up if they are all solo shots."

Taking note of this stupid, stupid response, I logged into Fangraphs.com and discovered that Gavin Floyd's 30 home runs last season were tied for the fifth most amongst any starting pitchers. With the exceptions of Dave Bush (whose FIP was awful), Scott Olsen (whose FIP was even worse) and Ted Lilly (whose FIP was a very average 4.41), no pitcher who gave up 29 or more home runs last season had an ERA under 4.55 -- EXCEPT Gavin Floyd, whose FIP was 4.77.

But it's OK, because Gavin Floyd only gives up home runs when no one's on base because he wills it so; he's just clutch like that.