Why did the Orioles like Gallardo at 88 MPH, but didn't like Gonzalez at 88?

[Prayin4Reign]

The velocity of their fastball is certainly the same, but nothing else appears to be. Gallardo can throw that slider in any count for a good strike and the fastball has enough finish to get off the good part of the bat. Gallardo appears to be able to throw in 3 different speed zones and use those pitches in any count. It also appears that everything must be coming out of the same release location / arm angle because I see no sign that the hitters can pick up the offspeed stuff early.

I'm not saying he can thrive long term at 88, but I enjoyed watching Gallardo pitch tonight. His stuff is several steps better than what I saw from Gonzalez in ST or late last year.

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I always enjoy reading your posts man. Good stuff.

[CaptainRedbeard]

Undoubtedly his velocity is down. This is a huge concern, no way around it. But why did they keep him over Gonzo? There are a number of reasons.

1. Money. You could probably stop after this one. I don't think the Orioles think Gonzalez is necessarily done, just that he had an uphill climb and was not worth the contract. Conversely, all of Gallardo's money is guaranteed.

2. Gallardo has some deception in his motion. He hides the ball well (you'll see he flips his glove out right where he's about to deliver from) and comes straight over the top, which is a unique look. Gonzo is very vanilla - he had a bit of the "rising" fastball effect when he was throwing 92, but not so much at 86-88.

3. All of Gallardo's pitches have lots of movement. He can cut, sink, and ride his fastball up in the zone. His slider looks very effective and he can throw it for strikes. Gonzo can't do any of that - he has trouble throwing his offspeed pitches (curve and splitter) for strikes in the zone. He relies much more on the fastball in that regard, so losing the velocity on that offering hit him hard.

4. Ground balls. Gonzo gets lit up for homers when he's not pitching well, and even when he was pitching well he was very HR-prone. Gallardo at least looks to keep it on the ground and in the park.

Those are the positives. All those said, I am not optimistic on Gallardo's effectiveness at all, especially at reduced velocity. The negatives are that he is very erratic with his motion and is going to walk alot of people (as he has his whole career), and the fastballs he leaves in the middle of the zone at 88 mph are going to get absolutely hammered.

Gallardo reminds me alot of Ubaldo, who also has qualities 2-4 and the negatives I just mentioned. However, Ubaldo has more velocity and a legit swing and miss pitch with his splitter. Gallardo likely has the edge in command, but not by a whole lot. It looks like there's some reason to expect he can be reasonably effective with reduced velocity, but the best we're going to get is basically a second Ubaldo. Not exactly thrilling.

[hoosiers]

I think this was a young, below average lineup tonight put out by the Twins. There is big potential in that lineup but I think there are a number of AL teams that will feast on the stuff Gallardo displayed tonight.

I remember Ubaldo did not work out on advice of agent during his FA process and it took several months for him to get in shape and build up arm strength - according to him. I expect it may be the same with Gallardo. Hopefully, there is more in the tank than what we saw tonight.

[Sessh]

I think this was a young, below average lineup tonight put out by the Twins. There is big potential in that lineup but I think there are a number of AL teams that will feast on the stuff Gallardo displayed tonight.

I remember Ubaldo did not work out on advice of agent during his FA process and it took several months for him to get in shape and build up arm strength - according to him. I expect it may be the same with Gallardo. Hopefully, there is more in the tank than what we saw tonight.

Yeah, there's a lot of green in the Twins lineup and every AL East team has a better one. I know Gallardo got the results today, but that stuff isn't going to cut it. His change up is straight like his fastball and his slider

looked average at best to me. The Twins were missing the ball more than Gallardo's pitches were missing bats if that makes any sense. We'll see what happens in his next start presumably against Boston on the 11th.

It looks like we'll have Tillman, Wright and perhaps Wilson going for us against the Rays next up.

[ChuckS]

Yeah, there's a lot of green in the Twins lineup and every AL East team has a better one. I know Gallardo got the results today, but that stuff isn't going to cut it. His change up is straight like his fastball and his slider

looked average at best to me. The Twins were missing the ball more than Gallardo's pitches were missing bats if that makes any sense. We'll see what happens in his next start presumably against Boston on the 11th.

It looks like we'll have Tillman, Wright and perhaps Wilson going for us against the Rays next up.

I don't see how they could do it any other way, unless there are rain outs. Saturday is looking dicey (rain/snow in the forecast) and tomorrow is not looking great, although most of the rain is supposed to be earlier in the day it looks like. A few scenarios where the fifth starter may not be needed until late next week.

[Sessh]

I don't see how they could do it any other way, unless there are rain outs. Saturday is looking dicey (rain/snow in the forecast) and tomorrow is not looking great, although most of the rain is supposed to be earlier in the day it looks like. A few scenarios where the fifth starter may not be needed until late next week.

Indeed.

8am: 70% chance of rain

9am: 70%

10am: 70%

11am: 60%

12pm: 60%

1pm: 50%

There was a good chance of T'storms listed for 6pm and 7pm earlier, but it has been changed to no chance. We'll see. For Saturday, we play in Boston. As of now, Saturday's forecast for Boston is mid 40's with a slight

chance of rain, then a chance of snow around 8-9pm. We should be good there.

[jjdman]

Indeed.

8am: 70% chance of rain

9am: 70%

10am: 70%

11am: 60%

12pm: 60%

1pm: 50%

There was a good chance of T'storms listed for 6pm and 7pm earlier, but it has been changed to no chance. We'll see. For Saturday, we play in Boston. As of now, Saturday's forecast for Boston is mid 40's with a slight

chance of rain, then a chance of snow around 8-9pm. We should be good there.

At home fri, sat and sun vs TB. At Boston mon, tue and wed

[weams]

Last year Gallardo threw about 90-91. Which is slow for him, but still faster than he did today. That's why I was concerned with seeing 88 today.

I am sure that the Orioles would prefer a bit more velocity out of him.

[Going Underground]

At home fri, sat and sun vs TB. At Boston mon, tue and wed

Saturday does not look good. Real cold and snow and rain. They should at least move the game time up so it might not be 36 at game time. i doubt they play on Saturday. Today,i think since Minnesota is not coming back they will try. Another small crowd actually in the stands.

[jjdman]

Saturday does not look good. Real cold and snow and rain. They should at least move the game time up so it might not be 36 at game time. i doubt they play on Saturday. Today,i think since Minnesota is not coming back they will try. Another small crowd actually in the stands.

Here's a site I use to check weather for all games.

http://dailybaseballdata.com/cgi-bin/weather.pl

[Roll Tide]

Gallardo was probably not throwing full tilt while he was waiting to sign. I think you will see him 90-91 before too long. Remember it was cold..

[ShaneDawg85]

Watching him pitch was strange. I sat there looking at the radar gun on the broadcast and thinking, "that's it?" "How is that fooling anybody?" But the reality is a lot of guys have gotten by and had successful careers throwing junk and not a lot of velocity. You know them, you can name them, it can happen. I was more bothered by the walks, which I know is a part of his game, because I found myself struggling to understand how you can walk so many guys with a lack of velocity. He didn't strike me as erratic as Ubaldo strikes me as erratic. Can it work, sure, hopefully the more starts he gets in the more he shakes off the late spring start.

[Il BuonO]

The premise is that Gallardo got by because of the youth of the Twins' lineup.

Best night of Gallardo:

Buxton - 2 for 2 with 2 hard hit doubles

He is the youngest, least experienced hitter in the lineup. These were the only two hits that Gallardo gave up.

Mauer, Dozier, Pluoffe, and Suzuki went a combined 0-9 with a sac fly. All of these guys are veterans by any standard.

I'm not really buying that he was successful due to the Twins' inexperience. Now, I might buy some combination of their lineup isn't very good overall or that it is early in the season so people don't have their best timing or it was just a bad hitting night for the Twins.

I want to see Gallardo at 90/91 too, but I think the assessments of tonight's game are overly harsh. Time will tell.

Ok, the Twins lineup isn't very good and their better hitters don't have their timing down. ?

Of course, Gallardo gets some credit for disrupting that timing, but I wasn't very impressed. I don't know that being lit up by their most inexperienced hitter is a feather in his cap. And no one is mentioning the 3 BB in only 5IP. He got away with those not hurting him, but that won't always happen. His slider didn't look to have much bite and his FB isn't a decent pitch. I'll be very interested in his next start.

[Redskins Rick]

Watching him pitch was strange. I sat there looking at the radar gun on the broadcast and thinking, "that's it?" "How is that fooling anybody?" But the reality is a lot of guys have gotten by and had successful careers throwing junk and not a lot of velocity. You know them, you can name them, it can happen. I was more bothered by the walks, which I know is a part of his game, because I found myself struggling to understand how you can walk so many guys with a lack of velocity. He didn't strike me as erratic as Ubaldo strikes me as erratic. Can it work, sure, hopefully the more starts he gets in the more he shakes off the late spring start.

What hurt the Orioles back several years ago, they had nobody throwing heat, and all 5 SP was tossing the same stuff.

[DJHJR86]

Gallardo last night looked so much better than anything Gonzalez was throwing in ST or last year.