30 replies to this topic

[SoxScout]

Info coming

[TheYellowDart5]

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports is confirming (or reporting): http://twitter.com/#!/TBrownYahoo/status/71381796117413888

[SoxScout]

This from when he walked away from the Yankees:

A scout who watched Kevin Millwood's start yesterday for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre reported the veteran right-hander's velocity didn't reach 90 mph.

"It was a decent outing," the scout said. "He left several fastballs up in the zone that were hit hard" the scout said. "The velocity was only 86 to 89 [mph]."

http://www.nypost.co...ViGrEKg5WG2TsuJ

[foulkehampshire]

This from when he walked away from the Yankees:

http://www.nypost.co...ViGrEKg5WG2TsuJ

Averaged 89.0 on the fastball last year in Baltimore.

[BroodsSexton]

Averaged 89.0 on the fastball last year in Baltimore.

"Average" means that he broke 90 once in a while, right?

[foulkehampshire]

"Average" means that he broke 90 once in a while, right?

Thats what I would assume. Hasn't really been a hard thrower for years.


I think the bigger issue is that he throws a subpar fastball more often than he should. 61% in 2011.

Edited by foulkehampshire, 19 May 2011 - 08:38 PM.

[Greg29fan]

Ken Rosenthal just tweeted - "A GM, not Cashman, told me today that Millwood was "terrible" for #Yankees at AAA. #MLB"

[phragle]

Minor Leauge deal?

[SoxScout]

Minor Leauge deal?

Of course. Probably just "let us have a looksee."

[phragle]

Here is his last start with Baltimore: http://www.brooksbas...almlb_tbamlb_1/

Sat between 88-84 MPH on the fastball.

[SoxScout]

No wonder he throws his shit fastball so much, look how absolutly bruital his slider, change and curve were:

http://www.fangraphs...n=P#pitchvalues

[Hendu's Gait]

Have Wakefield teach him the knuckler.

[shepard50]

So, If Oki is DFA'd it's either Millwood or Morales to the 25. Or there's another move coming.

What's your best guess?

[Carl Everetts Therapist]

I wonder how Beckett's neck injury affected this signing?

[shepard50]

I wonder how Beckett's neck injury affected this signing?

There's no way they could move that fast.

[Cuzittt]

Another move is coming. Dan Wheeler is coming off the disabled list tomorrow.

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

With all the dreck that's out there actually throwing the ball, I have been surprised that no one has given Millwood a chance. He had a very good 2009, and his 2010 numbers were pushed lower because the Os were so bad as his xFIP was 4.66. While he had a horrible two months in June and July last year (8.94 ERA in 9 starts), he pitched to a 3.78 ERA in the other 22 starts.

[jtn46]

Averaged 89.0 on the fastball last year in Baltimore.

After averaging 90 the year before.

He made 2 starts in Scranton, 1 in Trenton. It's unlikely he was in game shape (or is now). If he's throwing 85, absolutely it should be assumed that the division will eat him alive, but if he's going to average 89, it shouldn't be automatically be assumed that he can't be useful. That's why the ml deal is nice.

[phragle]

With all the dreck that's out there actually throwing the ball, I have been surprised that no one has given Millwood a chance. He had a very good 2009, and his 2010 numbers were pushed lower because the Os were so bad as his xFIP was 4.66. While he had a horrible two months in June and July last year (8.94 ERA in 9 starts), he pitched to a 3.78 ERA in the other 22 starts.

It was 4.46 according to fangraphs.

[Dgilpin]

Ken Rosenthal just tweeted - "A GM, not Cashman, told me today that Millwood was "terrible" for #Yankees at AAA. #MLB"

Yeah I saw him pitch with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year. His stuff didn't look like he could people out at the major league level. He had some "ok" results in AAA but that was mostly due to luck, putting up a 1.778 WHIP and 14 H/9.

[mfried]

Millwood is an older, lower-ceiling case of Lackey. I would rather see the pool of relievers beefed up and have Albers given a chance to start. I haven't seen Morales, but his acquisition seems like a far more interesting move. Having Millwood get bashed with Pawtucket will hopefully prevent his ascent to the big club.

[Rudy Pemberton]

His peripherals in '09 and '10 were very similar; yet he had a 3.67 ERA in '09 and a 5.10 in '10. He's durable, he'll take the ball when necessary. I don't know; I thought he was a solid enough signing by the Yankees and he's good depth for the Sox. I'd expect him to be better than Wakefield, assuming he's at least moderately healthy. He's nothing special but you could do worse.

[yecul]

It's a mlc. Who cares? If he pans out then you wind up with a 5th starter to flesh out your depth. In all likelihood he does not pan out and... you lose basically nothing.

[IpswichSox]

I think this is less about what they see or believe they could see in Millwood than it is about the state of the rotation, 40 percent of which just went on the DL. Theo is doing what he has to do to generate depth since our internal options are severly limited, particulary until Doubront comes back from his groin pull. Millwood is probably the first of several similar moves.

Somewhere, Paul Byrd is staring at his phone...

[scotian1]

Somewhere, Paul Byrd is staring at his phone...

And Pedro Martinez and his fans simply sit and wonder why the Sox have signed Millwood.

[EdRalphRomero]

From a cynical perspective, one value to a signing like this -- a good pitcher who has lost velocity as he has gotten older with nothing really left to lose -- is maybe he can take the Colon method and cheat his way to a brief resurgence.

[Red(s)HawksFan]

And Pedro Martinez and his fans simply sit and wonder why the Sox have signed Millwood.

Perhaps if Pedro and his fans are deluded enough to think Pedro still has something left in the tank, they should be asking why no team has even inquired about Pedro's services in the last 18 months.

Millwood isn't anything special, but he's three years younger than Pedro and hasn't spent a full season completely out of baseball.

[mabrowndog]

Millwood was activated with Pawtucket yesterday and made his first start.

2.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K while throwing 61 pitches (36 strikes, 25 balls)

Yeah, he's definitely ready to help...

Edited by mabrowndog, 03 June 2011 - 12:27 PM.

[mabrowndog]

More on Millwood from Projo's Brian MacPherson (hat tip to Jon Couture's great catch-all blog post for the link):

“He’s an established big-league pitcher who has had a great career,” PawSox pitching coach Rich Sauveur said. “If he can get the stamina back up to where he can go 100 or 110 pitches and find the fastball command he wants and he used to have, he’ll pitch for Boston and help them.”

“My breaking balls were good — good curveball, good slider,” he said. “The big negative was that I wasn’t locating my fastball. That’s one of those things that’s just repetition. The more repetition you get, the better it’s going to be. It gives me something to work on between now and my next start. Once I get my fastball location down, everything is going to fall into place.”

Said Sauveur, “I thought the fastball had decent angle. The slider I thought was real good. The curveball was decent. His changeup was the pitch I thought he was just not finishing. He was leaving that up, and he got burned on the changeup a few times. It’s all about fastball command, and the command wasn’t up to what he wanted it.”

[Doctor G]

My link

This is the Pitch Fx from his appearance against the Yankees last 9-17.

Lack of velocity was not a factor then. 7innings pitched 1 ER.

Edited by Doctor G, 03 June 2011 - 12:23 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Millwood's outing today was on MLB Network and he looked pretty damned good, AAA hitters notwithstanding. He worked 6.2 very efficient innings, throwing just 62 pitches and 40 for strikes. Durham managed 5 hits (2 doubles) with 4 whiffs and no walks.

His fastball ranged from 87-89 mph, and his velocity held up deep into the game as the next-to-last pitch he threw in the 7th hit 89 on the gun.