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John Danks, LHP, starter
Sponsor this player for $45/year
Danks has made himself into a Mark Buehrle type pitcher. Meaning, he gets ahead with his fastball, and mixes in lots of cutters to break bats and induce easy outs. Danks uses a straight changeup as his third pitch, another Buerhle special. A curveball rounds out this Texan's repertoire. 10/4/08 CSJ
*fastball(91-95), cutter(87-88), changeup(81-84), curve(78)
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Gavin Floyd, RHP, starter
Sponsor this player for $40/year
A complete Phillies bust, Floyd is making an impact with the White Sox. His stuff looks much improved from his early days in Philly. His fastball bores in on RHs around 90mph. He throws a tight slider that has a tendency to back up, so much so that at times is can look like a splitter or changeup. Floyd throws a curveball that looks like a good pitch, but difficult to command. Lastly, he throws a changeup to LHs on occasion. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(87-93), slider(83-87), curveball(71-79), changeup(80-81)
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Jake Peavy, RHP, starter
Sponsor this player for $40/year
Peavy is known for his excellent slider nowadays, and he throws many of them. He'll vary the pitch anywhere in the 80-89 MPH range, varying the tilt as well. His fastball is hard and gets good tailing action, boring in on RHs. Peavy was known for his excellent changeup in the minor leagues, and was a fastball/changeup pitcher when he first arrived in San Diego. Now, he only mixes those in to get a timing advantage on hitters, but it's still a great pitch with excellent sink. Peavy's fourth pitch is a curveball, and again it's a pitch he'll vary the speed on. 8/5/09 CSJ
*fastball(89-95), slider(80-88), changeup(81-86), curve(70-79)
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Scott Linebrink, RHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $25/year
Linebrink is basically a fastball/splitter pitcher. The splitter seems to pop up out of his hand, floating and breaking armside. This can make it appear to be a curveball at times, and/or dance strangely towards the plate. His fastball is extremely straight at 92mph, but hitters have a tough time getting around on it. His other two pitches are a slider and changeup. His slider is in the upper-70s to low-80s and isn't nearly as sharp as it used to be. Linebrink's changeup sinks some but it fairly straight. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(91-94), splitter(82-84), changeup(81-82), slider
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Octavio Dotel, RHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $30/year
Despite being a veteran, Dotel still has command issues. Since surgery, he's also had trouble returning the dominant repertoire he had with the Astros. On the plus side, Octo's fastball gets amazing natural cut, which makes him difficult to hit, but the pitch is also difficult to control. He mixes in two different breaking balls; a slider and a curveball that has become rarer and rarer. 6/18/09 CSJ
*fastball(90-94), slider(81-83), curve(77)
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Jose Contreras, RHP, starter
Sponsor this player for $30/year
Contreras has an amazing forkball that he relies heavily on. He throws it with the widest split grip in the game. It's an unmistakable pitch that gets unpredictable movement, diving down in either direction due to the lack of spin on the ball. Unfortunately for Contreras, his fastball isn't what it used to be, and his slider is garbage. In order to be effective against RHs, Contreras will now lower his arm angle to throw both his fastball and hanging slider. Lastly, Contreras will throw a straight changeup away to LHs. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(88-94), split(74-79), slider(82-88), change(78-80)
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Bartolo Colon, RHP, starter
Sponsor this player for $20/year
Colon is far from his days when his fastball was intimidating and his breaking ball would miss bats. He has returned to the majors with a mid-80s "fastball" and a weak slider. Colon is also flipping a changeup. 7/29/08 CSJ
*fastball(80-86), slider(76-80), changeup(75-78)
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Kelvin Jimenez, RHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $10/year
Jimenez is a fringe major leaguer, a little short on stuff, but has worked his way up the organizational ladder. His fastball sits in the low-90s, flying extremely straight. Jimenez' changeup may be thrown with some sort of split-finger grip, and he uses it often. Kelvin's third pitch is a slider. 8/12/08 CSJ
*fastball(91-94), changeup(80-83), slider(84-85)
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Mark Buehrle, LHP, starter
Sponsor this player for $50/year
"Buehrle has never been a hard thrower. He deals a mid-upper 80s fastball and a low-80s cutter. He can turn his cutter in on the hands of RHs, or even backdoor them with it. Against LHs, Buehrle will use the cutter almost exclusively on the outer half of the plate. He'll even vary the movement of the cutter to LHs, giving it more sliding action at times. Buehrle's third pitch is a sinking changeup that he can spot extremely well. He'll use the changeup to both LHs and RHs, consistently locating the pitch in the bottom half of the strike zone. Mark's last pitch is a standard curveball that he can drop in for strike one. When going well, the curve can even act as a strikeout pitch. Buehrle is the fastest working pitcher in baseball, producing some of the shortest games in the majors each season. His accelerated pace frustrates hitters that have a prolonged routine in the batter's box. This, and the fact that Buehrle knows what he is, and isn't capable of, usually give him the edge over the batters. 7/30/09 CSJ
*fastball(82-89), cutter(78-86, changeup(76-82), curve(69-74)
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Bobby Jenks, RHP, closer
Sponsor this player for $50/year
Jenks can bring that southside heat. He has a fastball that seems to naturally cut on him, and he can bring it in the mid-90s. Jenks' slider is a hard pitch in the upper-80s to 90mph. It can also appear like a cutter at times. His curveball breaks hard with the velocity of most pitchers' sliders. Lastly, Jenks will try a changeup to a LH every now and then. Physically, Jenks has really short legs, and an abnormally long torso. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(94-100), slider(86-91), curve(81-84), change(81-83)
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Matt Thornton, LHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $30/year
Thornton throws hard for a lefthander. He owns a 95mph fastball that can miss bats. His slider is a good pitch that he'll use almost always to his glove side of the plate, meaing inside on RHs and away from LHs. Thornton's offspeed pitch is a split-finger offering that looks mostly like a hard changeup. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(94-98), slider(83-90), split(89)
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Clayton Richard, LHP, starter/reliever
Sponsor this player for $10/year
Richard is your typical lefty. He throws a tailing fastball around 90 mph and mixes in multiple changeups. He'll also show a good amount of sliders and curves. Clayton is a former Michigan quarterback. 6/18/09 CSJ
*fastball(88-94), changeup(78-84), slider(79-85), curve(75-79)
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Tony Pena, RHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $10/year
Pena throws hard and can be tough to hit. His fastball sits in the low-mid 90s, rising in the strikezone. He tries to dive his slider at LHs ankles and away from RHs. His palmball changeup is fairly straight. Tony (Ramon) may mix in the occasional slow curve. 4/1/09 CSJ
*fastball(93-96), slider(84-90), changeup, curve
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D.J. Carrasco, RHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $10/year
Carrasco has a cutter that can give hitters problems after seeing his tailing fastball. He also owns a standard curveball and changeup. DJ has really lit up the transaction wire during his career, having been released three different times and also selected in the Rule 5 draft once. 6/18/09 CSJ
*fastball(89-93), cutter(88-91), curve(76-78), changeup(81-85), slider(79-81)
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Ehren Wasserman, RHP, reliever
Sponsor this player for $10/year
Wassermann is a sidearmer. And in typical sidearm fashion he throws a moving fastball and a sweeping slider. I have not see a changeup from him. 9/19/08 CSJ
*fastball(86-88), slider(75)
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