re: Skenes, Hurd, Floyd

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and that’s without the benefit of legit off speed stuff.

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I have liked what I saw from Floyd's off speed pitches on Saturday. He has shown improvement in that area but I agree with you, that even with hitters looking for Floyd's fastball a lot of times they still can't put a good swing on it because of how elite it is.

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Where does Javen Coleman fit when he comes back? Kid can bring it.

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After his setback, I don’t think you can count on him coming back. Plan like you won’t have him this year, and if he is able to come back, anything he gives you is just lagniappe. It may just be to come in to face a lefty in a high leverage situation and just get one out. But even that would be extremely valuable later in SEC play and going into the postseason.

But I think they’re gonna be conservative with him and not rush him at all. I’m sure he wants to get back as soon as possible, but he has a million dollar arm from that left side, and they have to do what’s right by him, even if it means shutting him down from actual games this year. Looking out for his best interest is not only the right thing to for him, but it’s right for Jay for all the future arms he’ll sign, knowing he’ll put their best interests ahead of the team. Those things matter.

That said, he was way ahead of schedule before his set back. If he can somehow get back to that and gets cleared to go, I do think they’ll definitely try to find a role for him. He’s filthy and a much different guy than our other lefties. But if that does (hopefully) happen, I think it will be towards the end of the year, and he’ll probably only be asked to face a batter or 2 at a time.

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After his setback,

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When did Coleman have a setback? I must have missed this. What kind of setback was it?

Looking back now, I actually think Taylor was going to be a weekend starter and not the closer to begin the season as I and others predicted.

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Looking back now, I actually think Taylor was going to be a weekend starter and not the closer to begin the season as I and others predicted.

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Kendall Rogers was pretty convinced that was the case, I assume he got that from Jay. Most coaches are more open with national writers than local writers. Across all sports.

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I get it and I get what you, Project, and Cotton are saying. And in a perfect world, I’d agree with you. But I think losing Taylor, and Collins not being right has really affected the depth of our pen. They were really counting on those guys to play big roles. I’m just not sure we have the luxury of not using a guy with his stuff, unrefined as it may currently be. In a close SEC game, I want him in there over Money, Dutton, and Hellmers, which are who I think we’d likely have to go to in some games. Now, the big thing that could make a lot of this moot is if Skenes and Hurd can consistently give you 6 or 7 every Friday and Saturday. If we don’t have to dip into the pen until the late innings in the 1st 2 games, then we should have plenty of top arms still ready to Game 3.

So again, I agree with y’all that it would be best for Shores personally to get as much work as possible, even if that means starting midweek games. And this may just be me being a little pessimistic, but I think with Taylor being out and Collins struggling, that’s really affected the depth of the pen, and we may not have the luxury of allowing Shores to develop midweek. I think he may have to get some big weekend outs.

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And I understand what you're saying about wanting to fill those gaps created by Taylor's injury and Collins' struggles, but it's just that, in my opinion, if we're concerned about the reliability of other options, why would we turn to someone else who has not yet proven to be reliable, either? I'll give you he's pitched better than Collins, but not better than what I've seen from guys like Money and Edwards. I like what I see out of those two, and that's without stating the obvious with how good Little and Ackenhausen have looked. Cooper is back in the 'pen, and with his improvements that he's shown, the Iowa start notwithstanding, he should do well back in his relief role. And Little and Ackenhausen are both guys with starting experience, who have already excelled in longer relief outings this year, who would likely be used that way if a starter falters, while also being great late inning options when the situation allows for it. Cooper can obviously extend as well, though I don't know if we necessarily want to ask him to do that much. At least we know he could if he had to.

I don't think we see Collins sniff SEC competition if he doesn't turn it around before then.

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From Jay's interview after Floyd's outing on Saturday it seemed that they moved Floyd to the bullpen because Taylor got hurt but that the original plan was for him to start if Taylor didn't get hurt...maybe I misunderstood what he said.

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What?

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Cotton

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Also every time I see CottonisKing I can never forget This guy

What a final 2 years he had here with 45+ IP and 1.6 and 1.2 ERA

I feel like 2 of Hurd, Shores and Floyd will be the other 2 weekend starters. The other will be mid relief, which is extremely important for us in SEC. Without fail there is going to be a short outing in a SEC series and the ability to get a solid mid relief appearance will mean the difference between winning or losing a game.

With whichever of those 3 isn't a starter, plus Cooper and
Ackenhausen give us strong middle relief of pitchers that can give us 3 - 4 innings

If you listen to Jay's postgame presser after Saturday and Floyd's outing he said this was the original plan but when Taylor got hurt that put a wrench in their plans out of the gate. Which makes it sound like the only reason Floyd came out of the bullpen to start the season was because of the injury to Taylor.

Jay Johnson on Ty Floyd