Comments on: Annual Report Card – The Pitchers

By: gbewing

gbewing — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:44:08 +0000

Hey Randy A I guess I’m not the only 1 bat sh*t crazy

“11:23am: The Yankees dangled Jesus Montero in talks for Joakim Soria, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark, but the Royals weren’t interested.” but hey you still da man

By: Moore

Moore — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:38:43 +0000

Nate, so you give Bullington, Mendoza and Rupe a collective F-? I don’t have an opinion either way on Mendoza but Bullington and Rupe are doing great in AAA and Rupe did pretty darn good in the bigs when you consider that he was there for 9 games and they pitched him for 7 of them! I mean who does that??? And why does Bullington seem to do well in AAA but can’t make the transition? You would think that is a problem with the coaching/mentoring of players. And yes, I know that some guys never make the transition but this call em up and send em down stuff hanging over their head can’t help.

By: Randy A.

Randy A. — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:49:10 +0000

Hate to break it to you but you are bat sh*t crazy if you think a relief pitcher would warrant a top hitting prospect at a premium position. The yankees wont have to give up anything close to that for 75 Innings of Soria annually until he is out of team control.

By: gbewing

gbewing — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:57:34 +0000

MLB Traderumors with this ditty-
The Yankees would love to have Adam Dunn and Joakim Soria, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). But the Yankees’ interest in the two stars doesn’t mean those players will be in pinstripes any time soon. After all, many teams would love to have them both and the Nationals and Royals would demand a lot in any deal.

Soria wow – Jesus Montero catching a train west or is this just Yankee bluster?

By: Nick Scott

Nick Scott — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:41:12 +0000

% a gopher ball is a pitch which is hit for a home run.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:20:17 +0000

I’d say it’s safe to give Bryan Bullington, Luis Mendoza, and Josh Rupe a collective F-.

By: % (in the UK)

% (in the UK) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:02:36 +0000

Err…

I’m taking an educated guess that a “gopher ball” is a home run ball ?

My Oxford English dictionary explains a “gopher” to be “A burrowing American rodent with pouches on its cheeks”,now surely that would equate more with a pitcher rather than a pitch?

So have i got it definition right & where does it come from?

By: fb0252

fb0252 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:48:34 +0000

pitching is where appropriate conditioning makes the biggest difference–see Paul Byrd, Gill Meche and quite a few others. would Bannister perhaps benefit from more time in the weight room increasing his strength, velocity and command and less time in front of his computer? Pitching is performance and injury prevention. How obvious is it that the Royals continually have managers, GMs, pitching coaches that just don’t get it. Like the post, the thinking is tinker with release points and the like. If you pay attention to more than the stats–use e.g–you trace the abuse of Meche by Hillman to the day of his arrival, and you see the injury coming way before the 132 pitch game. The miracle was that it never occurred sooner. Due to their use, abuse and comparative lack of conditioning, very possibly injury problems may plague more of this staff than we know.

By: Clark Fosler

Clark Fosler — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:05:59 +0000

Jason – I see the same thing you do out of Wood. He seems like a guy who should strike people out, but simply does not. Given that he throws 95 mph with some movement, he doesn’t need a great secondary pitch, just A secondary pitch.

By: TJ

TJ — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:04:37 +0000

I think you are exactly right Jason. He needs to be able to throw some kind of offspeed/breaking pitch for a strike.

I think there might be something more there too. I wonder if it’s (relatively) easy for hitters to pick up the ball out of Wood’s hand. I say that because he throws as hard as Tejeda (who also doesn’t have great secondary stuff though it’s not terrible I suppose), but he has 1/3 of the strikeout rate. I’m not an expert, but there is clearly something else going on with Wood for him to have an above average fastball and not be able to strike anyone out.