Random Baseball Musings

[jersey cubs fan]

Draft pitchers from cold weather areas

That have other [expletive] in their lives.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I'm probably thinking of a strain and a tear being the same thing, then.

Any time there is is anything remotely wrong with a guy's elbow they should immediatley cut the UCL out and replace it.

[Gmoney08]

Has every great pitcher except King Felix and Verlander blown their arm out or at the very least lost their dominant fastball in the last ten years.

 

Off the top of my head pretty healthy superstars

 

- king felix

- verlander

- kershaw (some arm trouble iirc and still very young)

- yu darvish (still young)

- Cliff Lee

 

Neverending list of good pitchers injured

- Harvey

- Fernandez

- Strasburg

- Bundy (uber prospect)

- Johan Santana

- Brandon Webb

- John Lackey

- Kerry Wood

- Mark Prior

- Ben Sheets

- Halladay (great longevity though)

- Chris Carpenter

- Adam Wainwright

- Rich Harden

- Erik Bedard

- Wang from the Yanks

- Matszusaka

- Volquez & Cueto for some reason i feel one of these two hasnt had a blowout but both have had arm trouble.

- Seems like all the top pitching prospects of the last two years, sorry its 2am

- Bullpen Guys (Broxton, Wilson, Papelbon, Joba, Zumaya)

 

Lost Major Velocity before Age of 30 which contributed to inferior results

- Zito

- Lincecum

- Kazmir

- Zambrano

- CC Sabathia

- Josh Beckett

- Jake Peavy

 

This is just all off the top of my head at 2am so there is probably more and seems like an alarming amount of good pitchers over the last decade. I used to think oh only the poor old cobss this happens to, but looks like its a league wide epidemic.

[Cubswin11]

Greinke, Scherzer and Hamels have never really gotten hurt, right? Also Ben Sheets to the list of casualties

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Greinke has had some very minor elbow issues. Hamels just came back from shoulder problems.

[Sammy Sofa]

Draft pitchers from cold weather areas

That have other [expletive] in their lives.

 

Ban hockey.

[Gmoney08]

Greinke, Scherzer and Hamels have never really gotten hurt, right? Also Ben Sheets to the list of casualties

 

Ben Sheets is on there already.

 

Greinke and Hamels have both lost decent amount of velocity before 30 as well though right?

[Gmoney08]

I think the throwing too much as a kid thing is likely NOT the cause. There is more restrictions on pitchers pitch limits and innings limits now then in the 90's, 80's and before. There was players back in the old days pitching all year long as well.

 

 

There is guys from different countries, vastly different youth baseball programs and they are all ripping up their elbow in their 20's.

 

The one constant in that list though seems to be guys who throw 95+ all the way across the board.

 

There has been reports out there that pitchers are throwing much harder then they used to as recently as the 1980's and early 90's.

 

Maybe genetically the freak athletes are getting to the point where they are just throwing too hard on an average. A big fastball with major velocity usually means a guy also has a high velocity (high strain breaking ball) that usually leads to the elbow blowout.

 

The one guy on my blowout list who didn't have a huge velocity breakingball IIRC was Johan Santana and his arm injuries were shoulder issues correct?

 

There will always be your genetic freaks the Bob Fellers, Walter Johnsons, Roger Clemens, and Verlanders but in general I think guys might be just throwing too hard and in turn putting too much velocity on their breaking pitches in this era for most humans to handle.

[jersey cubs fan]

I think the throwing too much as a kid thing is likely NOT the cause. There is more restrictions on pitchers pitch limits and innings limits now then in the 90's, 80's and before. There was players back in the old days pitching all year long as well.

 

I grew up pitching in the 80s and 90s (decades, not velocity) and we had strict limitations on pitches and days we could pitch. We did not come close to pitching all year round though.

[Clem Fandango]

Francisco Liriano got all sorts of fucked up from TJS, but I think they determined it was mostly mental because after his surgery he was apparently not confident in throwing his slider out of fear of getting injured again and he wasn't throwing as hard either. He's been an odd case. When he showed up his rookie year though he was friggin' ridiculous

[Gmoney08]

I think the throwing too much as a kid thing is likely NOT the cause. There is more restrictions on pitchers pitch limits and innings limits now then in the 90's, 80's and before. There was players back in the old days pitching all year long as well.

 

I grew up pitching in the 80s and 90s (decades, not velocity) and we had strict limitations on pitches and days we could pitch. We did not come close to pitching all year round though.

 

My in house leagues had inning limits each week for different levels. For example in Bronco you couldnt pitch more than 10 innings in a week. Also if you pitched more than 4 innings in one game you couldnt pitch the rest of the week. Never saw a pitch count rule in any league in the 80s or 90s.

 

Also, travel ball there was no restrictions at all. The other thing was how you pitched in travel had nothing to do with the in house rules. So, an in house league could say our pitchers arent pitching more than 10 innings a week. But, in reality they pitch 10 innings for their in house team, also started and pitched 6 innings for their travel team, and came in and closed a game for their travel team.

 

There was a lot of bending of the rules in the 80's and 90's. Not to say there isnt now but I've seen much stricter inning rules and how they combine with in house and travel in the youth leagues now.

[Clem Fandango]

Odor called up

 

Is he known for having good bat speed, because to me it looks insane here:

 

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/0/v32819407/texhou-odor-drills-his-first-major-league-homer

[UK1679666180]

Ben Badler makes an interesting point (a lot of us, including myself, thought the Marlins were foolish to start Fernandez in the big leagues last year):

 

@BenBadler: Too many teams are leaving value on the table with their young arms. If the command is there, move them along quickly. Maximize value now.

 

@BenBadler: You want to manipulate service time with hitters, I get that. With pitchers, you might have a depreciating asset. Be aggressive.

 

It's hard to argue with that logic, you have to use a similar approach as they do in FB with running backs. There should be an expected short shelf life. If they can spot the ball and throw two avg. pitches and a feel for a third or just one plus-plus pitch and the feel for a second, I don't see why they shouldn't be more aggressive.

 

As much as Tampa touts their minor league setup for preventing shoulder injuries, it's not foolproof and catches up to law of averages.

 

(side note: Johan Santana was a velo guy back with Minny, he sat 92-95.)

[Clem Fandango]

As Josh Reddick struggles, he decided to change his walk up music to "Careless Whisper" to shake things up. He's gone 4-7 with a home run since.

 

http://m.mlb.com/video/?content_id=32859103&topic_id=6479266

[imb]

What a weird offensive environment we're in. Gerrit Cole has a 3.76 era, good for a ERA+ of ... 91

[Guest]

Now Martin Perez might need TJS.

 

@jazayerli: Today's news is just another reminder of why I thought the Cubs were smart to buck CW last year and draft Kris Bryant instead of Jon Gray.

[Guest]

another soul-crushing tanaka update: he now has 66 strikeouts and 7 walks

[Clem Fandango]

another soul-crushing tanaka update: he now has 66 strikeouts and 7 walks

 

http://i.imgur.com/U2v0g.gif

[Clem Fandango]

Draft pitchers from cold weather areas

 

This comment also works in the beer thread

[Hairyducked Idiot]

another soul-crushing tanaka update: he now has 66 strikeouts and 7 walks

 

How many of those count for us because our willingness to bid $120m plus the posting fee?

[SouthSideRyan]

another soul-crushing tanaka update: he now has 66 strikeouts and 7 walks

 

How many of those count for us because our willingness to bid $120m plus the posting fee?

 

They're going to be so sorry when he opts out as his decline phase begins

[sneakypower]

honestly, he might be the best pitcher in baseball right now

[Derwood]

which is good for the Yankees, since the rest of their rotation is on the DL

[Guest]

another soul-crushing tanaka update: he now has 66 strikeouts and 7 walks

 

How many of those count for us because our willingness to bid $120m plus the posting fee?

That's the soul crushing part. He's exactly the type of player Theo said they wanted target. I guess they targeted him but not only did they not hit the bullseye the never made it to the board.

[imb]

another soul-crushing tanaka update: he now has 66 strikeouts and 7 walks

 

How many of those count for us because our willingness to bid $120m plus the posting fee?

That's the soul crushing part. He's exactly the type of player Theo said they wanted target. I guess they targeted him but not only did they not hit the bullseye the never made it to the board.

 

I don't remember them being referred to as not having come close. We know that for sure?