Throwing problems starting to surface?

oh-oh.. the first red flag of spring training showed it’s ugly head yesterday:

“It feels good. It feels fine,” Sanchez said when asked about his shoulder Tuesday. “I went out and threw [Monday], and hopefully I’ll be able to do most of the activity, depending on what the trainers say.”  Sanchez’s winter workouts had him throwing comfortably up to 90-100 feet.  He said that his arm feels strong throwing at that distance and that there is no discomfort to report.   Pirateball.com

100 feet?  That’s a far cry from 250 foot long-toss so I suspect we’re going to hear a lot more about Freddy Sanchez and his ailing shoulder this spring.  Let’s hope I’m wrong.  But Grudzielanek is still available and signing him doesn’t cost us a draft pick.  Maybe we should get interested in him?

Another quote at the Post-Gazette caught my eye today:

Dumatrait will throw today on 225 days’ rest. This left-handed reliever-starter, who made the last of his 21 appearances and 11 starts in 2008 when he took the mound July 7 against Houston, is scheduled to throw 25 fastballs off a mound this morning.

I’ve always thought rehabbing pitchers threw off flat ground until they were pronounced healthy.  Perhaps I’m wrong or maybe things have changed.  But we do know Dr. Andrews found inflammation in his shoulder just a little over a month ago and that shut him down for at least a week or ten days.

Dumatrait continued in that link by saying:

“Hopefully, I don’t have any more setbacks. My shoulder feels pretty good right now. Hopefully, it’ll continue to get better and I’ll get back in the rotation.” 

Is it too much, too fast?  That’s the old school approach – let them throw through the burning pain until it goes away, but the new school approach is to walk them slowly.. even shut them down and then start them back up which we haven’t seen in Pittsburgh.

That’s a shame because losing Dumatriat for the entire year would be a crushing blow considering the remaining arms hanging around.

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Deal McLouth to the Braves.

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“Kerrigan believes the Pirates’ problems last year were the result of poor situational pitching and preparation, not bad mechanics.”  – USA Today

Amen brother.. we’ve talked about this all winter here.  But it’s more than just throwing obvious pitches in obvious counts that got our pitching mauled, it’s that nobody in our battery knew how to read batters in the box. 

What’s the old saying we used in high school ball?  Something like, if a batter swings up you throw up, if he swings down you throw down, but if he’s crowding the plate you throw at his chest.  Last year I noticed we weren’t following those extremely basic steps probably because nobody trusted their stuff enough on the staff to follow situational pitching 101.

And the old school method of throwing first and fourth strikes away on the corner has to be thrown out the door.. it doesn’t work any more and I was glad to hear Kerrigan say these kids need to come inside more.  God only knows how bad they do.

One AL scout who did a tick of advance work last year commented to me that the Angels had a habit of rotating at least four different strategies keeping opposing batters off guard because their advance notes were typically incorrect.  That’s smart baseball.

The Pirates had one strategy the last few years.. throw the baseball and pray it lands over the plate.  And if it did, then pray the umpire gave them the strike call.  Obviously, that doesn’t work. 

If we start getting the calls other clubs do we’ll instantly be a better pitching club but that is going to require a lot of work with Ryan Doumit.  And if he goes down, well, well .. let’s just hope that doesn’t happen since Huntington got rid of the next best thing in Chavez’s glove.

And it sure wouldn’t hurt to advance scout the division clubs instead of relying only on video, but I suppose that’s for Kerrigan to demand if he wants it.  Colborn did.

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Deal McLouth to the Braves.

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“”The long-term commitments we have made to core players developed here, both this year and last year, reflect our commitment to build a strong core from within our system,” team president Frank Coonelly said…

“Now, we have the core guys who are going to be around for a while,” Maholm said. “We need to kind of take it upon ourselves to make sure things are done right and to turn it around and start winning.” — Post-Gazette

Sure is a lot of fuzzy logic there like building a strong core from Maholm, Doumit, McLouth, and Snell.  I suppose if you look at McLouth as the 4th outfielder, Snell in the pen, Maholm as our #4/#5, and Doumit as our broken down catcher, I guess we do have a strong utility core developing. 

We’ll never win with those guys without another $100 million.  Who is kidding who?

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Deal McLouth to the Braves.

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I keep saying this but every day I analyze the pitching in the division I get more and more worried about the Reds, especially with Ramon Hernandez over there now.  I’m telling you, they are going to be the surprise staff this year if they stay healthy.  True, they aren’t going to put many runs on the board but they may not have to.  Mark my words.

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Deal.. ok, you get the idea.

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Want to attend sprint training but don’t want to spend $2,500?  Here’s your chance:

1.  Buy tickets on Allegiant Air leaving Huntington, WV, March 23rd to Orlando, FL, and return March 31st.  Total roundtrip airfare price per ticket is $85.70 ($29.00 each way plus taxes and fees).

2.  Stay eight nights in a condo eight miles from Disney called Cane Island and your cost would be $47 per night for a two-bedroom, or $49 per night for a three bedroom.  Be sure to use GTAHotels.com for the price reduction.   Total cost about $500 with taxes.

3.  Rent a compact car from Thrifty at Sanford/Orlando Airport for less than $200 for the eight days.  If you use your American Express you can save another 10%.

4.  Order the Entertainment Book at $20.00 that gives you numerous 50% and 2-for-1 coupons for restaurants in the Orlando area.  Assume $30 per day for meals and that’s $260.

5.   Order tickets to the games.. Tuesday game is in the evening and about 5 minutes from your condo against the Braves, Wednesday’s game is in the evening in Port Charlotte St. Petersburg two-hours west which is a long dang way to drive (about 5 hours southwest) against the Rays, Thursday you can take in Disney at about $80 a ticket, Friday and Saturday’s game is in Bradenton about three hours southwest (even spend Friday night there for about $90 and hit the beach Saturday morning), and Sunday’s game is one and one-half hours away in Tampa against the Yankees.  Total ticket prices getting the best tickets available, plus the one night stay over in Bradenton, plus the Disney ticket.. about $400 which includes some gas to get around.

That’s eight days, seven nights, five ball games, a day at Disney, a day at the beach, and you spent less than $1,500.  If a few others go with you to share costs, even less.

Not too bad for a quickie vacation.

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That’s the best spring training photo (Grant Jefferies/Bradenton Hearld) I’ve found by far.. Nyjer Morgan and Andrew McCutchen.  Unless you have met them both and know what I mean, I can tell you that the bench and clubhouse would be one heck of a lot more exciting than the games might ever be with those two clowns together.

Good stuff.

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Indians promo –

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The MVP Gold Package is a value of over $400 for just $250.  Fans who don’t need parking can take advantage of the MVP Silver Package, which includes all of the same benefits (except parking) for only $100.

Season tickets and MVP Packages can be purchased by contacting the Victory Field Box Office at 317-269-3545 or tickets@IndyIndians.com.

The Indians open the 2009 season on Thursday, April 9 at Victory Field against their division rivals the Toledo Mud Hens.  Season tickets are on sale now at www.IndyIndians.com or by calling the Victory Field Box at 317-269-3545, individual game tickets go on sale Tuesday, March 3.

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