I know a guy who was rocketing through the Royals minor league system in the early-mid 90's. He was on his way to the big club or AAA at worst after a dominating AA season as the closer. They told him after the season they wanted to raise his FB velocity a few MPH and put him "on a program" (PDEs). He refused. They released him and he couldn't get another gig, apparently black balled as a result. He is deeply bitter to this day and barely pays attention to baseball. Very successful independent workman's comp plaintiff's lawyer though. Probably doing almost as well as he would have in the 90's with the Royals who God knows, could have used some good pitching.Such an interesting moment. You just gotta tip your cap. Obviously he and his wife, family and friends have been involved in the discussion. Seems crazy but he wasn’t happy. I have a friend who pitched 8 years in MLB and he couldn’t care less about baseball now. Good luck Ty.
It’s funny but we fans always think the players love the game as much as we do. The reality is that most professional athletes look at it as just a job. Good lick to Ty and all of his future endeavors.Such an interesting moment. You just gotta tip your cap. Obviously he and his wife, family and friends have been involved in the discussion. Seems crazy but he wasn’t happy. I have a friend who pitched 8 years in MLB and he couldn’t care less about baseball now. Good luck Ty.
.500 | .600 | 2.000 | 2.600 |
I just came here to post that. Guess who had just worked a walk to get on first? Jed Lowrie. I didn't know he was still playing.Mitchy Two Bags loped a single into the RCF gap to plate the winning run in the A's first victory of the season, a 4-3 win over the Dodgers in the 10th.
That surprised me as well. I remember the Mets signed him last year and he had season ending injury early on. I assumed he was forced to retire because of it, but there he was today working a walk after a good at-bat. Good for him!I just came here to post that. Guess who had just worked a walk to get on first? Jed Lowrie. I didn't know he was still playing.
Believe it or not, the Mets signed Lowrie two years ago. His former agent, acting as GM of the Mets, paid him $20m over two years for 8 plate appearances. But I guess their rehab department was solid, as he's now back and serving as the starting 2b for the A's (being paid $100k).That surprised me as well. I remember the Mets signed him last year and he had season ending injury early on. I assumed he was forced to retire because of it, but there he was today working a walk after a good at-bat. Good for him!
That's great work if you can get it, I suppose.Believe it or not, the Mets signed Lowrie two years ago. His former agent, acting as GM of the Mets, paid him $20m over two years for 8 plate appearances.
I'm sure the standards of loving the game are very different: it's one thing to watch and read about it obsessively as a fan, it's another to spend 6 months of the year constantly on the road, beating up your body every day, and knowing that it could all fall apart instantly with one injury or a few bad outings. I respect the self-awareness that Buttrey shows there, though the note is so starkly worded, it sounds like he's bitter about things. Hope it works out for the best in any case. He really was underrated for a couple years in LAAA.It’s funny but we fans always think the players love the game as much as we do. The reality is that most professional athletes look at it as just a job. Good lick to Ty and all of his future endeavors.
Sorry to go down Lowrie rabbit hole, but this is pretty quirky:That's great work if you can get it, I suppose.
I pray Jed has better luck with his health going forward, but given his history that might be a lot to hope for.
Good pull, I did not realize that! Unless the A's have the best training staff in all of sports, that is one absurd coincidence.Sorry to go down Lowrie rabbit hole, but this is pretty quirky:
Average games played in the seven seasons when he was not on the A's: 61.5
Average games played in the five seasons when he was an A (not including this year): 137.4
So he's in the right spot to have another healthy year.
“I shouldn’t have taken that job to begin with,” he says. “I should have stayed at ESPN, where I was making $2.5 million and didn’t have a care in the world, instead of working my ass off and not being appreciated for seven months of my life.”
In a mid-April interview with Channel 7, Valentine was asked why Youkilis was not playing like his usual self, striking out and not walking.
“I don’t think he’s as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past, for some reason,” Valentine told Joe Amorosino.
The comment created a firestorm.
“I don’t regret saying that,” says Valentine. “I was one of the only people that was Youk’s friend. I was the one trying to protect him.
“He wanted to do anything but be a Red Sox, and his back bothered him. He didn’t want to stay here. So everyone — the front office, the agent, and Youk — seized an opportunity to get him out of town, and it made my life miserable.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/21/sports/catching-up-with-bobby-valentine-who-says-he-shouldnt-have-taken-that-job-manage-red-sox-2012/“What was written in the papers was that I said David quit playing. I never used the word ‘quit,’ ” says Valentine.
That, and I believe he was not on board with making Bard a starter.Oddly enough, his (unstated) conclusion that Youk was just about cooked was one of the few things he was right about.
Regular season Jimy was phenomenal. Playoff Tito was on another level. Playoff Cora was damn good too.I’ll say this about Bobby V: he was the best bullpen manager for the Red Sox I’ve ever seen.
That's one way to look at it. It worked out well for both teams.What do we think David Price will look like for the rest of his contract? Obviously in a bullpen role now but has had a pretty terrible start. 9.2 IP, 4 BB, 14 hits, 6 ER, 3 HR with 11 ks. The $16 mil discount on that 32 mil is looking pretty good so far?
What happened to him? He was good in 2017 and 2018 and excellent in 2019. Then he became awful.Brandon Workman....DFA
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/04/cubs-dfa-brandon-workman.html
I wonder if Cora can fix him?What happened to him? He was good in 2017 and 2018 and excellent in 2019. Then he became awful.
He was kind of a trick pitcher in 2019. He just threw curveball after curveball and nobody could hit it. He walked a ton of guys but didn't give up runs because he didn't give up hits. If hitters are better able to deal with the curve because it's not as sharp, they have better video on it, or they simply don't swing at it anymore, he can't be a successful pitcher.What happened to him? He was good in 2017 and 2018 and excellent in 2019. Then he became awful.
He has apparently lost some MPH off the fastball. Perhaps he sold his velocity soul to the curveball devil.He was kind of a trick pitcher in 2019. He just threw curveball after curveball and nobody could hit it. He walked a ton of guys but didn't give up runs because he didn't give up hits. If hitters are better able to deal with the curve because it's not as sharp, they have better video on it, or they simply don't swing at it anymore, he can't be a successful pitcher.
Wasn't there talk in 2019 about how him using his curveball so much would eventually lead to injury?He has apparently lost some MPH off the fastball. Perhaps he sold his velocity soul to the curveball devil.
I don’t know if Workman is what this bullpen needs. Even at his best, he was walking 5 per 9 and we already have the market cornered in that regard.I wonder if Cora can fix him?
Curveballs for Algernon.Wasn't there talk in 2019 about how him using his curveball so much would eventually lead to injury?
Not much different than selling your velocity soul to the curveball devil, actually.
The most specific anyone had gotten regarding Kelly's ailment was identifying the issue as a shoulder ailment. But as he told WEEI.com Friday, "I don't think people knew how serious it was."
In this world of the internet and information, such a secret involving a key piece of a World Series-winning bullpen is a rarity.
"I guess when you win the World Series, whatever you say people just take it ... Everybody is on the World Series high," Kelly said. "Say one of your guys is hurt and they ask what is wrong and they say, 'Oh, he'll be back tomorrow,' and it becomes three months later, Dodgers fans aren't going to get too mad. It's easy to get overlooked, is what I'm saying. A lot of people didn't think it was going to be that serious, but it ended up being a pretty good thing."
What most didn't know is that the delay in Kelly's debut stemmed from fairly significant right shoulder surgery performed by Dr. Neal Elattrache on Nov. 10.
"We found some cysts," Kelly explained. "My shoulder hasn't been good since the end of 2019. But during my suspension after the thing with the Astros (early August) my arm was super weak. If I was laying on a table I couldn't lift my arm past gravity. They asked me how long it was going on for and I told them forever. I couldn't sleep at night and it felt like fire ants were eating my arm from the inside-out."
So during his eight-game suspension, the Dodgers set up an MRI for Kelly. It turned out a "massive" cyst was growing on Kelly's nerve, allowing him to pitch with 50 percent of the muscles in his shoulder.
The plan was to try and decompress it, but that wasn't working.
"I ended up pitching in the World Series topping out at 95 mph, not knowing where it was going because had these cysts on my nerve," said Kelly, who would pitch five times in the postseason, allowing one run over 3 2/3 innings. "They ended up putting metal clamps on my labrum and then they decompressed all the cysts. They sucked out some loose bodies from my rotator cuff. So it was a good little surgery."
Fire Bloom!Benintendi went into today's game hitting .409 for the week.
View: https://twitter.com/alec_lewis/status/1388593270691926022?s=19
Franchy is tearing the cover off of the ball in the clubhouse before games. The ball boy is pissed.Fire Bloom!
Thanks for the laugh!Franchy is tearing the cover off of the ball in the clubhouse before games. The ball boy is pissed.
Brusdar Graterol will undergo an MRI tomorrow. He hasn’t thrown a ball since going on the injured list.
It's kinda funny how much crap Bloom got last year for sounding the alarm on Graterol's medical when we were getting him in the Betts trade, and now a year later here we aredoes Graterol count as a former Red Sox?
View: https://twitter.com/jorgecastillo/status/1389330080636276751
Red Sox announce that they signed Brandon Workman to a minor league deal and have assigned him to Worcester.