Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - February 12, 2013

It isn't even Valentine's Day and Clay Buchholz is already having injury issues.

HOORAY!
That and some other topics are covered in today's podcast.



Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - February 12, 2013  

Hey injured Red Sox... take your time rehabbing

The Red Sox just keep winning. I'm still not convinced they are winning a Division or Wild Card this year, but man it is fun seeing them win.

One refrain I kept hearing from Sox fans was "wait until everyone is healthy."

Well the Red Sox are far from healthy. But when the likes of Daniel Nava, Franklin Morales, Cody Ross and Aaron Cook are kicking this much butt, maybe their injured players should spend more time in the trainers room.

What Red Sox fan would rather hear the dreaded words "Now pitching, John Lackey" instead of giving Aaron Cook another shot. Cook pitched an 81 pitch masterpiece today. I think Clay Buchholz averaged 81 pitches an inning.

THIS Red Sox team is fun and has guys who aren't cashing the big checks and breaking down.

If Carl Crawford comes back, does that send Daniel Nava and his .902 OPS to the bench?
Or maybe Cody Ross and HIS .915 OPS will get cobwebs while Crawford cashes a check.

I don't think so.
Come on Sox. Play the players who are actually winning games and appease the fans. We all know Crawford and Lackey are making a lot of money. Doesn't mean you have to play them!

Yankees Should Already Regret Trading Montero - A Bleacher Report Article

The Jesus Montero trade blew up in the Yankees face once Michael Pineda went down for the year. But now it looks even larger as the Yankees desperately need to make a trade for a starting pitcher, and they've already cashed in their best trade chip.

In my latest for Bleacher Report, I break down this problem in the Bronx.

You can read the entire article HERE.

Culture shock for any Yankee fan under 25 years old

If you take my formula that you don't really start following a baseball team until you are 7 or 8 years old, the potential end of Mariano Rivera's remarkable 18 year career will be staggering.

That means if you are a Yankee fan 25 years old or younger, you have no memory of a Yankee team without either Wetteland or Rivera as the closer.

Yankee fans 23 years old or younger realistically don't remember a Yankee closer other than Rivera.

A Yankee fan could be born, go through elementary school, Junior High, High School, college and work for a year and all the while never experienced the like of Steve Howe, Steve Farr or Lee Guetterman blowing ballgames.

It will be culture shock.
Every other team with the exception of the Padres had great turnover in the closer department.
And even Trevor Hoffman, with all of his saves and his wonderful career, came up small time and time again in big games.

Rivera it was automatic.
It wasn't fair.

He was in the game and it was over.
When he lost a game it was shocking.

With other good closers, it wasn't shocking. Even some great ones.
Lee Smith, John Franco, Jeff Reardon, Tom Henke, Todd Jones, Francisco Rodriguez, etc etc etc. All good at their jobs. But if they blew a game, you wouldn't have gasped.

When Rivera had a rare meltdown, it seemed like time had stopped.

Two of the greatest baseball moments of the last 20 years have been the final game of the 2001 World Series and the Red Sox comeback in 2004. Both times they were startling because Rivera had failed.

And THAT is going to be what young Yankee fans won't understand.
The 9th inning will more likely than not be closed out by David Robertson. But there will be times he will stumble. And the sense of dread from the other team won't be there. Robertson is a good pitcher, but nobody FEARS him.

There's no sense that his failure would be shocking.

And that is what young Yankee fans have never experienced and older Yankee fans probably have forgotten: failure being a real possibility in the 9th.


 

I hate being right about Crawford and Buchholz

I was on a podcast this March talking about the Red Sox on a panel. One of the other guests was asked about Carl Crawford and his chances for a bounce back season.

He talked about how he had no doubt that Crawford was going to come back to being an elite player after a disappointing 2011 season.

Then another one talked about how Clay Buchholz is going to be back and regain his All Star stuff.

And I of course wondered what planet I was on at that time.

They came to me and I said "Crawford is done. I expect nothing from him."
One of the other guests got upset with me and said "How can you say that?"
I replied, well other than the fact that he is injured, has wrist issues, is getting older which will affect his speed and doesn't seem like a good fit in Boston, everything seems fine with Crawford.

Then I compared (Feet of) Clay Buchholz with Ben Sheets and Rich Harden. All are talented pitchers who just can't stay healthy and bring no ACTUAL value to the team, just that remarkable "potential."

I pointed out that the next year he logs 180 innings will be his first.
The next time he makes 30 starts will be his first.

Yes he was a fragile 22 year old when he threw that no hitter in 2007.
He's now a fragile 27 year old.

I also said the Red Sox starting staff was garbage besides Lester and the bullpen unreliable.
I was told I was being too pessimistic.

Well here we sit a month later.

Carl Crawford is walking the Earth (like Kane in Kung Fu) trying to find someone to give him good news about his shoulder. He still hasn't played for the Sox since diving for the final fly ball of the 2011 season.

And Buchholz? Oh he looks great. A fantastic 8.87 ERA, averaging less than 6 innings a start, letting up homers left and right and almost a 1 for 1 walk to strike out ratio.

HOORAY!

I don't WANT to be correct.
I WANT to be wrong!
I want Carl Crawford to be a 5 tool star and Clay Buchholz to be a stud.

But Crawford isn't playing and Buchholz isn't helping by playing.

Being right can be such a burden.

Wasn't "Don't Jump on a Trampoline" a Joba Rule?

Joba Chamberlain's career has been derailed and sidelined by so much stupidity that it is almost fitting that one final dumb act could have put a fork in it.

Has a more apt metaphor ever sent a once great player crashing quite like this?
Joba's career was up and down and up and down... all the while he has been a big kid if sometimes a little jittery and has a loving (if somewhat complex) family.

And what does he do?
He jumps up and down, acting like a kid, while with his own kid and busts his ankle.

Optimistically he will be back in July.
This might not be a Kendrys Morales situation interms of severity of his injury but it could be as stupid as the Angels first baseman derailing his career jumping on home plate.

Seriously, how could this have happened?

What else was on that to do list?
Bungee jumping?
Torch juggling?
Crocodile wrestling?

Don't give me the crap of "He was being a good father."
He could be just as good a father staying on the sidelines watching his kid jump on a trampoline!
Or reading a book to his kids.

Do you know what a REALLY good father would do?
Not put at risk a career that could not only take care of his kids financially but their grandkids as well.

When your career is on the line and you are already coming back from surgery and a career that is no longer as promising as it once was, why would you do ANYTHING risky?

Remember when he was being called a future ace? Mariano's heir? A potential #1 starter?
He was going into 2012 as "potential 4th option out of the bullpen."
You know, the role they give AAA players and veterans playing for one year contracts.

As the great Lisa Swan wrote "this isn't bad luck. Getting covered by midges is bad luck."
(By the way, she wrote a great piece about Joba on Subway Squawkers.)

I'll take it a step further. I'll quote John Belushi and say "That's not bad luck. That's DUMB luck."

Joba has made good money so far. (May we all make a couple of million dollars before age 26.)
But he hasn't hit the megabucks yet.
He hasn't made the stupid money.
He hasn't made the tens of millions of dollars owed to good, let alone great, pitchers... especially those who play in a big market.

Think $2 million will last a lifetime?
Ask Antoine Walker how long $110 million will last if you don't manage it well.

I can imagine Joba's son years from now asking him "Daddy. Why aren't we rich like all your other Yankee friends?"

"Well you see when you were five years old, I decided to take my 250 pound frame and jump it up and down when I was coming back from a career threatening injury."

"Gee dad. I hope you had fun."

I'll say it... the Red Sox over babied Clay Buchholz

The Red Sox decided not to trade for Rich Harden.

Why? Because they already had an ace caliber pitcher who is always hurt!

Clay Buchholz has a stress fracture in his back. I don't think it is as bad as what Ralph Macchio had in The Outsiders, but just as destructive for the season.

Hasn't that been the mantra this season?

Get Lester and Buchholz healthy and the Sox could win the pennant.

Now what?

Lester is healthy and looks good and Beckett has been solid.

Lackey has been winning, but how long will THAT last?

Andrew Miller is not the ace that the Tigers and Marlins thought he was. He's a #5 pitcher.

Tim Wakefield is Russian Roulette.

And Eric Bedard will probably be in a full body cast by Labor Day.

The Red Sox pennant chances are no better than the Yankees, whose rotation we love to make fun of.

The Rangers pitching staff is miles ahead of the Red Sox and Yankees. I even put the Angels in front of us.

And I will say it. I can never rely on Clay Buchholz again.

I've been saying since 2007 that the Red Sox have been babying him.

They've been treating him with kid gloves to avoid injuries since he threw the no hitter. And what has he been since?

AN INJURY PRONE PITCHER!

Red Sox fans, ask yourself. If Buchholz were a Yankee, wouldn't you be throwing him in with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain as pitchers with ability but whose bodies have betrayed them.

And here we have Clay Buchholz. It's his 5th big league season. He's 26. And he has pitched 100 innings a grand total of one time in his career.

All the while he has been treated with kid gloves and all of that love and care has put him on the shelf AGAIN!

He's another example of a babied pitcher. Instead of a reliable stud we have an injury prone frustration.

Any decent season the Sox get from Clay Buchholz MUST be considered a bonus from now on.

He is another pitcher ruined by kid gloves.

Giants... Better make a move sooner than later

The Giants offense, save for a grand slam by rookie Brandon Crawford, looks beyond dormant in the wake of the Buster Posey injury.

Suddenly this season that was filled with walk off hits and post World Series mania could take an ugly turn.

In fact it already has.
The DIAMONDBACKS are in first place as I type this.

Read that sentence again.
How did THAT happen that Arizona is in first?

(More on that later.)

Make a deal, Giants. Give the team a positive bolt. I already suggested Jose Reyes (I think it is a no brainer to bring bring in Reyes.)

But make SOME move now... Something to bring a little positivity back to China Basin.

Buster Posey is hurt. Naturally I see the glass half empty

I already talked about this today.
When I talked about Pedroia and the Red Sox, I said that I always expect the worst news.
And almost always the player comes right back.

So now I see Buster Posey, a player the Giants can't survive without, being carried off of the field.
And my first thought is "Man, such a promising career has been cut short."

He'll probably play on Friday.

So I take it Pedroia is OK

I am such a pessimist when it comes to injuries.

Whenever I see someone carried off the field, I automatically think "Oh no... their career might be over."

I know that was what I thought about Dustin Pedroia, especially after all the time he missed LAST year.

Well, I guess I was off. Instead of missing the rest of his career, he missed one game and homered in his first at bat back.

I guess people should be glad I am not in the medical field.

Either way, anytime my team can go into the home of the team with the best record in the league and take 2 of 3 (especially after losing the first one in teeth grinding fashion) I am fine with it.

And living in California made it especially sweet. With the Red Sox first inning explosion, I saw my team were up 7-0 before it was 9:15 AM. Not a bad cup of joe.

The Sox are 1 game back in the loss column from the Yankees.
Let's hope they can get into first by June.

And let's not have any more career threatening injuries.

Victor hurt again? Why not?

When it looked like Victor Martinez was going to be taken out of the game last night during that grotesque 10th inning, I thought "Why not?"

Seriously... after seeing the stat that among the 19 players put on the Red Sox DL, there were 6 players on the Red Sox opening day starting line up and 9 either former or current All Stars.

Victor Martinez was one of the 19, one of the 6 and one of the 9... and it was appropriate that as the Red Sox season slipped away that an injury was in the middle of it.

I hope Francona either sits him or gives him some first base time as the games in Chicago take a turn to Meaninglessville.

Of course that would mean Varitek would get the bulk of the catching duties (38 years old and has been injured most of the year) or maybe give Kevin Cash some more time (a man whose hitting I have compared to Elmo creator Kevin Clash.)

Someone pointed out that Jarrod Saltalamacchia is hurt and out for the year, making it #20.

Sadly we both forgot that when the rosters expand, there's no need to put someone on the disabled list.

Too bad.

20 would have been so symmetrical.

Hey look at that! the Red Sox won a game!

So the Sox didn't get swept by the Orioles. It's been that kind of stretch run where THAT is the branch I cling to so I can feel better.

A nice good old fashioned not close win. A few homers. Some nice pitching from Lackey. Boom! A win.

There are 10 games left including 6 with the Yankees that, barring one of the most staggering collapses in baseball history, will be meaningless.

Here's all I want from the Sox for the rest of the year.

6 wins.
If they go 6-4 I can feel OK.

Naturally I don't feel great about this season that has fallen short. But with all the injuries and disappointments and slumped shoulders and staying home in October... to end up with 90 wins will feel pretty good in terms of looking forward to 2011.

Ahhh how our expectations lower in a disappointing year.

Oh for Christsake, just shut Dustin Pedroia down for the year

Seriously... we all are impressed by how fast Pedroia came back. He's a gamer. We love him. He's our guy.

Now take away his spikes and say "See you in spring training."

He's back on the Disabled List after 2 games off of it.

And yes, it is because the same foot is hurt.

This is nuts. Why risk injuring our MVP any further?

2010 is a lost cause. Even if the Sox play better than their current pace and win 92 or 93 games, they are still playing golf on the first full week of October.

As I wrote before, 2011 looks promising provided Pedroia and Youk is healthy, Beckett pitches well and they let some of the kids play and fill some holes.

Let's see what this kid Yamaico Navarro can do in the infield. He's supposedly a dynamic fielder. Let's see his do his thing in the show.

He's already the greatest Red Sox player named Yamaico.

So Dustin... nobody is questioning your heart. We're questioning your foot.

And if the Red Sox don't shut him down, I'll be questioning their sanity!

"Hey Reggie... there's room in the Sox line up for you!"

Why not Reggie?

Have him suit up in a Sox uniform and DH a few times a week!

How is that any less likely than Darnell McDonald hitting a homer in his first Red Sox at bat?

Ryan! You don't get hurt AFTER the Trade Deadline!!

Seriously... if you are going to go on the DL, make sure it is on July 30th or before. What good does it do on August 1st?

Anytime between opening day and July 31st, the Phillies can easily make a deal and BOOM! They have another star first baseman.

But now the Phillies are without their big guy in the middle of their lineup and the immortal Ross Gload will be starting at first base.

If Howard had done this a few days earlier, maybe Lance Berkman would be there... or maybe the guy covering first base on the play that sidelined Howard, Adam Dunn.

But noooooo....

Just remember people: TIME YOUR INJURIES!

If the Red Sox have any more injuries, it might be time to thaw out Ted's head

I mean we have access to Ted's head, don't we?

He's a lifelong Red Sox and the Sox drafted his wacko son.

Seriously, Bill Hall can't play EVERY position. We could have a cloned Splendid Splinter out in right field.

(Keep in mind everything I know about cloning I learned from the Michael Keaton film Multiplicity.)

VIVA FABIO CASTRO!

When it looked like Clay Buchholz was going to go on the DL, the Red Sox summoned Fabio Castro from Pawtucket to help out the bullpen.

But when it was clear they needed more infield depth with Pedroia going down, Theo pulled off a deal with the A's to bring in utility man Eric Patterson and Castro was designated for assignment without appearing in a game.

How could you do it, Tito?
How could you NOT bring in Fabio Castro?

You have the ability to have the P.A. announcer say "Now pitching... FABIO CASTRO!"

And you passed that up?
For what? For Manny DelCarmen to get another appearance?

I hope nobody claims him... I have no idea if he sucks or not. I just want to hear the words "Fabio Castro gets the out."

And be honest with me... you do too.

We'll take the ugly wins

Oh the Red Sox bullpen WANTED to make this interesting. Oh they tried to let Tampa back in this one... but I can't call it a dodged bullet. Even when they brought in Papelbon, I never thought this game was in real danger of going in the L column.

It's a big one.

With all the injuries on this squad, they have to hold their own until everyone is done mending.
Win one of the next two games and we've got a series win against a top team with a depleted staff.

The thing that was most startling about this win was reading the box score. Lackey is 9-3? Doesn't it feel like he's been mediocre this year? And yet he'll wind up a 15-17 game winner by the time the year is done.

Go figure.
I'll take the W.

Hey Kendry Morales. Sometimes it is good to act like you've been there before

I probably shouldn’t tell players to NOT be emotional. I used to jump up and do a dance when I would a game using my Digital Diamond.

And I never hit a home run in any baseball game at any level save for whiffle ball… so I don’t know the sensation of a walk off extra inning grand slam like the one Kendry Morales hit today in Anaheim.

All I know is if you break a bone celebrating and you will probably miss 1/3 of the season and your team is trying to get back into the race and you are one of their best hitters… then maybe you need to tone down your celebrations.

I’m getting tired of the mass huddle and jumping up and down for a walk off homer. Yeah, celebrate and hug, but shouldn’t the wild celebrations be for pennant stretch homers? Back breaking homers? Post season walk off shots?

This was a match up between two underachieving sub .500 teams in May. This wasn’t Magglio Ordonez sending the Tigers to the World Series.

It’s kind of like the whole Gatorade on the coach in football. Yeah it was cool when the Giants were doing it in the mid 80s, but now it is a strange and tired obligation.

Just celebrate naturally, not in a choreographed way. I think Morales hurt himself doing all the proper steps. Throw the helmet and jump on first base… CRACK! WHOOPS!

Take a look at this celebration of a homer. This is Tommy Henrich being greeted at home plate by Yogi Berra, coach Bill Dickey and a bat boy. Do you know what he just did? He hit a walk off homer in the World Series! The first ever… and a player, a coach and a bat boy are there to greet him.

I’m not saying go to THAT extreme of no celebration… but celebrate according to the sincere moment of the game. There’s no mob at the pitchers mound with the catcher leaping into the closer’s arms after every save.

If Morales had a more sincere celebration, the Angels might have an every day first baseman for the next 2 months!

Just saying

The A’s signing Ben Sheets makes even LESS sense to me today!

OK, let’s say you are the Oakland A’s… you don’t often sign players to salaries higher than the milk shake guy at In and Out Burger… and the few times you do, the results aren’t pretty. (How’s that Eric Chavez signing looking?)

But for whatever reason you find $10 million to spend on the 2010 roster. (Perhaps you found a suit that had a $10 million bill in the breast pocket.

They need pitching depth and two pitchers are still hanging around, unsigned, in late January.

One just turned 30, has thrown 190 innings or more each of the last 8 seasons. Consistently gets double digit wins. Consistently starts 30+ games. And has experience in several pennant races including playing a big part in a World Series run where he threw a complete game playoff win. Last year he logged in 204 innings, made 33 starts and pitched well down the stretch drive for a playoff team.

The other one is a year older, has more health issues than Amy Winehouse and pitched in as many games as her last year… which would be zero. He hasn’t logged in 200 innings nor made 30 starts for the past 5 seasons. He has no post season experience and has played only two seasons for teams with a winning record. His talent is undeniable but so is his inability to stay on the roster. He is a “Placed on the 60 Day Disabled List” entry waiting to happen.

Which one of those two would you spend the money on? ESPECIALLY seeing that you can’t afford to have much payroll in the trainers room or on rehab assignment in Kane County.

Naturally the A’s picked the slightly older, more injury prone Ben Sheets to sign for $10 million… allowing the slightly younger, more durable, playoff tested Jon Garland to sign with San Diego.

And guess what? Garland signed for $4.7 million LESS. The Padres are all but guaranteed lots of innings, lots of starts and a stable veteran while the A’s will be paying for Ben Sheets to sit in the whirlpool.

How does this make ANY sense?

It’s not like the Padres are going to be a contender. They had the same record as the A’s did last year (75-87) and San Diego will probably be dumping high salary players at the deadline once again.

So why couldn’t the A’s offer… oh I don’t know… $6 million for Garland and have an extra $4 million to throw around.

The Yankees claim to be only offering $2 million to Damon. Offer him $3 million and suddenly everyone will be saying “Hey! The A’s out bid the Yankees! That’s good for baseball!”

And maybe kick the remaining $1 million into a scouting department… clearly the current scouting department who thought Garland was a risk but Sheets was the direction to go needs a payroll boost.