I think the biggest point in favor of the injury theory is that Garcia went from good-decent Freddy to erratic-crappy Freddy without any kind of warning, really, it was as if the wheels just came off completely. And a torn labrum/elbow doesn’t have to be that major — he could be pitching with a minor tear in the ligament or rotator cuff, aggravating it, resting, aggravating it… I still have some research to do on this, but it’s something to think about.
I’m not dismissing the possibility that Garcia is hurt completely, but I find it unlikely. When Abbott came up lame, he visibly changed his delivery to compensate for the pain in his shoulder. Meche lost 10 MPH on his fastball during his “dead arm” period. Usually, when someone’s pitching through an injury, you’ll be able to notice it somewhere in the mechanics.
I’ve seen three of Garcia’s starts this year, and I haven’t noticed much of a change at all. His release point is still inconsistent, but it always has been, and he’s succeeded in spite of it. His velocity has been in the 92-94 range pretty consistently. He’s still getting the break on his curveball. His command has just been lousy, but I’m not sure you can pinponit that to an injury.
He might be hurt, I guess, but I really doubt its a labrum or a torn ligament. I don’t see him being able to sustain his mechanics (as mediocre as they are, anyways) with that serious of an arm injury. From what I’ve observed, he’s just making bad pitches.
My column at Baseball Prospectus today talks about Freddy’s troubles since last year and a new theory: that he got hurt in late June/early July of last year and has been nursing it, Abbott-like, ever since. We don’t have the kind of clear, Cameron-spotted release point issues, but there’s some good anecdotal evidence that supports the theory. The Mariners have never been good at spotting injuries, but by this point don’t they think it’s worth taking a look to see if he’s torn up his elbow or shoulder?
Name the best hitter in the American League. Alex Rodriguez? Carlos Delgado? Alfonso Soriano?
Edgar Martinez. As of May 13th, Edgar Martinez is 4th in the AL in batting average, 2nd in on base percentage, 4th in slugging percentage, and 3rd in OPS. He’s done this while playing half his games in Safeco Field. His competition on the leaderboard is dominated by Rangers and Yankees, neither of whom view their home park as a disadvantage to offense.
At home, Edgar is hitting .315/.435/.519 with 5 extra base hits in 54 at-bats. When he leaves Safeco Field, he’s putting up a .375/.500/.708 line which includes 8 extra base hits in 48 at-bats. Just to put that in perspective, Babe Ruth’s career line was .342/.474/.690. When Ruth was 40, he hit .181/.359/.431.
There simply isn’t a better hitter in the American League than Edgar Martinez right now. What Edgar Martinez is doing at the age of 40 is historic. Remarkably, no one is noticing, because we’ve all learned to take him for granted.
Minor League Highlights for Monday, May 13
Tacoma 4, Oklahoma 2. RHP Aaron Taylor, who blew a save on Sunday, was thrown right back out there on Monday night and picked up his 7th save of the season (1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K). Such is life for a closer; you can’t dwell too long on past successes or failures, because your next shot might be the very next game. Taylor secured the win for RHP Brian Falkenborg (6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), now 2-1 on the year with a sparkling 2.29 ERA. The Rainiers scored their four runs on just four hits, as two Oklahoma errors led to three unearned runs. 1B Andy Barkett his his 6th homer of the year for Tacoma.
San Antonio 5, Midland 1. LHP Travis Blackley (6 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) found his control and had a good outing, picking up his 4th win of the season and lowering his ERA to 2.72. Eight different Missions had a hit, all singles save a homer for 3B Justin Leone who drove in three of the team’s five runs. C Jim Horner drove in the other two, and his hitting a ridiculous .448/.500/.603 in 15 games with San Antonio. Leone hasn’t been too shabby either, with a .315/.426/.550 line that includes 22 walks in 111 at-bats and nearly 55% of his hits going for extra bases. CF Michael Curry stole his 19th base of the year in 21 attempts (a 90% success rate), and is now wanted for grand theft in at least six states.
Inland Empire 14, Lake Elsinore 8 (11 innings). As reported here last night, the 66ers sent LHP Matt Thornton to the hill for his first appearance of 2003. Thornton (4 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) had been out since the middle of last season after Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow, so those five strikeouts against just one walk are a particularly good sign. The real hero, however, was RHP Mike Steele. Normally the team’s closer, Steele stretched out his arm and saved a weary pitching staff by working the final four innings of the game (4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K). He was rewarded with his first win of the year, as the 66ers scored six runs in the top of the 11th. The offensive star was 2B Ismael Castro, who just may have turned things around after a slow start. Castro went 4-7 in the game including his first two homers of the year, a double and three runs scored. One of his homers hit the light tower and came complete with an explosion, a la Roy Hobbs in The Natural.
Battle Creek 4, Wisconsin 1 (DH Game #1). This one started well enough, as for the second straight contest DH Dustin Delucchi led off the game with a homer. However, the Timber Rattlers managed just one hit after that — a harmless single by LF Carlos Arroyo — and a total of only two baserunners. RHP Tanner Watson’s struggled continued (5 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), as he dropped to 0-2 on the year and saw his ERA pushed to 6.64. LHP Oscar Delgado pitched well in relief (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), but by then it was too late.
Battle Creek 4, Wisconsin 2 (DH Game #2). The Timber Rattlers fell behind 4-0 in the first inning before even getting to bat, as a costly error by SS Michael Garciaparra led to three of the four runs being unearned. LHP Cesar Jimenez (4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) settled down after that to keep the game within reach, but once again Wisconsin was unable to get anything going offensively. They did manage nine hits in the game, but eight were singles. 3B Matt Hagen hit his 6th homer of the year, and Garciaparra, perhaps trying to atone for his 1st inning error, went 2-3 with an RBI.
I tuned into the Inland Empire webcast to take a listen to Troy Cate’s start against Rancho Cucamonga tonight and got a bit of a surprise. The 66’ers starting pitcher is the apparently healthy Matt Thornton. I’d heard he was making good progress, but wasn’t expecting him to take the hill so soon. The recovery time for Tommy John surgery is steadily being trimmed.
And yes, I’m that big of a nerd that I listen to minor league baseball games on the internet. And Derek wonders why I’m single.
Quick update. Ismael “Roy Hobbs” Castro just busted the Quakes light fixture with a huge home run in the fourth inning. Apparently, the explosion was Natural-esque. Still no word on whether Castro is legitimitely younger than Robert Redford, however.
Our own resident minor league guru, David Cameron, with whom I really should check my stuff before posting wild guesses, reports that LHP Cesar Jimenez will start the second game of Wisconsin’s double header tonight. If he pitches well, he has a chance to stick in the rotation as Beau Hintz, Tanner Watson and Juan Sandoval have all been rather ineffective this season in the 3-4-5 slots. Frankly, it’s a wonder they didn’t turn to Jimenez earlier, but apparently the organization isn’t all that impressed with him because he’s not a power pitcher. Pshaw! Check out this link to see what he’s done over the past year or so. The first line is what he did in the Venezuelan Summer League before being called up to Everett last season. Wow. After that are this season at Wisconsin, last year at Everett, and his brief stop in rookie ball on his way from Venezuela to Everett. Jimenez has a very good changeup, particularly for his young age, as well as an Arthur Rhodes-style hitch in his windup that makes it tough for batters to pick up the ball.
Further, Rafael Soriano should make his way back into Tacoma’s rotation eventually, perhaps in place of a struggling Ken Cloude who could be on his way to the pen. Cloude’s ERA is nearly seven, he isn’t striking out many hitters and his K:BB ratio is quite poor at 21:13 in 33 2/3 innings. Might be time to make a move there.
Finally, I’ve updated the Big Board for the week. Highlights include Kazuhiro Sasaki’s return to the majors, Soriano’s return to the minors, Cha Seung Baek on the disabled list, Kevin Olore’s demotion from San Antonio to Inland Empire to bail out the 66ers beleagured pitching staff, and the reappearance of Jay Pecci.
Oh, and if you’re just finding us thanks to a new link from one of the various blogs out there, welcome aboard.
Minor League Highlights for Sunday, May 11
Oklahoma 3, Tacoma 2. RHP Aaron Taylor blew his second save of the year, allowing two runs in the top of the 9th as the Rainiers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Taylor (1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K) entered the game with a 2-1 lead in relief of RHP Rafael Soriano (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K), but surrendered a two-run homer and saw his record fall to 0-2 on the year. Soriano, making his first appearance since returning to Tacoma, worked in relief of RHP Jeff Heaverlo (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K). It is unclear whether Soriano is now being groomed for a relief role or if he simply needs to get his arm stretched out with a few long relief outings before returning to the rotation. There is very little to report offensively, as the Rainiers were held to just four hits.
Midland 12, San Antonio 8. The Missions played quite well Sunday… if you take out the second inning, in which RHP Chris Wright (4 IP, 8 H, 10 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 1 K) allowed eight runs, essentially ending the game. A costly error by SS Jose Lopez led to five of the runs being unearned. San Antonio fought back by scoring in five seperate innings, but fell short as it was never more than two runs in any frame. As you might guess when the team scores eight runs on 15 hits, several hitters had big days. 1B John Lindsey led the way, with a 4-5 game including two doubles, a homer and four runs scored. 3B Justin Leone was 3-3 with a double, while DH Jim Horner and the aforementioned Lopez each had two his.
Inland Empire 14, Lake Elsinore 9. This was a strange one. RHP Kevin Olore, making his first appearance since being demoted from San Antonio, got the start but was lifted in the 4th despite not allowing a hit (3 1/3, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 5 K). LHP Justin Blood (2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) took over in relief and got his team through the 6th holding a 4-1 lead, but then things got ugly. It started in the 7th, when the 66ers put up nine runs to take a 13-1 lead. LHP Russ Morgan, sent in for some mop-up work, pitched a scoreless 7th but was touched up for four runs in the 8th. After the 66ers scored once more for good measure in the top of the 9th, Morgan allowed four more runs in the bottom half of the inning to arrive at the final score of 14-9. His line for the game finished at an ugly 3 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 2 K and three homers, and his ERA ballooned to 12.71. Among the hitters, LF Shin-soo Choo and C Chris Collins each had three hits, including a triple for Choo and two doubles for Collins. RF Greg Jacobs, 1B John Castellano, 3B Hunter Brown and CF Sheldon Fulse each added two hits, including homers for Jacobs and Castellano. Whew!
Wisconsin‘s game with Battle Creek was rained out, as the Midwest League lost six of its eight games — including a double header — to bad weather. Baseball America doesn’t show the two teams playing a double header today to make up the lost game, but the Timber Rattlers’ website, probably a better souce for such information, says they’ll play a pair of seven-inning games starting at 5pm local time. RHP Tanner Watson and LHP Beau Hintz are the probable starters for Wisconsin assuming they stick with their regular rotation.
I’m just now getting around to reading the Steve Kelley article Derek linked to yesterday. Really, that’s some pretty shoddy journalism if you ask me. If you’ve got something concrete, come out and say it. If you’ve got nothing, don’t make these vague statements — “And he isn’t spending the extra time between starts to tweak his messy mechanics” or “Is he more interested in night life or night games?” — with nothing to back them up, even if it’s more or less known that Freddy is out and about in Seattle. Kelley’s column brings nothing to the proverbial table on this particular topic. And what’s up with his hair?
With respect to the Grand Salami — a mighty fine publication, I might add — this is nothing new. Last year they sent out fairly aggressive vendors in an attempt to hit fans up for programs before they could reach the Salami vendors, partly to be confrontational and partly to try and trick fans who are used to buying the Salami from street vendors. Earlier this year, editor/founder/publisher Jon Wells was told by the Mariners that he was not allowed to call his publication a “program,” as if the Mariners have some sort of exclusive rights to this word and/or concept. You hear stories about cities where the unofficial program is actually welcomed by the team, which is smart enough to realize that they’re getting free publicity and coverage (Baltimore is the one that comes to mind), and it boggles the mind that the M’s are the way they are. They’ve basically done everything they can to run the Salami into the ground — including publishing their own “unofficial program a few years ago! — short of taking legal action. Uh, knock on wood.