Stone blogs on Putz, Pentland instructs, swooning for Lincecum

DMZ · March 12, 2007 at 9:10 am · Filed Under Mariners 

Four weeks from now, my book, “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball” comes out. I’ve been thinking about doing a USSM Feed/Book Bro-ha-ha mid-April, probably on a weekend, probably at Hales — if you’ve got thoughts on good locations, speak up.

In the meantime, you can pre-order:


The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball

And check out the modest blog.

Larry Stone puts up his first Times blog entry! Wooo! It’s about Putz feeling good. Stone winces at the possible Putz replacements, offering Reitsma and Batista for their prior experience.

Pentland’s trying to get Beltre and Reed to do opposite things. In one sense, that’s good news – we’ve had hitting coaches before giving the same advice to everyone, no matter what their need was.

The PI on Lincecum. The Times on Lincecum.

Comments

33 Responses to “Stone blogs on Putz, Pentland instructs, swooning for Lincecum”

  1. Spanky on March 12th, 2007 9:36 am

    Re: Pentland changing Beltre and Reed’s swing…I get real nervous when I hear someone messing with their swing at the major league level. Does anyone have examples of star hitters (I’m referring to Beltre here) who “changed” their swing after having success and excelled with the new swing? Especially someone you’re paying $10 Million to? It seems that you just end up with frustrated and/or injured players.

    As for Reed…please, change the swing!

  2. carcinogen on March 12th, 2007 9:37 am

    Will the author grace us with autographs? 🙂

  3. DMZ on March 12th, 2007 9:37 am

    Absolutely.

  4. Manzanillos Cup on March 12th, 2007 9:47 am

    I think Cal Ripken changed his swing like a hundred times.

  5. Manzanillos Cup on March 12th, 2007 9:49 am

    Check that – his stance. I’ll bet his swing changed because of it.

  6. SCL on March 12th, 2007 10:02 am

    Didn’t Boone change his 2-strike stance in 2001?

  7. JMB on March 12th, 2007 10:10 am

    Edgar Martinez changed his stance every year, or so it seemed.

  8. phildopip1 on March 12th, 2007 10:11 am

    Does anyone have examples of star hitters (I’m referring to Beltre here) who “changed” their swing after having success and excelled with the new swing?

    Tiger Woods? 😀

  9. Johan Garpenlov on March 12th, 2007 10:11 am

    I think changing one’s stance qualifies as a change in swing, at least in terms of making a large adjustment at the the plate when you were already doing something right to be in the majors and to have earned a large contract. In that context, Jeff Bagwell made lots of drastic changes to his stance throughout his career.

    I don’t think it is a harbinger of doom for a hitting coach to try and implement a significant change like this.

  10. waldo rojas on March 12th, 2007 10:28 am

    Hale’s can be kind of stuffy. How about Brouwers? They have a party room upstairs that can be rented.

  11. msb on March 12th, 2007 11:36 am

    does Tap House Dan have any pull in booking space?

    interesting to hear several guys this spring say how much they appreciate having the same batting coach for a 2nd year in a row….

  12. msb on March 12th, 2007 11:40 am

    Dave Boling talks to Hargrove and Hickey has an Ichiro! note in his blog

  13. pensive on March 12th, 2007 12:01 pm

    Living on Whidbey a bike ride hitting the Mom & Po shops may work.
    Especially once ypu hit Oak Harbour as those persons buy much and a signiture would mean much to them. I would help to get you on and into thhe exchange. Sure there are other readers that can do that much easyer.

    Great bike ride, enough microbrews plus many Traverns. Enough fans that will be thrilled to have a signiture plus the bonus that people will fell great that you took time to do it.

    I ordered oneday from from all the Mom & Pop Bookstores they mostly infered they would order extra as it seemed catchy title. Plus Amason. The Mom and Pop are more rewarding.

    Best luck to the book. Have other ideasbut not thousands of copies at a time.

    (please spell check for me as am bad ).

  14. eponymous coward on March 12th, 2007 12:03 pm

    Hmm, wonder if the organization is having second thoughs about Morrow over Lincecum. Another power arm on the team to match Putz and King Felix sure would be nice, even if it’s a setup guy.

  15. em on March 12th, 2007 12:34 pm

    So Morrow’s 95+ heat doesn’t qualify him as a power pitcher? Tough crowd.

  16. em on March 12th, 2007 12:37 pm

    You know, I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb when I say that the Felix and the Morrow will be the best 1-2 combination in Mariner history (yes, better even that Moore and Morgan; or Langston/Moore, or ….. better than Johnson/Moyer or Johnson/Garcia, or … …. … there has to be more???)

  17. Dave on March 12th, 2007 12:39 pm

    You might want to let Morrow throw an inning above A-ball before making that statement. This is the same reasoning that built the Mariners a dynasty around the arms of Ryan Anderson, Gil Meche, Joel Pineiro, Matt Thornton, and Rett Johnson.

    Things happen.

  18. Tek Jansen on March 12th, 2007 12:41 pm

    From scouting books, mags, and sites that I have read, most organizations did not deny Lincecum’s ability or performance. They were scared off by his delivery and possibility of injury. Do I have this correct?

  19. Dave on March 12th, 2007 12:47 pm

    The knocks on Lincecum are basically as follows:

    1. He’s short – there’s a clearly established bias against short right-handers.

    2. His mechanics are weird. They aren’t what teams are used to – different scares people.

    3. His command sucks. Really. It’s not good.

    If any one of these wasn’t true, he probably would have gone in the top five. But with all three being true, that’s enough red flags for most teams, including the M’s.

  20. frenchonion on March 12th, 2007 12:57 pm

    Lou Piniella was famous for standing in front of a mirror for hours, tinkering with his swing..there’s a paragraph or three about it in Ball Four.

  21. Mike G. on March 12th, 2007 1:31 pm

    You know who won the game for the Nats today with a 3 run homerun. Just sayin’…

  22. em on March 12th, 2007 1:39 pm

    Come on Dave, 3 innings of Spring Training don’tcount for more than a season of low minor ball?

    What are the chances of Snelling not making the Nationals 25-man roster? I heard tell he will become a free agent if he isn’t the fourth outfielder.

    Just sayin’

  23. Steve T on March 12th, 2007 1:42 pm

    Way to go Snelling! I like the snideness of Rotoworld’s “played the whole game and apparently avoided getting hurt”, as if he was made of glass or something.

  24. _David_ on March 12th, 2007 6:02 pm

    How big of a story will it be if Lincecum puts up good numbers in the Giant’s bullpen and Morrow doesn’t absolutely dominate whatever level he’s at?

  25. Johan Garpenlov on March 12th, 2007 6:05 pm

    It won’t be a very big story anywhere but in the comments at USSM.

  26. _David_ on March 12th, 2007 6:06 pm

    I meant locally, for anyone who follows this, but yeah you’re right…

  27. JMB on March 12th, 2007 6:49 pm

    If that happens, I’m sure Softy will tell you all about it on KJR.

  28. _David_ on March 12th, 2007 8:11 pm

    27: As I’m pretty sure you’re mocking me, I’ll say this: I understand it is way too early to make any kind of judgement, and Fontaine is one of the best, it just seems like there are signs we made a mistake, and Lincecum being a local kid (as newspapers will remind us each time as they update us anytime he does anything) makes it all the more hilarious.

  29. Dave on March 12th, 2007 8:54 pm

    I’m pretty sure he was mocking Softy, not you.

  30. gwangung on March 12th, 2007 10:55 pm

    Hmmm….I wouldn’t necessarily think that it’s a mistake that the Ms made, but that a gamble by the Giants has paid off…for now. If Linecum was available in the 2nd round, I’da think that the Ms would have taken him, arm motion or no arm motion….

  31. Johnny Slick on March 13th, 2007 10:10 am

    Willie Wilson IIRC opened up his stance and started chopping down on the ball more under Whitey Herzog and had a couple of highly decent seasons for the Royals as a result. Didn’t Bone have a more closed stance than the one he adopted during his best seasons in the 90s?

  32. rokusan on March 14th, 2007 3:05 am

    As someone who owns both Lincecum and Morrow in a very deep keeper league, let me just say that I hope they BOTH dominate! 🙂

    Funny report on Lincecum: http://www.scoutingbook.com/prospects/

  33. John D. on March 14th, 2007 11:16 pm

    Ron Fairly Returns to the Booth

    Overlooked in the Greg Bishop stuff was a note that Ron Fairly would temporarily replace new Mariner broadcaster, Dave Sims (who will be broadcasting NCAA Basketball Games).

    Which topic will Ron expound on first?
    1. How much faster the catcher’s throw would get to 2nd if he would just bounce it.
    2. How easy it would be to get a DP if the player would just let the ball drop.
    3. How a pitcher can easily get a quick strike on a batter by throwing him a fast one inside. (“Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the player will drive it foul.”) *
    4. The time he played golf with Walter O’Malley.
    5. Other.
    __________
    *Sometimes they hit it off the handle for a pop-up or a weak grounder

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.