Results tagged ‘ Coaching ’
Tim Lincecum’s Mechanics And The Bandwagon Jumpers
*Note: the blog Prince of New York has been moved to my own website at PAULLEBOWITZ.COM. Any questions or comments regarding my feelings about Tim Lincecum’s mechanics or anything else should be submitted on the new site or emailed to PaulLebowitz@yahoo.com.
This message is being edited on March 22, 2009; please log onto my website linked above for information about this issue.
Tom Verducci wrote the cover story about Giants ace Tim Lincecum in this week’s Sports
Illustrated—-SI Story—-and
as usual whenever someone new and unusual bursts onto the scene there
are the criticisms of those who think in the “conventional” way and
make decisions based on categories other than velocity and results.
Lincecum’s father, Chris, is quoted extensively regarding the unusual
motion and regimen used by his soon-to-be All Star son; along the way,
other pitchers like Mark Prior, whose mechanics were considered
“state-of-the-art” just five short years ago are suddenly being ripped
because their mechanics turned out to be not quite as great as everyone
thought.
Lincecum is healthy, throws bullets and uses an unusual motion that has been compared
(in certain aspects) to Orel Hershiser; there’s another
pitcher I see in addition to Hershiser when watching Lincecum as he
uses the mirror image glove and hand extension
and hooks the ball skyward behind his back, then uses a very long stride—-Rick
Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe also happened to be 6’7″, which would make
Lincecum nearly a foot shorter. In the article, much is made of Chris
Lincecum’s insistence that the coaches that ran Tim’s teams not fool
around with the specially designed delivery.
Amid all the
criticisms of pitchers like Prior and the required ravaging of teams
that dared to take other players over Lincecum due to size and
injury-concerns, the question that is left unasked is how many pitchers make it to the big leagues as
quickly and successfully as Lincecum? Luke Hochevar and Brandon Morrow,
two pitchers drafted before Lincecum, are big, hard throwers who
haven’t established themselves in the majors to any reasonable degree
as of yet; that doesn’t mean that they won’t end up
having better careers than Lincecum; Lincecum just happened to make it
faster and has an interesting storyline of an unusual way of going
about his job and that he’s so small it’s hard to imagine him launching
fastballs at the velocity he does.
One thing that would have been
useful between the lines was how many coaches and self-styled “experts”
looked at Lincecum as he was coming up, folded their arms and tilted
and shook their heads in disapproval and said, publicly or privately,
“that kid’s never gonna make it at his size with those mechanics and I
don’t care how hard he throws.” It begs the question of how many
talented pitchers and hitters had their natural way of doing things changed, altered and destroyed by coaches demanding that
they do things “their” way or not play. Tim was lucky in that he had
Chris around to keep an eye on him and the goods in that 98-mph
fastball to back up the demands.
The thing about pitchers is that there’s no way to know how long they’re going to be able to
hold up before breaking down regardless of their mechanics. Pitch
counts, computer generated mechanics and corrections and better
exercise technology are supposed to keep them healthy, but there seem to
be more injuries from less exertion than ever. It may be time to
reexamine
everything that is believed about pitchers and how they’re selected
from the ground up. Pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Roger
Clemens and Lincecum have been called “freaks of nature”; but Ryan and
Carlton had excellent mechanics and above-and-beyond work ethics;
Clemens apparently had chemical assistance; and Lincecum has his own
way of doing things and the important factor of having a father who
wouldn’t allow others to arrogantly and condescendingly mess around
with him.
I have a problem with calling someone who does something
well and stays healthy a freak, and those that do something well and
get injured are considered normal. Ryan and Carlton never heard of a
thing called pitch counts as they sometimes racked up 200+ pitches a
start with all the walks, strikeouts and complete games. Even with the
drug allegations, Clemens kept himself in great shape and was always
fine-tuning his motion to maximize effectiveness while minimizing
injury.
There have been pitchers like John Smoltz who gave everything they had on
the mound and got hurt despite having great mechanics.
The Kansas City Royals of the mid-80s developed four pitchers—-Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, Danny Jackson and Mark Gubicza—-who had
mechanics focusing on hard leg drive and power pitching similar to that
of Ryan and Tom Seaver and the only one to stay completely healthy for
the duration of his career was Cone and Cone battered himself (on and
off the field) more than any of the four. Sutcliffe had numerous arm
injuries throughout his career, as did Hershiser.
The computer
generated motions and mechanics are all well and good, but if a pitcher
is destined to get hurt, he’s going to get hurt no matter his
mechanics. Steps can be taken to minimize injury and with Lincecum,
he’s doing such radically different things before and after starts with
stretching and declining to ice his arm, he may be starting a new era
or it may be seen as having been a mistake after a few years; the only
way to be able to tell will be in hindsight; right now Lincecum is the
flavor of the moment, but in five years, the same credit may turn into
criticism and instead of crediting the Giants for drafting Lincecum and
leaving him alone, the Royals may get the same credit for selecting
Hochevar. The only thing that will truly determine the outcome will be
after the fact.
A More Agreeable Target For The Mets Blame Game
- A different course of action for the Mets:
If the Mets are adamant about not wanting to make a managerial change for a myriad of reasons (enough blame to go around for all; no viable options as replacement; not thinking it’s
going to help, etc.) there is a more agreeable target for everyone involved if the Mets can stomach making the move. That move is replacing pitching coach Rick Peterson with the very available and very accomplished Leo Mazzone.
While it wouldn’t be any fairer to fire Peterson than it would be to fire Randolph, there are differences. Mazzone is a guy who would walk in and automatically be respected and listened to by the struggling pitchers whom 
Peterson doesn’t appear to be reaching, namely Oliver Perez and Aaron Heilman. Peterson, as successful as he’s been with both the Mets and the Athletics, is a cerebral type guy whose message wears out after years and years of hearing his long-winded, stat/data heavy speeches on pitching. It’s a good possibility that his constant harassment in the form of conferences, numbers, harping over and over again on mechanics and
minutiae after every inning has mentally worn down the pitching staff and depleted the message and effectiveness of the messenger. Many times just leaving a guy alone is enough to do the trick to straighten him out, but Peterson is incapable of not being a constant hands-on coach.
Peterson’s making a lot of money, so it wouldn’t be easy to make such a change, but removing him as the major league pitching coach doesn’t mean he can’t continue working in the organization with the minor leaguers. Randolph inherited Peterson from the previous regime and I don’t think he’s all that thrilled with him anyway, so the manager might welcome a change in that area as well; and despite Peterson’s protestations to the contrary, he did have 
a strong hand in the disastrous Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano trade—-the guy’s not infallible.
As for the pitchers, maybe a different voice, one that’s respected and has such a track record of working with Hall of Famers would do the trick. Billy Wagner is a veteran who’s ripped Peterson in the past and, even though both John Maine and Perez flourished under Peterson last year and Mike Pelfrey looks like he’s finding his way, maybe a new voice would wake things up and turn things around.
The thing about replacing a dismissed coach with a star is that there can be no complaints about the quality of the replacement. Mazzone’s available and would take the job; the Mets pitchers are struggling; a change of some kind might wake people up in the clubhouse and Peterson’s a more inviting and easier to replace target than the manager especially if they bring in Mazzone.
- Pomposity and ignorance with a forum:
Mike Francesa from the Mike and the Mad Dog radio show was off on another one of his off the wall rants the other day after the Mets returned home from their horrible road trip and continued playing like they can’t get out of their own way. The problems with Francesa are as
follows: once in awhile, he’ll say something that makes sense and is reasonably intelligent, therefore he thinks all of his nonsensical, pompous statements have validity; he has no accountability as he throws money and prospects around without reason; he takes the things he says that make sense and allows them to morph into the nonsensical without a concept of when he’s going off beam.
Francesa was suggesting that the Mets do something to wake up the clubhouse and he made it a point to reiterate again and again that it might not necessarily be a managerial change that he’s talking about. He suggested that the Mets drop a bomb in the clubhouse and organization by considering trading Jose Reyes. To be 
honest, I’ve been completely adamant against even thinking about trading a 25-year-old superstar shortstop, but now, I would listen to offers. I’m not saying I’d absolutely be willing to trade Reyes, but if a package was coming back led by the likes of Hanley Ramirez or Felix Hernandez, I’d think about it. Francesa was right in saying that a superstar package would have to come back, the names he came up with were right out of the Francesa handbook for nonsense.
Some of the names he offhandedly mentioned were “one of the pitchers for the Blue Jays” (presumably he meant Shaun Marcum or Dustin McGowan) and….Vernon Wells. Francesa has gone off on Wells before—-Where Do They Come Up With This C-R-A-P? (12/8/2007)—-and he, for some reason, is still on Vernon
Wells. His explanation of what to do with Wells? He can play left field and Moises Alou can become…a first baseman (another recurring, absurd theme in Mike Francesa’s addled mind—-The Cubs Roll On And Other Stories-4/24/08). There ar
e so many absurdities in this line of thought, but let’s try and break it down slowly and as easy to understand as possible.
Moises Alou is not moving to first base!!!!! The guy’s 41-years-old; he’s never played one single game in his major league life consisting of eighteen years at first base. NOT ONE!!!; he’s got four months left on his current contract and is always hurt anyway, he’s not going to allow himself to be put at a position he’s never played and run the risk of getting run over by a sprinting baserunner and cost himself a likely contract as a DH in the American 
League next year. Understand this please because I’m going to make it as clear as possible—-MOISES ALOU IS NOT MOVING TO FIRST BASE!!!!
As for Vernon Wells, there are $100 million players out there; then there are players who are making $100 million. There’s a difference. Wells is a pretty good player making great player money. So the Mets are supposed to acquire another overpaid, injury-prone player who has been terrible since signing his long-term deal? And they’re supposed to trade their 25-year-old superstar talent shortstop for him? And all this while the shortstop is signed to a reasonable contract through 2010? And what happens if the Gold Glove center fielder Wells comes to New York and chafes at moving to a corner outfield spot to accommodate the fact that the Mets already have a Gold Glove center fielder? And what happens if Wells is just as mediocre as he’s been since signing that contract? Is Francesa prepared to take responsibility for his ridiculous and inane suggestions? Or will he just rip the Mets if they do what he says and it doesn’t work?
The thing about these talk radio hosts is that what they say is so insipid much of the time
that most front office people who are even listening won’t give them any weight; but what concerns me is that there might be a front office person listening who takes what these people say seriously, things morph into a possibility and they might do something stupid based on a nonsensical suggestion by someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about and has no investment in the team other than to have something to ramble about on the radio. There’s no doubt that Francesa’s going to keep saying such silly things; my concern is that there eventually might be someone listening who can put his idiocy into action.
Henderson May Be Coming To Influence Milledge
One thing that hasn’t been discussed (as far as I know) is the idea that Rickey Henderson is being brought into the Mets clubhouse to have a day-to-day influence, and to keep an eye on young Lastings Milledge. Henderson always played with a certain style and was never in any trouble off the field; Milledge is a flamboyant young player than needs to be steered in the right direction. While the Mets veterans tried to keep Milledge humble with typical veteran-rookie hazing procedures, it might be more effective to have someone like Henderson around to influence Milledge on how to continue playing with style, but not anger any of his teammates and have it affect his game adversely. It’s not a bad idea if they’re intending to get the most out of Milledge as a player.
Is There A Black Cloud Over This Guy’s Head? Or Is It Something Else?
What is going on with the pitchers under the charge of Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg? It seems that every year another one of the pitchers that he’s coaching gets injured in one way or another. It happened when he was with the Marlins; and now with the Blue Jays. Three pitchers with the same injuries to their elbows in the span of a year is a little more than a coincidence if you ask me. Check out my blog from June 10th of last season: Correlation Between Coach And Injuries
And this quote is from my book:
One thing that bears mentioning is that the Blue Jays have maintained Brad Arnsberg as their pitching coach. I have no idea what techniques Arnsberg uses in coaching his pitchers; whether they’re in any way different from the norm. All I know is that when he was the pitching coach with the Florida Marlins, three of their young star pitchers developed injuries; then with the Blue Jays last season, four of their starters all missed time. I’m not there. I have no idea what it is Arnsberg preaches or does with his pitchers, but I’ve found that assuming that the management is keeping tabs on such things can be a mistake. If the trend continues, it is something to look at. Maybe he’s just got bad luck, in which case it would also be a legitimate reason to make a change. (The Prince Of New York’s 2007 Baseball Preview p. 30)
It’s something to think about seriously. They’re paying these guys a lot of money and they seem to be risking their investments out of the stubborness to keep Arnsberg on.
Mazzilli Back Where He Started?
I don’t know what kind of relationship Willie Randolph has with Lee Mazzilli (if any), but if Manny Acta gets the job to manage the Washington Nationals, Mazzilli may return to where he became a matinee idol. Mazzilli is out of a job now that the Yankees have moved Don Mattingly up to bench coach; so the Mets may be an option for Mazzilli who is from Brooklyn. He was a good guy in the clubhouse when he played on the top Mets teams of the 80s; always a voice of reason and honesty.
The Benevolence Of Jim Hendry
How kind of Jim Hendry to let Dusty Baker off the hook and generously allow him to continue managing the disaster known as the Chicago Cubs.
After all, it was Baker who decided that Ryan Dempster would be a sufficient alternative as closer…wait…no, that was Hendry.
And it was Baker who decided that Juan Pierre ($5.7 million salary; 1 HR, 19 RBI, .280 BA, 37 SBs) was a better alternative in center than Corey Patterson ($2.8 million salary; 10 HR, 37 RBI, .282 BA, 32 SBs)….oh, wait…that was Hendry too.
And it was Baker who decided to let Nomar Garciaparra leave when he probably would have taken an incentive laden contract to stay and has had a resurgent season with the Dodgers…oh, hold it…that was Hendry as well. Hmmm.
And it was Baker who decided to get rid of Joe Borowski, who has returned from injury to pitch solidly as the closer for the Marlins…hmmm….I’m sensing a trend here.
The fact is that every general manager has blemishes on his resume. Even the exalted Billy Beane (Esteban Loaiza), John Schuerholz (Mike Hampton), and Theo Epstein (Bronson Arroyo) are guilty of making misjudgements in personnel. But Baker being left hanging out to dry by Jim Hendry, when Hendry has done as bad or worse a job with the Cubs, is mind boggling. Why is it that Hendry isn’t answering questions about his own job security rather than reiterating again and again (in the circular GM speak that is popular nowadays) that Baker’s fate will be decided organizationally in a timely fashion?
Baker has had his bewildering moments throughout his managerial career; but so have Tony LaRussa, Jim Leyland and Joe Torre. For Baker to have won as many games as he has and been as successful as he has been, he has to be doing something right. This season has been a disaster for the Cubs. They lost two of their top three starters and their All Star first baseman for what has amounted to the entire season. These aren’t excuses for Baker; everyone in the organization shares some of the blame for this type of season. Yet all we hear about is the questionable job security of Dusty Baker; and now it has been announced (in a tone that sounds to me as though they think they’re doing him some kind of huge favor) that he is going to stay for the remainder of the season.
Well, if I were Dusty Baker, I would sit back and think very, very hard if the Cubs wanted me to come back. There are going to be jobs available next season. Much more appealing ones than the North Side disaster that the Cubs have become—Philadelphia, Seattle, Kansas City, Washington, or maybe even a reconciliation in San Francisco if Felipe Alou retires—could be available. He’s going to have options and maybe it would be better for everyone involved if they parted ways. The Cubs not only don’t seem to want him, but they aren’t treating him very nicely either.
Nuclear Ozzie Has A Point
With Vicente Padilla taking target practice against his players and his pitchers seemingly unable to retaliate, Ozzie Guillen had good reason to get in the face of starter Jon Garland. Guillen, still aggravated about the two times that Padilla hit A.J. Pierzynski that fateful day which started Guillen down the slippery slope in which he ended up in sensitivity training, let it be known that if Padilla tried it again, there would be repercussions. Padilla hit Alex Cintron, which sent Guillen into convulsions—with good reason.
In the next inning White Sox starter Jon Garland was, for all intents and purposes, given the green light by home plate umpire Randy Marsh to retaliate because no warnings had been issued. It was as though Marsh was saying to the White Sox, "Let’s get this over with and there won’t be anymore trouble." There stood Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler, waiting for the pitch from Garland. Garland wound up and threw at Kinsler—–and missed!! Marsh still didn’t issue a warning. Another free shot for Garland. Garland wound up and—-missed again!! Kinsler later walked.
Guillen had good reason to be irritated. I can see a pitcher pulling an "Estes" once. But twice? Perhaps the White Sox pitchers, before these games against Texas, should place a mannequin at home plate and spend a few minutes in the bullpen working on their aim. Didn’t anyone ever teach them that if they want to hit a batter to aim right for the middle of their backs? Maybe the Mets can sub-contract Pedro Martinez; or the Astros can sub-contract Roger Clemens to show them how it’s done.
This has to be more annoying to the everyday players than having a manager and pitchers who refuse to protect their hitters by retaliating when they’re being thrown at. They have a manager who is willing to take fines and suspensions to protect his batters and pitchers who can’t hit the batters when they’re aiming at them.
Cubs Should Just Pull The Trigger
Once Jim Hendry made the decision to announce his intention of evaluating manager Dusty Baker and his coaching staff over the All Star break, it was only slightly worse than the dreaded "vote of confidence" that managers and coaches get right before they get fired. Now that the decision to "evaluate" has been made public, Hendry should just go ahead and fire Baker.
With a team that is spiraling toward losing 100 games and the speculation regarding Baker’s future coming into greater and greater question, to make an announcement detailing some "evaluation" process that Hendry claims is "a normal process heading into the second half" is insulting to a veteran manager such as Baker and is tantamount to leaving him twisting in the wind.
Baker’s contract is up at the end of the season and he obviously will not be back. Blaming Baker for the injuries to Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Derrek Lee is absurd. Who is to blame for the decision to install Ryan Dempster as the closer is up for debate. But now, the Cubs are hanging Baker out to dry. The names mentioned as possible replacements—Lou Piniella, Tom Kelly, Jimy Williams and Gene LaMont—-are going to be entering into a no-win situation for this season. I can say right now that there is no way that Lou Piniella and Tom Kelly are going to take this job in mid-season, if at all. Are the Cubs fans going to be enthusiastic about Jimy Williams and Gene LaMont? And is Hendry even going to have a job after the season?
The team is a disaster; this season is a write-off; they’re beginning to fight amongst themselves. Firing Baker is not going to do any good, but he’s not going to be back anyway, so to insult him by publicly announcing some ridiculous "evaluation" process is compounding a terrible situation. Instead of some ridiculous announcement regarding an "evaluation", the Cubs should just fire him now and move on.
McClatchy Speaks! He’s ALIVE!!!
Kevin McClatchy has owned the Pittsburgh Pirates for ten years and he’s finally saying what Pirate watchers have been saying since then—-the team’s play is unacceptable. It took him this long to realize that the team is being poorly run? It took him this long to have a look at all the empty seats in that beautiful new ballpark and say that it is unacceptable?
This is the same man who allowed Lloyd McClendon and his inept managing last for five horrendous seasons without any improvement at all. This is the man who was at the helm when pitchers such as Bronson Arroyo (a definite All Star, possibly the starter) and Duaner Sanchez (indispensible reliever for the Mets) were let go for nothing; while the team signed aging veterans like Roberto Hernandez, Jose Hernandez, Joe Randa and Jeromy Burnitz. Now he’s saying that the team’s play, as their record falls to 26-51, is unacceptable?
McClatchy pronounced confidence in general manager Dave Littlefield (probably a bad idea) and manager Jim Tracy (solid manager, terrible team). The dreaded vote of confidence and the team’s record probably means that the end is near for Littlefield; I seriously doubt that Tracy is in trouble, especially since they let McClendon sit in the manager’s office for so long despite continuous instances of ineptitude. But will a new general manager do any good for a team that has hit a ceiling of about a $50 million payroll? Only if his name is Billy Beane. But at least Kevin McClatchy has awakened from his slumber. That’s a start.
Nuclear Ozzie Continues His Descent
Would Ozzie Guillen be amenable to having me follow him around to document all the things he says and does? It could be a written version of a reality show. It would be HUGE!!
It never seems to end with this guy. So now, after the commissioner of baseball decrees that Guillen must attend sensitivity training because of his comments the other day, Guillen announces that: "I don’t think I’ll be going, I don’t think that’ll happen," and "I think the commissioner ordered that in order to calm things down,but, obviously, to attend one of those, I’ll have to take English
lessons first."
Is the man insane? He doesn’t need sensitivity training—-he needs a psychiatrist. Of course the commissioner ordered the sensitivity training just to calm things down; and of course no one really thinks that those edicts to attend sensitivity training or the training itself is going to do any good. But that’s not the point. The point is to show everyone who was upset or offended that baseball is attempting to maintain some good will and impart the notion that they’re willing to reprimand a manager, coach or player who says something offensive to a member of the community.
But there Guillen goes again, playing up his minority status while openly scoffing at an order by the person who heads the enterprise which has allowed him to escape the "streets" where Guillen claims to have learned English. He simply doesn’t understand or, like some deranged stalker, doesn’t want to understand.
People who speak their minds are a rarity in the days of athletes, coaches, managers and front office people who are so obsessed with being politically correct that they never say anything at all. But this is different. This isn’t David Wells saying something outrageous that’s relatively harmless; this isn’t Anna Benson trying to get herself some publicity. This is a man who hasn’t the faintest idea as to how to behave; his success as a manager is exacerbating the problem. If the White Sox and the league allow this to continue, who knows what this unhinged lunatic is liable to do or say next?
With every statement Guillen makes he is simply proving Jay Mariotti right when Mariotti says that Guillen is out of control.
princeofny
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