Crap doesn't begin to describe them. Wood's career is over & Prior isn't far behind him on the way into the tank.

Today Kerry Wood shocked the world with news that he may have to shut it down for the season.
Apparently the reason they haven't tried him in the bullpen this year is that he can't get warmed up fast enough. Yet he can't throw enough pitches to remain in a starting role.
Plus, of course, he still has an owie in his arm.

I hope someone just cuts his arm off so I don't have to read about this bullshit anymore.

The Kid wrote:Plus, of course, he still has an owie in his arm.

I hope someone just cuts his arm off so I don't have to read about this bullshit anymore.

This is crap. Don't you think if he could pitch effectively, he would? No one in their right mind would take the sort of shit these two dudes take willingly. Whether it's playing for future contracts, or because playing baseballs really fun, I don't see why they'd not pitch unless the pain was so unbearable that their stuff was ineffective.

That's not to say they're not overly fragile. Baker blew their arms out in '03. Wood had never been durable, and Prior was barely an adult when Dusty rode them hard. Clement threw a lot, but he'd established himself as a durable pitcher. Zambrano threw about the same amount, but he's one of those latin freak of nature pitchers.

See my argument with the numbers here.

It might also be worthwhile to take a look at Neyer's new book: The Big Book of Blunders, or whatever. There's a chapter in there about the Cubs hiring Baker. From what I gathered when I rifled through it, it looks like Neyer's suggesting that Baker's a good manager, but for veteran teams, and the Cubs, beginning with his tenure, were a young team. Hence, he ran with Wood and Prior like they were grizzled, old veterans.

Or you could stop reading about that stuff from now on, and that'll solve your problem.

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Zambrano threw about the same amount, but he's one of those latin freak of nature pitchers.

Jeebus! You do realize that people are reading what you write, don't you?

electrons wrote:

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Zambrano threw about the same amount, but he's one of those latin freak of nature pitchers.

Jeebus! You do realize that people are reading what you write, don't you?

Yes, yes. Don't get so touchy looking for racist slurs. I would love to see someone run the numbers on something about the durability of latin pitchers versus everyone else. It seems to me there might be something there, and knowing it would prove a world of good for all pitchers, even the lily-white ones.

Without knowing the hard numbers, and I wouldn't begin to know how to run them in any sort of regression or whatever, it seems to me that these dudes might just prove to be more durable. A few weeks ago in The Sporting News [the one with David Wright on the cover?], what's his name, the closer for the Tigers with the mustache--Todd Jones, who has a small column, wrote about how the latin pitchers come up used to throwing long toss on their off days, that they continue to do so well into their ML careers, when (mostly white) pitching coaches may not be so hip to such a program, and that the other (non-latin) pitchers almost never do this. I think he suggested it had a lot to do with arm strength combined with stamina---that is, arm strength lasts longer because of long toss--though I might have just inferred this from his separating latin guys from everyone else and what would seem to be the result of such a program. This is certainly something that would be worth our thinking about: The different ways the game's played and prepared for, and as a result, their different outcomes, e.g., Prior on the DL, and Zambrano throwing 200 innings a year. If the latin way proves to be better, then there isn't any reason everyone shouldn't get on board. Right? That's not racist? That's a good pitching program.

I have no idea how this throwing more plays in with guys like Prior and Wood who can't seem to hardly throw at all. Who knows? Maybe it's because kids on the islands just grow up playing in sandlots everyday, allday, and American kids go to instructional camps and learn sliders that break 3 feet (Wood) or the perfect motion (Prior), but since they don't get the chance to replicate it 900,000 times a day, they break down. Again, who knows.

If and when we get historical, this gets even more dicey. There's the problem of four man rotations, the less systematic use of bullpen and relievers rolls, etc. To wit: Marichal v. Spahn for 15 innings!

If only somehow I'd fallen into long toss as a kid, maybe I wouldn't have been such a rag-armed 2nd baseman. Little Lemuel will be longtossing.

This might be going a bit off topic, but I don't think so insofar as what opens these poor guys to being crap is their complete lack of durability.

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Don't get so touchy looking for racist slurs. I would love to see someone run the numbers on something about the durability of latin pitchers versus everyone else. It seems to me there might be something there, and knowing it would prove a world of good for all pitchers, even the lily-white ones.

Without knowing the hard numbers, and I wouldn't begin to know how to run them in any sort of regression or whatever, it seems to me that these dudes might just prove to be more durable. A few weeks ago in The Sporting News [the one with David Wright on the cover?], what's his name, the closer for the Tigers with the mustache--Todd Jones, who has a small column, wrote about how the latin pitchers come up used to throwing long toss on their off days, that they continue to do so well into their ML careers, when (mostly white) pitching coaches may not be so hip to such a program, and that the other (non-latin) pitchers almost never do this. I think he suggested it had a lot to do with arm strength combined with stamina---that is, arm strength lasts longer because of long toss--though I might have just inferred this from his separating latin guys from everyone else and what would seem to be the result of such a program. This is certainly something that would be worth our thinking about: The different ways the game's played and prepared for, and as a result, their different outcomes, e.g., Prior on the DL, and Zambrano throwing 200 innings a year. If the latin way proves to be better, then there isn't any reason everyone shouldn't get on board. Right? That's not racist? That's a good pitching program.

I have no idea how this throwing more plays in with guys like Prior and Wood who can't seem to hardly throw at all. Who knows? Maybe it's because kids on the islands just grow up playing in sandlots everyday, allday, and American kids go to instructional camps and learn sliders that break 3 feet (Wood) or the perfect motion (Prior), but since they don't get the chance to replicate it 900,000 times a day, they break down. Again, who knows.

If and when we get historical, this gets even more dicey. There's the problem of four man rotations, the less systematic use of bullpen and relievers rolls, etc. To wit: Marichal v. Spahn for 15 innings!

If only somehow I'd fallen into long toss as a kid, maybe I wouldn't have been such a rag-armed 2nd baseman. Little Lemuel will be longtossing.

This might be going a bit off topic, but I don't think so insofar as what opens these poor guys to being crap is their complete lack of durability.

I'm no doctor, and I'm certainly no expert in pediatric neurology, but I am confident in diagnosing this post as having been totally retarded at birth.

Wood's only hope is to hit the bullpen. Be a setup or closer. Take the Eric Gagne route.

Take the Eric Gagne route.

The Cubs would have to be leading in late innings for this to happen.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:I'm no doctor, and I'm certainly no expert in pediatric neurology, but I am confident in diagnosing this post as having been totally retarded at birth.

Maybe you could try being a bit more specific about what's wrong with it if it's such a problem for you.

The longer they are kept around the longer Hendry (McPhail) can hold out the possibility of a decent year for fans who know nothing.

As a Cub fan I will not be happy until Baker, Hendry and McPhail are all gone.

In an earlier post I defended Jacque Jones. I recant. If Steinbrenner wants him see when the next flight out of O'Hare leaves. Certainly the Yankee farm system has some decent arms.

This is the worst team since I was a kid in the mid-1970's. It's embarassing. I tune in the Cubs radio broadcast to see how bad they are losing and turn it after Santo makes an idiotic comment fifteen seconds later. Then I turn on the Sox game to see a team play the game as it should be.

How convenient that Barrett is coming back on the first game of the Sox series at Wrigley.