Oswalt as the 6th Man

When the Blue Jays were one of the frontrunners for---and in fact were widely expected to get---Yu Darvish, I wrote that their intention might have been to use Darvish in his familiar 6-man rotation to both make him comfortable and manage his workload while holding down the innings counts of their young pitchers Henderson Alvarez, Kyle Drabek and Brandon Morrow.

The Blue Jays missed out on the Japanese/Iranian righty and the Rangers eventually got Darvish.

After shifting Neftali Feliz into the starting rotation and signing Joe Nathan to take over as closer, the Rangers’ rotation appears set.

But their interest in Roy Oswalt lends another option into the mix along with questions as to why they need another established starter.

Could it be that the Rangers are also considering going with a 6-man rotation, but for different reasons?

Because the Rangers have gone so far against the new conventional orthodoxy of babying their starting pitchers and are telling them as they make their way up through the minor league system that six innings and 100 pitches (whichever comes first) aren’t going to cut it, they’ve been the subject of resistance from the Rick Petersons of the world who are invested in the “scientific” study of pitchers (along with selling their theories to information-hungry and desperate amateurs).

What would a team that specifically pushes their starters deeper into games have to do with a 6-man rotation?

If they implemented such a plan, the Rangers would be diminishing the workload of their pitchers in a different way than limiting their innings and pitches. The extra day of rest would allow the pitchers to go even deeper into games than the 7-8 innings and 120 pitches that are now seen as extreme. They’d be able to rest their bullpen periodically while not putting forth the perception of abusing their pitchers in some random experiment that has no basis in the hard (and ineffective) data that has led the Yankees to placing the likes of Joba Chamberlain in a plastic bubble and simultaneously destroying any chance he ever had of fulfilling his potential.

The Rangers, staffed by Hall of Fame former pitchers Nolan Ryan and Greg Maddux along with the highly respected pitching coach Mike Maddux, can look at a pitcher and use their own experiences to say, “his back leg is dragging”; “he’s not following through completely”; “his hips aren’t turning with the same force they were earlier in the game”; or “he’s not showing the same ferocity” and determine that the pitcher is tired because of fatigue, not because he’s reached a previously prescribed number that they pulled out of the air and are referencing a series of studies to justify their paranoia.

Thinking one is tired and being tired are two different things. If a pitcher knows beforehand that he’s only expected to put in a certain amount of work, that’s how his mind will focus and he might think he’s got nothing left when he does have something left.

Not everyone is a Roy Halladay and wants to finish what he starts.

As pitchers, Greg Maddux and Ryan weren’t babied and stayed out on the mound in good health and effectiveness to a remarkable degree.

This isn’t to suggest that the pitchers should be told to toughen up and stay out on the mound if they’re not feeling right---Greg Maddux was criticized late in his career for pulling himself out of games after a certain number of pitches---but it’s understanding what they’re looking at and taking into account everything that goes into throwing a baseball in a repeated and stressful manner every 5 (or 6) days.

These men are in a unique position to say what they’re doing and why without adherence to outsiders telling them they're wrong.

Shunning the armchair experts like Keith Law, who vomit scouting terminology and say things to make it sound as if they’re insiders when they’re only putting forth a pretense of such; or looking at the specious and self-indulgent reasoning behind writer Tom Verducci’s so-called “Verducci Effect” aren’t indicative of resistance to an ever-changing reality, it’s actual analysis without cowering amongst the masses in an effort to avoid criticism if it doesn’t work.

Calculating an individual on a chart, graph or by sputtering randomness because it sounds good and having the hypnotized sheep take every word said as gospel doesn’t make one an expert. For all of his down-home, country simplicity in a pleasant Southern drawl and known old-school Texas conservatism, Ryan was one of the first pitchers to lift weights; he paid close attention to his mechanics and was willing to listen to others like the late Angels coach Jimmy Reese, who showed him the value of vitamins and good nutrition. Ryan trusted his own instincts and understanding of his body and he’s transferred that to his work as an executive.

In certain circles, a 6-man rotation would be seen as a concession to the times. Some would probably twist it to validate themselves. But if the Rangers consider it, it will be because they have a method behind doing it and not because they want to place their pitchers in a sealed sarcophagus and protect them from the war of attrition known as pitching, preferring failure to the risk of injury and a misinformed public’s vitriol.

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Managing Gutlessly And To Lose

• Brewers 6-Pirates 5:

One of the reasons that Tony La Russa has been such a successful manager over the long

term is that he isn't a slave to the supposed "book" that he's blamed for co-authoring. The push-button, computerized managerial handbook that exists only for those that aren't confident enough in their baseball savvy or are too paranoid to make a risky decision because it's just easier to explain to geniuses in the media and meddlesome owners why he did something that appeared to be correct, but didn't work.
La Russa, as much as he plays percentages, rolls the dice more than people realize. He's earned the right to chafe at having those decisions questioned by the press, but he's not making his moves based on safety-first because he's always been the same type of manager from when he took over the White Sox in 1979 at age 34, as he is now managing the Cardinals at age 63. I still remember one incident when there was an insider's profile on La Russa and he was being recorded as he managed; a young pitcher had just been recalled and it was a clear bunting situation, but La Russa called to the bullpen and just as the pitcher settled into the batter's box, La Russa asked urgently, "Can he hit?" after receiving the response which, presumably, was that they didn't know, La Russa said, "Well, he's swingin' now." I don't know what happened in the at bat, but how many managers would have had the nerve to pull something like that with a pitcher about whom they had no clue? The point to all of this is to illustrate the difference between a Hall of Fame manager like La Russa and what I was watching last night as the

Brewers and Pirates held a managerial screw-up convention.
There were so many bizarre decisions made last night that they have to be compartmentalized. The decision of when and with whom to bunt shouldn't be all that hard especially for guys like Brewers manager Dale Sveum and Pirates manager John Russell, who played the game as fringe big leaguers and had to do everything they could to maintain a spot on the roster; and have also managed in the minor leagues.
First, there were the bunt plays. To me, getting a leadoff batter on and then bunting him to second is an iffy proposition unless the pitcher or a notoriously weak hitter is batting. A runner on second base isn't going to score unless one of the next two hitters gets a base hit or something strange happens. Staying out of the potential double-play is a consideration, but that's all the more reason to try something like a hit-and-run instead of ordering a straight sacrifice. In the eighth inning with the Pirates leading 5-4, J.J. Hardy singled to lead off the

inning off of Pirates lefty John Grabow. Right-handed power hitter Corey Hart was batting and manager Sveum had him bunt Hardy to second base. The bunt is an explainable strategy; but to bunt with a batter who has 20 homers and 89 RBI against a lefty pitcher was just overmanaging in a panicky sort of way. Add in that Hart can run and the double play is only likely if he hits the ball right at someone. The bunt was successful and it ended up working because the light-hitting Jason Kendall doubled to tie the game, but it wasn't the right move. The power hitters are there to drive in runs and had Kendall not gotten that clutch, two-out hit, the Brewers would've lost.
Then it was Russell's turn to mess around with an unnecessary bunt. In the top of the ninth, after Nyjer Morgan reached on an infield single, Freddy Sanchez was batting. Sanchez squared around to bunt as if he were a starting pitcher sacrificing the runner to second and

the Brewers were charging in from the corners and shifting their infield all over the place like it was the worst hitting pitcher in history trying to advance the runner. Why is it that managers are so entrenched in what's safe that they don't look at each situation individually? Sanchez is a former batting champion who rarely strikes out; Morgan runs like the wind; why not have him steal as the infield is moving all over the place? Why not have Sanchez square to bunt and chop at the ball to try and dribble it through the infield? Or why not put on a hit and run, having Morgan trying to steal the base as Sanchez chops at the ball? If they'd done that and Sanchez got the ball through the infield, Morgan might've been able to score from first base.
Then there were the pitching decisions. There's no way to give Sveum a hard time for using Guillermo Mota in the eighth inning; he's in the same situation as former Mets manager Willie Randolph was with Mota a year ago as Randolph kept using him despite his failures; the Brewers, like the Mets of 2007, don't have any alternatives other than to use Mota and hope for the best. As for the Pirates, Russell brought in T.J. Beam, a 27-year-old career minor league journeyman

who might one day have some use as a long reliever. After Ryan Braun reached on an infield hit, Prince Fielder was at the plate. Russell walked out to the mound to talk to his pitcher and catcher about how to handle Fielder and with the first two pitches so far outside that it was clear that they wanted nothing to do with Fielder and were hoping that he'd be overanxious and chase a bad pitch, why didn't they just walk him after the second ball? And I don't want to hear about how you don't put the winning run on second base because just before I changed the channel, I saw the winning run score right before Fielder jumped into the circle of teammates waiting at home plate to greet him after his game-winning homer landed in the right-center field bleachers. I don't know about you, but I like the Beam-J.J. Hardy matchup better than I like seeing Beam throw anything anywhere close to the strike zone for Fielder to handle.
Of course it's easier to make the safety-first moves like bunting runners into scoring position or refusing to walk a winning run into scoring position, but that doesn't make it right for the manager or team to be so weak-minded that they're going to let concerns about what's going to be said about them dictate what decisions they make, even if the opposite of what they did would've been correct. They may have lost or won anyway, but that doesn't validate gutless, simple-minded adherence to a non-existent book of maneuvers.

• Brewers should not pitch C.C. Sabathia again on short-rest, and Sabathia shouldn't agree to it:

Moving C.C. Sabathia up to pitch on three-days rest for the second time in a row is an

understandable decision given the Brewers current predicament, their porous starting pitching and the injury to Ben Sheets, but Sabathia should think of himself as well as the team; and the Brewers should look at their situation and decide that one pitcher isn't going to be able to carry them through the post-season no matter how dominant he's been.
Sabathia is clearly tired. His stuff in his last two starts wasn't as sharp as it was since the trade to the Brewers and he has to, at some point, consider his own situation before risking injury as he's weeks before untold millions in free agency. To go out to the mound and run on fumes and guts to help save a sinking ship is admirable, but there comes a point where there are diminishing returns. Are the Brewers going to pay Sabathia if he gets hurt helping them try and save a playoff spot? They've squeezed every single pitch they possibly can out of the big lefty knowing that they're not going to have him after the season and Sabathia isn't the type to out-and-out say that he's concerned about his personal future at the expense of his current team's goals; but he should at least consider it before running this risk of overtaxing such a valuable commodity as his left arm.
The Brewers have to accept the fact that they're going to need to get winning performances from more than one starting pitcher if they're going to get to the playoffs. What good does it do to have Sabathia go out to the mound tired, diminish his stuff and get him at less than 100%, only to have to use one of their other pitchers in the coming days? They have to win

after tonight one way or the other, why weaken the one strength out of desperation?
Sabathia and the Brewers have manhandled the Pirates this year and that Pirates lineup isn't exactly intimidating, but that's all the more reason to give Sabathia his full rest and pitch him on Thursday; add in that Paul Maholm is a pretty good pitcher and there's a real chance that the game's going to be close and Sabathia won't be able to pitch late into the game due to exhaustion; the Brewers bullpen will again be called upon to record key outs either way. It's a bad move all the way around, no matter what happens.

• Yankees 3-Blue Jays 1:

Is the Blue Jays front office seeing reality yet? The reality that without the ten-game win streak in early September, they're a .500 team? That Scott Rolen has been a disaster while

Troy Glaus is closing in on 100 RBI? That a team who has hot streaks once any chance of contention is gone is not a good team? That they're an also-ran year-after-year? Or are they going to move forward in a difficult decision with the same strategy and expect a different result?
Anyone home? Hello?

• Twins 9-White Sox 3:

I understand what White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was doing when he issued a media-delivered challenge to last night's starter Javier Vazquez. Among other things, Guillen said

Vazquez "hasn't been" a big game pitcher in his career. Guillen's off-the-wall rants are largely a matter of design in the hopes of making his players angry enough that they perform with a greater determination to prove him wrong; the problem is that these types of psychological ploys don't always work with certain personalities. Vazquez isn't the type of guy who seems to like having people screaming in his face.
In fairness to Guillen, Vazquez hasn't been very good in the few opportunities he's had to pitch in important games, but that doesn't justify hanging that reputation around his neck right before he's making a very important start against the closest division competitor to the White Sox on the road in Minnesota. These allegations are ignored by some players; taken as a challenge to others; and used as a reason to go out and perform timidly and badly by some who just don't like being challenged that way. Part of being a successful all-around manager is being able to read the players and respond to what they specifically need to perform; Guillen is a successful manager, but he misread his player in this case. Vazquez might've gotten shelled anyway, but Guillen's comments certainly didn't help.

• Rangers 6-Athletics 4:
  

No matter how the Rangers end this season, why do I get the feeling that team president, the cold, deliberating and ruthless Nolan Ryan is out in the shed sharpening his axe?

Big Z's BiZarre Injuries; A Note On Lincecum's Mechanics; D-Backs Acquire Eckstein

• Carlos Zambrano scratched from his start:

The Cubs scratched Carlos Zambrano from his scheduled start against the Phillies today

because he has a tired arm----ESPN Story. This is understandable at this time of year and with the Cubs playoff position secure, it makes sense to sit Zambrano and make sure he's healthy for the playoffs. That being said, Zambrano has had a series of bizarre incidents on the mound in recent years; in fact, some of his injuries have been borderline absurd. This is the guy whose arm was tired from clicking the computer mouse and sending too many emails (believe it or not); who got so excited during one start that he started hyperventilating and had to be removed (sounds more like a panic attack if you ask me); lost a tooth, spat it out and kept on pitching (Zambrano blames too much sugary gum); and now has a tired arm. It's a bit odd, but it's better than having the same type of symptoms as Josh Beckett and John Maine have had that have forced both onto the disabled list and put their seasons in question.
Zambrano's a quirky guy; with quirky habits and a quirky mound demeanor, so it's to be expected that he'd have a series of quirky things happen to him to keep him on the sidelines once in awhile, but a tired arm happens to pitchers as they hit the home stretch and it generally dissipates as the cooler weather comes along and the adrenaline of the end of the season and the playoffs comes into view. In other words, the Cubs are right to take a conservative tact with their ace and it's probably not anything to be overly concerned about.

• A note on Tim Lincecum's mechanics and those looking to copy them:

My blog gets a lot of google hits from people looking to learn about Tim Lincecum's unique

mechanics and workout regimens and I speak from experience when I say to those looking to copy Lincecum that they should take great caution in trying to use the internet to find ways to replicate what it is Lincecum does.
Throwing a lights out fastball is something that pitchers are born with and no amount of callasthenics, stretching and copying of the routines of a successful pitcher is going to change that. Even with that reality, there are ways for pitchers to improve their velocity and results within reason. Without the help of a coach or a detailed plan to do what it is Lincecum does, I would hesitate to try and copy it. A pitcher like Lincecum----5'9" (maybe?), 160 lbs (maybe?) and with a 98 mph fastball----has more to do with his physical gifts than to do with what his father taught him; the jury is still out on whether he 's going to be able to handle the longterm workload of being a starting pitcher in the major leagues; only time will tell whether the innovations his father came up with to teach Tim to pitch will bear out.
The odds are that Lincecum would probably throw as hard as he does no matter who taught him and what mechanics he used; the wear and tear and whether or not he stays healthy will be the indicators of the usefulness of his specially designed program and mechanics. The only thing I can recommend for those that are looking for help with their

mechanics is a book that helped me a great deal and that book was Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible.
After years of trying to find a guide that was easy to follow and actually made sense (and worked), I stumbled onto Ryan's book probably three or four years too late for it to make a great deal of difference for me, but if there are those that are still within the age range to have a chance of proper mechanics helping their career, I suggest they consider this book. It has clear and easy to understand language of pitching mechanics with checkpoints to make sure you're doing things correctly; suggestions for mental preparation and exercises (weight training, stretching and stamina related) for both starters and relievers. The terminology is the key and it was clear enough to jackhammer it's way through the rock hard melon sitting atop my shoulders that I occasionally refer to as my head, so instead of concentrating on the flavor of the moment in Tim Lincecum, I strongly suggest those that are seeking help try Nolan Ryan's book because it helped me and Ryan had a very long, very durable career that wasn't pockmarked by injuries that are occurring today; some of that may have been due to the improved technology to detect problems, but part of it was because Ryan must've been doing something right.

• Astros 3-Cardinals 0:

Everyone (myself included) ridiculed the Houston Astros and their owner Drayton McLane when his team acquired veteran pitching help at the trading deadline instead of clearing out

some of their own veteran players for the future, but since the trades acquiring journeymen Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins, the Astros have played well enough for it to be within the realm of reason that they should be included (at least as a mentionable) for a playoff spot. They're 9 1/2 games out of the Wild Card lead and they're going to cool off, but from where they were on July 31st to now, it's hard to argue with McLane's argument not to give up. Wolf hasn't been particularly good, but he's been serviceable and Hawkins has been excellent. It could be luck or it could be just belief in his team, but whatever it is it's been just as effective as the formulas and pontificating that others do in making recommendations as to what certain teams should and shouldn't do.

• Diamondbacks acquire David Eckstein from the Blue Jays:

The Diamondbacks are going for it all right now as evidenced by the trades they've made

during the season, the latest being for former post-season hero David Eckstein from the Blue Jays. I would presume that Eckstein is going to play second base for the Diamondbacks and he'll provide grit, hustle, post-season hardware and another guy to get on base in front of the Diamondbacks bashers. On the surface it's a good deal, but none of the other deals they've made, most met with widespread approval, have served to snap the team out of their slumber, so who knows if this one will do the trick anymore than the others? It's a good move anyway; Eckstein's a guy you like to have on your team because he does the little things to win games.

Tim Lincecum's Mechanics And The Bandwagon Jumpers

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 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.