Buchholz Shut Down for Rest of 2007 Season

[TheKilo]

Per WEEI.

[TheKilo]

ProJo's Take:

 

Right-hander Clay Buchholz, who no-hit the Orioles on Sept. 1 in his second big-league start, is being shut down for the season by the Red Sox.

 

Manager Terry Francona said minutes ago that Buchholz's strength and mobility, among other things the organization test for on a regular basis, are not at the levels the Sox would like to see in order to have him continue to pitch.

 

So rather than risk his promising career by using him over the final three regular-season games and then in the postseason, the organization has decided to err on the side of caution.

[redsoxrules]

as much as I would like to have him for the post season its a good move IMO

[Cocos Disciples]

Wakefield in the 4th spot then.

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

I'm ******** about this. Clay Buchholz may be one of the top 5 arms on this team....and they shut him down thinking he can't handle say....15-20 more innings this season. All this precautionary crap is pissing me off. He is NOT going to injure himself by pitching in the playoffs.

 

There should be no pitch counts, limitations, nothing....for ANYBODY....its the playoffs....pull out everything you've got and go for the championship. Place the best players on the team and do everything to win every game.....

 

This is a terrible scared shitless move by the front office and they are throwing away some very good innings which could result in the difference in a few games for the post season. Pissed off.

[TheKilo]

I'm ******** about this. Clay Buchholz may be one of the top 5 arms on this team....and they shut him down thinking he can't handle say....15-20 more innings this season. All this precautionary crap is pissing me off. He is NOT going to injure himself by pitching in the playoffs.

 

There should be no pitch counts, limitations, nothing....for ANYBODY....its the playoffs....pull out everything you've got and go for the championship. Place the best players on the team and do everything to win every game.....

 

This is a terrible scared shitless move by the front office and they are throwing away some very good innings which could result in the difference in a few games for the post season. Pissed off.

 

Yeah, did you read the SI article on Papelbon? The Sox use strict measures to ensure that their pitcher's arms are completely healthy when they are on the mound. In fact, Papelbon gets checked every single day.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/tom_verducci/09/25/late.great1001/

 

The next morning team doctors and officials began devising the Papelbon Program. It covered two pages and was divided into three parts: how often he could be used, a daily testing program and a custom shoulder-strengthening program. For instance, Francona was not to use Papelbon three days in a row, or even two days in a row if he was coming off a high pitch count. Nor could he use Papelbon the day after he had pitched more than one inning.

 

The daily testing is the backbone of the program. In December 2005 the Red Sox hired Mike Reinhold as an assistant trainer. Reinhold had been the director of rehab and clinical education at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, home of famed sports orthopedist James Andrews. That means if surgery were ruled out for a patient, Andrews would turn him over to Reinhold to work him back into pitching shape. Reinhold would monitor Papelbon's testing.

 

Each day, when Papelbon reports to work, he sees Reinhold and estimates the fatigue level of his shoulder on a scale of zero to five, with five being the most tired. Then Reinhold hooks him up to a strength-testing machine that supplements Papelbon's subjective score with an objective measurement of his shoulder strength. A report of the scores is logged along with Papelbon's recent usage patterns and presented to Francona and front-office officials. A summary advisement is included, which might give Francona clearance to use Papelbon aggressively or keep him from using the reliever at all.

 

With all of this information available at their disposal, it seems the Sox know exactly what's best for their pitchers. Buchholz is experiencing shoulder fatigue. There's zero reason to risk his career over this.

[BSN07]

I like the move, Buchholz is the future, if they don't win it all because hes not pitching then we are not a very good team.

[Cocos Disciples]

I like the move' date=' Buchholz is the future, if they don't win it all because hes not pitching then we are not a very good team.[/quote']

 

ClayBuchholzIsDaFuture?

[example1]

Although I've been saying that Buchholz should be pitching in the playoffs due to his recent success and the fact that the Guardians and Yanks haven't seen him before (and the Angels have seen him only once), I actually appreciate this move and most people here will come next year when we essentially replace Schilling with Buchholz.

 

The Yankees would LOVE to be in the position to be able to sit some of their younger guys like Hughes or Chamberlain. The Sox have that ability because it was their veteran guys who got them to this point and that's who they will ride throughout, win or lose.

 

Overall, I completely understand and approve of the move, even if my instant gratification doesn't get met fully.