jacksonianmarch

popcorn!

I'm in, we're full

A sinker is a 2 seamer pretty much. But it is a 2 seamer thrown with a little more downward snap. Some guys can throw one, I couldnt.

Matsuzaka is throwing WAY too many pitches against an NL lineup.

BSN, when he was at the top of his game in ARI, he was throwing 96 regularly and was in the 98-99 range on occasion.

Tavarez did pitch well.

Wang actually was a top 10 prospect and hurt his arm. He required TJ and was moving his way up. In 2004, the yr before his callup, he learned the 2 seamer and the rest is history. And example, I appreciate all on this site save a few jokers. But the Lowe reference is a little off IMO. The beauty of Wang's sinker is not just the movement, it is the speed. On his best days, Wang gets the sinker into the high 90s. Lowe typically sat high 80s low 90s with his sinker. With that kind of speed and with the amount of movement he gets on the ball, it is like trying to lift a bowling ball. To be honest with you, the teams that give him the most trouble are teams that can run. Those grounders turn into IF hits and Wang is abysmal at holding runners.

Thing is, he cant be. Rasner is out of options. And to be honest with you, a 5ERA will not kill you. The biggest problem was the 5ERA's last yr that went 5 or less innings. Hell, he gave Chacon 13 starts last yr while his ERA was 7. Rasner will get plenty of opps until Wang, Karstens, or Hughes is ready.

Umm, not really. 2 outings in which he allowed runs, damn. But his 12/2 K/BB ratio in 8IP is dirty.

HOSN, get XM and listen to all baseball all the time, channel 175. For a baseball fan, there is nothing sweeter than getting away from ESPN and their reactionary ********.

ksush, I like ya man, but this guy is opening up a can at the wrong time. There are things you allow (like friendly yankee-sox bantering) and things you dont. Either get rid of this prick or expect this s*** to continue. If you dont like the government, the mayor, PBS, God, he mafia or your parents, then fine with me. Dont piss on the men who answer the bell for this country. If the US was filled with pussies like RZ, we'd all be speaking arabic right now.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2819077 Anyone read this? Johnny Pesky isnt allowed in the dugout. I mean, who gives a flying f*** if an 87 yr old Boston legend wants to sit in the dugout or not. Yogi comes in all the time and takes a seat. you mean Scooter can't come down either? This is just dumb. Have one spot open for when the legend is in town. The fans will like it, and this is what the game is all about right? The fans? Garagiola can kiss my ass.

it also depends on how that middle relief comes together. Many a win have been lost in the swirling seas of the 7th and 8th innings. No more 2 inning saves means the 8th inning will be something fun to watch.

yeah, I have since learned some restraint. Contrary to popular belief, I do learn from my many mistakes. The 52 wins isnt what I was taking issue with. The average of 6.7 losses per is what seems amiss.

top 3 52-20?? wow. If Beckett's era is that low, you can control my sig for a week.

He was one of the guys who said that starting would be better for Paps arm than relieving.

and just an aside, I have a couple of ortho buddies who have either met him or know people who have worked with him. What a sweet gig. Insurance? Follow-up? Blah!! He is a cash and carry man who likely clears well into 7 figures while working 4 days a week. That brings back memories. I loved the ortho rotation. I wore my stethoscope my first day and they pointed to it and asked, "what's that". Its like a giant frat. I just dont have the patience (or the grades).

My position is that you do what is best for the team as a player and as a FO. If they have no closer, why the hell would they watch games go by the wayside when they have them won. THIS SEASON, Paps is more valuable as a closer. I dont care if it is for 50 innings vs 200IP as a starter. Those 50 innings are the most important innings of the game. And as any yankee fan who watched the Jose Acevedo's, Antonio Osuna's, and Kyle Farnsworth's of the world try and close while Rivera was out, you know that not just any old schmuck can pitch the 9th. And the sox have a lot of any old schmuck's in that bullpen. If you want an example of what a great team with a s*** closer looks like, take a look at the Guardians from a yr ago. They blew something like 30 saves last yr and had a Sv% of 30-40%. You convert 80% which any good closer can do, and that team is fighting for the playoffs. The sox are built very similarly. Top loaded rotation, a good but not fantastic offense and an absolute pile of s*** bullpen. I would have loved seeing Tavarez as the closer. Nothing like seeing the sox piss away their season in May. Now they will have to wait until their middle relief or lack of SP depth bites them in the ass. As far as a medical opinion goes, I dont really see how starting could be less stressful on the arm. Then again, it isnt my specialty, but a starter pitches 150 times (including warmups) then comes and throws a bullpen 2 days later, then is starting 2 days after that again. Yeah, it is scheduled and yes it gives the arm time to regenerate, but I am not sure of the physiology of stress in an unnatural position. But then again, I am not a preeminent orthopedic surgeon as Dr. Andrews is. And to do what he did, the guy had to do.. 4 yrs of college 4 yrs of med school 5 yrs of residency (6 in some places) 2-3 yrs of fellowship and then logged thousands of shoulder and elbow surgeries to become what he is today. Lets just say, his opinion matters a wee bit more than anyone else's on this board. Doesnt mean he is right, but I'll take his word over anyone else's until he is disproven scientifically.

I just pulled up to the cpu, grabbed a Wegman's sub and saw this thread was posted in, and I get to watch the fireworks. A thing of beauty. Neither of you are right and both of you are right. Wrap that around your minds.

Wang is the most extreme of all sinkerballers. The guys the yankees have now have a history of being able to get the K. Wang to this point does not. And I disagree with your point to a degree. Balls put in play all depend on how hard they are hit. The days Wang gets beat are the days when the balls find the holes. You essentially know he isnt going to allow homers and most people cannot even lift the ball on him. You typically can only beat him by bleeding him to death. Then again, not many people have Wang's pitch. That sinker is absolutely nasty, like nothing I have ever seen before. The guys the yankees have assembled in the minors have nice sinkers, but they all pale in comparison to Wang's. Of all of them, I think Ohlendorf is in the rotation come late 2008/opening day 2009. His sinker is very solid but his location of his secondary stuff is pretty solid as well. 29 walks in 180IP is Schilling-esque.

I think Cashman is being realistic. Chances are, Sanchez is headed for the bullpen where his power stuff will be short burst. And Cashman is pretty realistic in that of all these guys we acquired this yr, maybe one will crack our staff at some point. Thing is, after Wang, there was no other power sinker guy in our minors. And a power sinker allows you to eat innings, something both of us learned last yr, is vital to a staff. Sinkerballers typically get through their innings with less pitches as they arent afraid of contact. And with the way our 5 slot has been and with the auditions and crap that has been inserted into our rotation since the great dissolve of 2003, we need stability. A guy like Ohlendorf may come up and be a Wang-lite. Give us 220IP mid 4's era and hold down the 5 hole like Wake does for you guys. What I never understand is why sinkerballers never are considered big time prospects. Maybe cause they dont K a ton of hitters? Maybe because they are too predictable? Not sure. Either way, the top prospects in our system on the pitching side were not sinkerballers until this yr. Hughes, Clippard, Betances, Chamberlain all are power arms while using the 2 seamer sparingly. Kennedy is being converted into a 2 seamer / offspeed pitcher and a guy like Jeff Marquez looks like a failed sinkerballer experiement to this point. Either way, to answer your question, I think they are looking to fill that 5 hole from within. And the sinkerballers are the most likely of the bunch to hold down a back of the rotation slot and not disappoint. Guys like Hughes, Betances, Chamberlain and Clippard are the guys with top of the rotation stuff.