Archive for the ‘Pitchers and pitching’ Category
Pitcher Zach Greinke Will Start Season on DL
Zach Greinke injured himself playing pick-up basketball right before the start of Spring Training, yet only recently reported the injury to Brewers’ medical personnel. Testing has shown that Greinke sustained one cracked rib and one bruised rib; he’s been playing through that pain all this time, and hasn’t been doing well, so the Brewers decided Greinke should not pitch for the moment because it was aggravating his injury.
The hope is that in four weeks, maybe six, Greinke will be back to being able to pitch, and the Brewers’ staff will go slow with Greinke to avoid making this issue worse. Note that many pitchers have had trouble pitching through pain in the past; it messes up their arm motion, which screws up their overall way to pitch, period, and adds to further problems down the line, health-wise and also performance-wise. Pain is something the body does to warn; if a pitcher feels pain in the ribs, he’s going to alter his motion to avoid that pain, and even a small change in his motion can really cause problems for him down the line.
While this makes sense to me — I’d rather the Brewers be cautious with such a valuable addition to their staff (it’s not every day you get a former Cy Young Award winner to join your team) — many Brewers fans are frustrated. Because Greinke is a new addition to our roster (he was acquired in a trade from Kansas City in the off-season), most Brewers fans have never seen him pitch. (I have, though not in person; I caught a few games here and there during Greinke’s Cy Young Award-winning season in ’08.) This means for now, most Brewers fans are extremely upset because it reminds them of last year — where the Brewers had hitting, and some speed (which for the most part former Manager Ken Macha didn’t use effectively), but really didn’t have much in the way of pitching — and makes them worry that this year will be a repeat of what we already saw last year.
Me, I don’t believe in borrowing trouble, so I’m glad the Brewers shut down Greinke before he inadvertently made this injury any worse. I do wish Greinke would’ve been up-front about this from the start — it doesn’t seem that way from the media attention — but maybe he did say something right away that wasn’t reported. This quote from Greinke (in today’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) sums up his position rather well:
“I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and people always said, ‘You’re going to get hurt.’ It finally caught up to me, playing basketball. I was going up for a rebound and fell on the side. I was hoping it was just bruised. I had a lot of fun doing it but it wasn’t worth it.
“I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was. I was thinking it was just a bruise and pitching through it. There’s a lot more negative pitching with it than positive. I’m going to have to take a little bit of time off. Hopefully, not too much time.”
Please read this story for further details:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/117613788.html
And then, read the follow-up, where reporter Tom Haudricourt points out that Greinke’s injury is not a contract violation (yes, some Brewers fans are that riled up about this; some think Greinke is being “coddled” by the player’s union, but I don’t. I think players are people, too, and at least Greinke was trying to stay in shape during the off-season.):
Brewers get Greinke, Betancourt . . . .
And finally, folks, for my third post of the night, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the Milwaukee Brewers recent trade for RHP Zack Greinke.
Yesterday afternoon, the Brewers traded SS Alcides Escobar, CF Lorenzo Cain, and two minor league RHP, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, to the Kansas City Royals for Greinke and SS Yuniesky Betancourt. Greinke is a former American League Cy Young winner (he won in ’09 with a 16-8 record), and is considered one of the best pitchers in the major leagues despite having an off-year in 2010 with a 10-14 record and a 4.19 ERA.
I’m pleased the Brewers went out and got Greinke, because this is the second pitcher the Brewers have acquired in the off season (the Brewers got Shaun Marcum from the Blue Jays a few weeks ago, trading minor league 2B Brett Lawrie for him straight up). He’s an excellent pitcher and should really help the Brewers’ rotation — and as all know, the Brewers’ main problem the last few years has been pitching. Especially starting pitching. (When the Brewers lost C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets to free agency, they took a major step down despite all their good hitters — Corey Hart, Casey McGehee, and of course Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Hitters can’t do much when the starters keep giving up around 5 ERs a game.)
But I’m not happy the Brewers parted with Lorenzo Cain; Cain had shown some power and a great deal of speed to go along with his excellent defensive skills in centerfield in his brief stint in the majors last year, hitting .308 with a robust OBP of .348 — pretty good for his first 147 at-bats.
The others — eh. I liked what I saw of Jeffress, and I’m sure he’ll have a good career if he can stay away from the illegal substances (he’s been busted twice under MLB’s anti-drug policy for marijuana use), but to get Greinke I have no problem with him leaving. Ditto for Jake Odorizzi, who seemed like a good prospect thus far — possibly the Brewers best pitcher in the minors (certainly the most-hyped), though he was still in A ball this past year.
To be perfectly honest, though, I was glad to see Alcides Escobar go; I felt his defensive play was at best overhyped (Escobar makes great plays, then muffs easy ones), especially compared to the SS who came before him, JJ Hardy (who is an outstanding defensive shortstop, possibly the best in the major leagues, and certainly in the top five when healthy), and his offense was, well, anemic at .235 with a .288 OBP and 10 stolen bases.
When I went to Brewers games last year, everyone I spoke with used the same words to describe Escobar: “Overhyped.” “Flash in the pan.” “Melvin’s an idiot — can we please have JJ Hardy back?” And I agreed — Escobar was described as “the real deal,” or “everything, and the bag of chips besides” — and he just wasn’t. (Perhaps no one could live up to that billing.)
Betancourt would appear to be a step up offensively, as he batted .259 with 16 HRs (to Escobar’s 4) and 78 RBIs (to Escobar’s 41), though he also has a very low OBP at .288. As for his defense, I’d describe it as adequate — he’s another guy who won’t make anyone forget JJ Hardy anytime soon — though as he’s not been labeled a “can’t-miss” prospect, maybe he’ll be less encumbered by expectations than was Escobar.
At any rate, this is a trade that looks very good on paper and I hope it works out well for the Brewers. I know that as a fan, I’m for it.
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