M's -1.5 back with 7 to play
Is the coin op starting to look a little retro here?

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On Iwakuma

The TNT quoted McClendon thusly:

...

McClendon dismissed the suggestion that Iwakuma is wearing down.

“I don’t know why it would be fatigue,” he said. “He was off for two months. We rested him every opportunity we had a chance to do that. I’m not sure what’s going on, but we’ve got to get it straightened out quickly.”

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It would be fatigue because of:   the 750-pitch weekends as a teenager ... the same training/game methods that Matsuzaka used ... the shoulder history ... and the fact that Iwakuma is as opposite to James Paxton as the Angels' front office is to the Mariners'.  High mileage on a thoroughbred hoss (Clemens, Felix, Paxton, etc) is one thing.  But Iwakuma is straining his shoulder every single time he muscles 88 MPH out of it.

Dr. D has always been Iwakuma's biggest fan, but he has also assumed a banana-short shelf life here.

...... 

Kuma walked a tightrope at the best of times; he is successful if and only if his three fastballs (low-away, ladder, jam) are reliably precise.  If he's got the juice to (1) hit the black or (2) miss just off it, then fine.  But what is [Jamie Moyer, add five mistake fatballs a game]?  You got it.

We've compared it to 3-point shooting when your legs are gone.  You lose the slightest bit of bounce in your step, you're not going to be able to feather the ball the same way.  If you were an overachiever to start with, a slight physical decline can produce an 8-fold loss in game impact.

.......

There's also the issue that --- > Kuma's pitchability, his novelty, is losing a bit of luster as he goes along.   The league seems to be settling into a rhythm on him, "booking" him a bit, and the slightest mistakes cost him wayyyy too much. He used to have a lot more margin for error.

You don't kick him to the curb.  In the 2015 worst-case scenario, he's a deluxe 4 or 5 starter.  He's still capable of ripping off 12 "coin-op" starts at some point next year.  Or, maybe these last 3 starts are just one of those things?!  Anybody going with that story?  Main reason Dr. D ain't, is because this is how he saw it playin' out before we got started.

  • Skepticism and misevaluation
  • The opportunity comes
  • Siiiggggghhhhh ... okay, he gets another month in the rotation, wait and see
  • Giddy with joy
  • Established stardom
  • Way, wayyyy too soon:  the arm goes

Back when, we gingerly guessed a shy 2 years' worth of fame and fortune in America.  We're at a shy 2 years.  Hopefully the imagination, and the manifestation, are not coinciding before our eyes.

Maybe next start, and the following 30, it's back to Coin Op City.  We're just conceding the melancholy point that, as Cy Young contenders go, his comet trail may be flaming out.  Let's hope this time we ain't getting tomorrow's news today...

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On Chris Young

The TNT quoted McClendon thusly:

...

McClendon dismissed the suggestion that Iwakuma is wearing down.

“I don’t know why it would be fatigue,” he said. “He was off for two months. We rested him every opportunity we had a chance to do that. I’m not sure what’s going on, but we’ve got to get it straightened out quickly.”

...

Hold it.  Was that the Iwakuma quote? ....  :: shrug ::  FKey7 template text.  From McClendon, we mean, not from the usual source (us).

The fact that Mr. Young gave us twenty serendipitous starts this year?  It never made him a TOR starter, now did it.  You drive through, you order the chicken and biscuit.  Hey!  They even up-sized the mashed potatoes, like they shoulda done 35 years ago.  It's pleasant and you're holding a spork and it's a lot better than a Big Mac, but ... you're not going to build a life around it.

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Spahn and Sain and Pray for Disdain

Disdain for veteran MLB(tm) Entitlement, of course.

Taijuan's ready to go.  ... in terms of what 29 other clubs expect from a youngster's first 40 starts, anyway!  Chris Young, and in a different way Iwakuma, gave us a very fine transition to our Felix-Paxton-Taijuan era, which will serve as our Hudson-Zito-Mulder era.  

As 90% of us would agree, Roenis Elias heads into 2015 as one whale of a young lefty SP too.  It's only by comparison to guys like James Paxton that he isn't a feature club-controls player.

.....

But the M's payroll, much less the A's, isn't big enough to think in terms of the same 5 All-Star SP's winning us the next handful of pennants.  You get a Big Three rolling, it's up to you to figure out the back of the rotation as it morphs.  One pitcher serves as a cog in the machine for a while, and then you swap him out, let him get back to his cover-shoot swimming pool in San Diego.  Like we sez, you and I got bigger problems than where Chris Young's next million is coming from.

......

The last 7 games?  I go five games with Felix-Paxton-Taijuan, and two with Johnny Bullpen starting.  You do let Iwakuma throw the first few innings of his start, but we wouldn't recommend trying anything remotely like that with Chris Young.  Tom Wilhelmsen would do a better job and you know that.

While we're on the subject.  With Smith and Leone here:  why not Wilhelmsen to SP next year?  The #6 SP / long man?

......

So, you don't like being -1.5 back with 7 to go.  Thing is, Oakland and Kansas City ain't slamming any doors, you know.

See you at the ballpark,

Dr D

 

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Blog: 

Comments

1
IcebreakerX's picture

The Mariners have been historically bonafide SUCKERS for serendipity.
However, Jack-Z hasn't been afraid to drop kick players if he thinks they're too expensive (Branyan, Morales... Though he brought both back).
Hopefully, he dropkicks Young.
1 million bucks or get off the team.

2

I had earlier favored extending Kuma and giving Young two years to come back, not any more. While The Incredible Hultz remains someone to dream on they are going to have to bring in two reasonably possible back end of the rotation possibilities. I agree on giving Wilhelmsen a shot at the rotation in spring training and wouldn't be totally against making a small bet on Young being able to handle 2/3 of a season if he comes cheap but they are going to have to shop for a tier 2 or 3 type in the free agent or trade market. As the past 6 weeks have shown we have a serious need for more rotation depth.

5

For those who haven't checked it out, Will opens up with:
RealClearReligion: Why are the Chicago Cubs losers? Is Wrigley Field to blame?
George Will: If I have such a thing as a thesis in this light, little book, is that that's been part of the Cubs problem. The fans, who are so loyal -- not just to baseball, but to something else -- there was diminished incentive to put a better team on the field. Phil Wrigley inherited the team from this father and didn't really want it, but he felt trapped by the family legacy to keep it. He often said: The team's terrible, but the ballpark is fabulous. We will sell the green grass, the sunshine, the ivy, and the cold Old Style beer. At one point, he even asked Cubs broadcasters to quit referring to it as Wrigley Field, but "Cubs Park" instead.
You can demonstrate that attendance doesn't vary much with the win-loss record; it varies with the price of the beer.
...
And how long have the Cubs been losers, might we ask?  
...
By the way, that's Chuck Armstrong's phrase, if you can believe that.  "We're going to offer a competitive club and a nice night at the ballpark."  He said it for public consumption.
Odd thing is, the Mariners don't benefit from Wrigley Syndrome.  Their attendance does vary much with the W/L record.

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