1
Comedy it is. Not going to be able to stomach it the regular way.
His 4.65 BB/9 would have been 2nd worst among all qualified MLB starters last year. Good thing he balances that out with having no stuff whatsoever.
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WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS, Dept.
We watched the first 9 pitches, shut the TV off, and sat down to vent in this article. So there's all kinds of chance that the following could be off track.
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AND --- > If you think Gallardo deserves a chance, and he gets nuked until he glows, it is ZERO reflection on your baseball judgment, fellow Denizen. During the season, we ain't going to gloat and we ain't going to rub it in. If the mushroom cloud occurs on schedule, that is. If Game 5 is blown to the Angels by 11-0, we'll probably just let the pitching pass without comment. It's at that point for me.
Seriously, we all get some of them wrong and some of them right. If Gallardo gives us some Quality Starts, I won't feel weird. Like, Brandon Maurer RP, Smoak, Ackley etc etc were bad calls on my part. Craig Wright said, this is an industry where if you get 60% right, you lead the field. Hopefully there will be counters in the comments even to this sordid hit piece. ;- ) If you are undeterred by today's box score, good on you!
Malcontent's article is sound, data-driven, and remains a valuable "Case For." Nothing against that guest post for sure. Keep it comin'.
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Dr. D watched 2 hitters in a spring training game. Slop happens. If you want to retain hope here, just treat the below as a comedy article.
Okay, you've had your warning. Stretch and do a little cardio before you read an SSI hit piece. Or you'll pull something. The +3 -5 type voting on Gallardo is hereby suspended, unless you amigos want us to keep it going.
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HOPE AGAINST HOPE, Dept.
Dr. D has savaged Yovani Gallardo beyond any possible sense of proportion this winter. Like an OSU student fearing a nation-wide declaration of martial law on Nov. 9, or like a Trumpie who was convinced Hillary was in her last 90 days of life, Dr. D has talked himself into an irrational sense of fear on this. Denizens chuckled and advised him to lie back in a dark room and breathe.
So he did. He turned on the MLB network game, and turned on the Mighty Mainframe Electron Microscope for some hint that Gallardo might have something in his top hat other than silk napkins. Could well be. We peered into the microscope ready to find signs of hope.
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PITCH ONE
Zuumball set his mitt low and away, with a little jab-set, as if to say "right here buddy. Right here." Gallardo took a perfect motion, let a slowball fly, and --- > missed way up and inside. 2, 3 feet off.
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PITCH TWO
Zuumball set his mitt low and away, less emphatically. Gallardo aimed carefully, let the slowball go, and missed perfect center-cut. Any random Astro and the 1-0 pitch would have gone 450 feet.
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PITCH THREE
Zuumball set low-away. Gallardo aimed the ball, let it go, maybe 88, 89 MPH, and --- > missed stomach high, bisecting the plate. OH NOOOOooooo... the right hand hitter took a mighty swing and missed. Popup foul 1B.
Dr. D was unnerved. It is spring, yes, but these are BP fastballs and they are missing wildly. All three of them.
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PITCH FOUR
LH Jankowski up. Gallardo throws another slowball that misses out and over the plate. Jankowski takes it. Trust me, if these 4 pitches occur in an Astro game, Gallardo's SLG allowed will be over .700. I said, >.700 SLG and I'll bet you hard cash it is 7xx+.
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PITCH FIVE
Changeup!
Missed way, WAY outside; Zuumball had to reach a lot. But! Jankowski bought in and swung in front of it. This is a Gallardo Silk Napkin Out of the Top Hat; he tricked Jankowski. Good on him. Not that I want to stake my pennant on ML hitters swinging at changeups nowhere near the strike zone. But yeah.
This is a smoke-and-mirrors righty who will rely on command in the zone, is it not?
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PITCH SIX
Zuumball sets his mitt, with the emphatic jab, for a LO-IN jam pitch.
Gallardo throws a slowball and it misses UP AND AWAY, perfect teeball for a tape-measure shot. .... at this point do you think Dr. D is embellishing this?!
Jankowski swings through it. See the Top Hat characterization. Gallardo specializes these days in catching hitters guessing wrong. Jankowski might have been guessing that Gallardo could throw a pitch someplace near the target. How wrong he was.
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PITCH SEVEN
On 1-2, Zuumball sets his mitt -- up and right over the plate? Must want a yakker. Gallardo winds and throws --- > some kind of ladder slowball that is 1' at least over the zone. Jankowski takes easily. It's 2-2.
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PITCH EIGHT HERE COMES A MAJOR LEAGUE PITCH!
On 2-2, Gallardo throws a low-away change to Jankowski and it misses only about 4-6 inches low. Good pitch! Good pitch! That is 1 out of 8 pitches that are not horrifying. Jankowski takes it. The ump hesitates, calls it low which it was, and the count is 2-2.
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PITCH NINE
On 3-2, Zuumball sets his mitt for a ... challenge fastball?! Is he truly going to call for this pitch in LAA?
Gallardo aims carefully, lets the ball go, and --- > Zuumball almost has to leave his feet to catch it, high and away. Jankowski saunters down to 1B.
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DR DETECTO, THOROUGHLY UNNERVED, TURNS OVER TO THE MARINERS WEBSITE
I never did watch anything but those 9 pitches, so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe Gallardo showed a promising curve or something? Let us know.
We expected zero but, after 9 pitches... that was wayyyyy worse than I thought possible. I paused the DVR and cue'd up the M's website, hoping to find a 4-3 game and Servais saying that Gallardo threw the ball well. Box score? 12-2 Padres and the headline "Gallardo roughed up." The only postgame quote was from Gallardo:
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Gallardo said he felt strong in his 91-pitch outing and had just one takeaway on the day.
"Don't pitch when the wind is going out," Gallardo said with a smile. "I felt good, it was just one of those days."
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FREE ANATACIDS
Have you noticed that the best EYE in the M's camp belongs to --- > Mike Zunino? He's young, a defense-first player, and has had very little chance to develop his pitch recognition. Shandler said UP: 30 hr.
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Just write this off as a comedy piece,
Dr D
Comments
3
I just looked at the replay pitches...
The homer to Myers he missed his location by 18" too.
I've never been so certain that a pitcher has nothing left to give.
4
copied from "He's not dead yet"
He didn't look good today
The first 2 pitches in a row that I liked came right after he gave up the 2 run HR to Myers in the first. Kind of good news there, he certainly didn't cave. The other is that the wind was going out to RCF all game. Not sure any of those homers go out most days And he got Myers to pop out the next time on a good sequence, then struck him out on a better sequence to end the 4th. There were good pitches and it wasn't as bad an outing as the statline, walking the 2nd batter you face is often just the beginning though.
I've seen that he can execute good fastballs, curveball and changeups just not consistently today. If I saw a good slider I misidentified it. I did have some distractions though, didn't catch every pitch. 1 more before opening day.
5
Especially coming from you. Thanks amigo.
8
I hadn't noticed Zunino passed Heredia but they've both been strong there all spring. Seager close too.
Doc, you mentioned this last week that M's fans should understand lefties putting it together late. Of course I immediately thought of Moyer and Johnson. I've had a feeling all along there's a 3rd name I'm not coming up with. Best I've got is Jason Vargas, which is a decent example even if he put things together much younger than the 250+ game winners. Am I forgetting someone? It's still nagging me.
9
our 123 lefty aces that year had all been completely lost causes at ages 27, 28, 29
- jemanji mobile ( lots of typing errors )
11
But you really need to watch something other than the first 9 pitches for Gallardo...He is not good in the first inning...as a rule.
Career 1st Inning: 5.06 ERA, 1.76 CTRL Ratio, All other innings: 3.55 ERA, 2.55 CRL Ratio
2015/16 1st Inning: 6.11 ERA, 1.00 CTRL Ratio, All other innings: 3.76 ERA, 1.87 CTRL Ratio
He definitely, visibly sharpened after the Myers home run, the Schimpf home run would have been an easy fly ball without the wind, and he started hitting Gosewich's glove (Zunino was DH today) with some consistency. After the first, when the curve ball was deployed, the Padres hitters began to stare at a lot of pitches, surprisingly often this included belt high 91 mph fastballs (Yeah, that tendency to miss middle middle with his fastballs was stuck around). Ben Gamel definitely bailed him out, but then that's something I expected to happen. Jabari Blash Splash's home run was another meatball fastball, but it was very wind aided, and it seemed like Leonys thought he would catch it until it went over the fence. Of note, he was recorded as throwing 23 change-ups, about a quarter of his pitches. He's been around 17% in his previous (pitchFX) starts. It's hard to say for certain because some of his faster curves might have been recorded as change-ups (That's basically how his game works, everything looks like everything else at any speed from 77-90), but it's traditionally been a bad pitch and he appears to be focused on tuning it up.
It wasn't a good start, it might play out exactly like this (7 Runs, 4 1/3 innings) in Houston, but then he might pitch 6 1/3 in Safeco after giving up 2 runs in the first and watching those other 2 home runs fall short of the warning track... There, I've almost got myself convinced. (But seriously, Drew Smyly had a worse start yesterday and it's still spring ;)
12
I'm not sure if this is vote up or down... but I expect Gallardo to perform like a slightly better Miley overall this year, but it will feel the same or worse than Miley...
What I mean is that some games he is going to have it, some he won't, and some he will eventually find it in the 2nd or 3rd inning like Mal says above he did today.
Miley had 8 Quality Starts out of 19 games for the M's, with a 4.98 ERA... I'll bet that Gallardo has at least 9 if he is allowed to start 18 games, but still with a 5+ ERA.
My "confidence???" comes from Mel Jr. Mel has to see how Gallardo started today, and his similar numbers in recent years, and thus Mel has a place to start from. Whether it is warming up longer before the game starts, or eliminating a pitch or location in the early inning(s) until Gallardo has found "it"... there could be an answer in there somewhere... but to be clear, my idea of Gallardo finding it still has him with an ERA of 5.00+.
13
Those spring games. All of their homers went to the exact same spot. Their start had thrown 70 pitches in the 4th with a 50/50 strike to ball and gave up no runs? That's not likely to happen again. 7 hits and 8 walks for only 2 runs? Also not likely to happen again, especially when the lineups at full strength. Just a bad spring game.
14
We got him for his innings. Reliable ones. We weren't sure we had reliable innings when we got him. That was his value.
But spring (training) reveals new blooms; Moore and Povse, in our case.
And then there's Miranda. All three of those guys are breathing down his neck right now, and are likely better. Well, two of the three are...pick 'em. If the other four guys in the rotation stay healthy, then Gallardo is likely to have pitched himself into oblivion by the end of May. Or earlier, because one of the M-P-M guys is going to get hot and get the call. For his career, his worst three months are July-August-September. If he starts off cold, he isn't likely to get better.
Gallardo is really only a $4M man for us, because the Seth Smith salary was a sunk cost anyway. And we weren't getting a bunch of offers for Smith, it seems. I had no problem with the trade and the promise of the innings. Still don't.
I just don't think he will stay in the rotation long enough to get to those innings, barring injury to one of the current rotation. If that happens, then the Gallardo innings are even more valuable, as shaky as they will be. When we got Gallardo we didn't have Smyly, Povse or the clearer view we now have on Moore.
I still think getting him made "sense" in many ways. So will releasing him, if it comes to that.
15
as long as you are accepting my rants in good nature, we can continue to banter :- )
Game five in Los Angeles, I am taping it and checking the box score before I watch – enjoy the first four post games because after day five there won't be one…
finally I can relate to Jack Nicholson's self described "faith envy" ;- )
16
There are some players (or teams) that just give you the heebie jeebies. The one for me that first comes to mind is Rick Mirer, who in the words of the great scribe Mencken “lingers in memory, horrible even there.” He was the Seahawks’ consolation prize second round quarterback pick in the 1993 NFL draft, after New England took WSU’s Drew Bledsoe number one. He was very athletic, successful at Notre Dame, but in the pro game he seemed befuddled and bewildered. I just couldn’t stand it. I remember thinking at the time it was a good thing the coaches didn’t have sidearms.
But I definitely agree that one should tape the game with the heebie jeebie player, and then approach with caution.
The good thing about this DiPoto team is that, in theory, you are not stuck with a pitcher forever if they are bad. So worst case Gallardo will be more hormetic than fatal.
17
"There are just some players that give you the heebie jeebies." Beautiful phrase. So, so true.
Man, we've had a lot of those, haven't we? Guys that make you want to crawl out of your skin rather than watch them play. My fandom was born in the mid aughts, but I can still draw up a long list of Mariners who were viscerally unpleasant to watch. Miguel Batista, Carlos Silva, Horacio Ramirez, Rob Johnson, and Ronny Cedeno spring to mind. I will never get over how much I hated watching Cedeno swing through high fastballs, or Johnson drop chase Felix’s pitches to the backstop, or Miguel Batista throw literally anything.
At least it's been a while since any Mariner made me feel downright revulsion. I sincerely pity anyone who feels like that about Gallardo. The vitriol against him makes a lot of sense in that context.
18
Lessee, trying to add one to the list ... several of the 513-run Mariners, notably at the corners. My man Dave Niehaus when a Mariner pitcher gave up a homer or walk. (Of course his opera calls are some of the great sports memories ever.)
Interesting ... not many at all, even in 40 years, who made me cringe. Would indeed probably go with Silva at the top, with the combo of high SLG against and high willingness to throw teammates under the bus following. ... Oh! ARod as a visitor.
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Guys who are worth the price of admission, just a few seconds' worth: Ichiro, Ichiro, Ichiro, Edgar, Unit of course, Moyer, Bone, Olerud, Iwakuma. Langston was way cool when young, as was Alvin Davis. Chris Snelling. Paul Abbott. Norm-Norm. Ken Phelps.
Loved Jeff Fassero to death and thoroughly enjoyed Chris Bosio.
Underrated player from a joy factor: Bill Swift. Enjoyed Willie Bloomquist's efforts.
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There seem to be about 10 joyful to watch M's this spring ...
19
I know how you loathed him so. :)
For me, it was Justin Smoak, Jeff Cirillo, Chone Figgins, Parker Brothers, Eddie Guardado...
And this year, you can add Nick Vincent (have we noticed yet that he's gotten splattered in literally all but one of his spring appearances?)
20
There was a murder suicide candidate if I ever saw one.
21
Rhodes, Nelson, Gawa, Sasaki...So many pitchers have had a year or 3 like Hanson, Bosio, Capps, Putz, Vargas, Sherrill, Soriano. For the reason you watch anyway. Charlton makes both lists depending on the year.
Ayala won me a bet by not folding a 5 run lead one time. Spoljaric? Silva, Batista and Weaver, Oh my. Wells. Torres and Benes (what would 95 have been with a decent #4 and 5?)
22
one way or another, Gallardo isn't around long enough to make this super important.
Seriously. When has JeDi given us a stick-caught-in-the-mud impression when it comes to moving on from a broken player? He tries stuff. He throws mud at the wall to see what sticks. Then he cleans the wall off and starts throwing again.
It'll be the same here. Maybe a #3 pitcher sticks to the wall on one of these various scenarios proposed - maybe it's ht 5-10% odds I foresee, or maybe the 0.05-0.10% odds Doc might reluctantly allow when out of the room with his back turned and a little something slipped into his afternoon Dr. Pepper by a manaically giggling Matt.
If we hits a homerun with Gallardo, we hits it! If not, I don't think he gets nearly the whole first two months of the season (reflecting on Billy Beane's roster assembly paradigm) to prove he's done. I doubt Jerry needs much more than half that to be certain.
25
Did you tweak that tagline, Doc? Sounds a lot less vitriolic than I remember this article on first read ;)
For me here, the biggest point of concern was not the stat-line, or the inability to hit a mitt 60 feet away, but rather that quote from Gallardo: "I felt good, it was just one of those days."
Ahem. I beg your pardon! Either it's a double-fake, play it confident, veteran's got this. Or we should start running for the hills, 'cause he hasn't realized he don't! Give me Iwakuma rehearsing/refining the pitch during the game, any day. Shouldn't a pitcher who got lit up in spring training be using the excuse 'I was working on such and such a pitch,' or what have you. Not dismissing it as a wind-induced anomaly.
*shrug* I wanted Miranda in there anyway.