Steve Panitz, Assistant Nachoman for New York Affairs (Mets division), checked in this week with some Reds thoughts:
"I remember back in May when Harang pitched 4 innings in relief on two days rest and then came out for his pitching turn 4 days later,"oh now, here goes dusty baker again." Harang has been awful/injured since. Let’s see:
IP H ER K BB ERA WHIP
until may 25: 78.2 75 29 72 19 3.32 1.19
since may25: 51.2 79 52 43 19 9.06 1.90
Baker ruined Mark Prior's career, and did a job on Kerry Wood. The Reds have too many good young pitchers right now to chance having Dusty Baker around."
Huh... interesting thought. I still don't blame Dusty for Wood and Prior -- I think, in general, pitchers are excessively babied now just so a manager or GM never has to face accusations of overwork. Dusty doesn't ask his young guys to go beyond 110 pitches or so very often -- and 120 is sort of a threshold for “pitcher abuse,” according to Baseball Prospectus. Older pitchers, like Harang, can pitch lots more than their younger counterparts because their arm strength has already developed.
Not everyone remembers the other end of the Bell Curve from Wood or Prior: Livan Hernandez can average something like130 pitches per start over his entire career without arm damage. Or, look at Joba, who was babied as much as any young pitcher, and yet has still succumbed to arm trouble. Oh, for the days when starting pitchers knew the art of pitching, when they held back their fastest fastball just for crucial situations so they could pitch 8 or 9 innings.
"I remember back in May when Harang pitched 4 innings in relief on two days rest and then came out for his pitching turn 4 days later,"oh now, here goes dusty baker again." Harang has been awful/injured since. Let’s see:
IP H ER K BB ERA WHIP
until may 25: 78.2 75 29 72 19 3.32 1.19
since may25: 51.2 79 52 43 19 9.06 1.90
Baker ruined Mark Prior's career, and did a job on Kerry Wood. The Reds have too many good young pitchers right now to chance having Dusty Baker around."
Huh... interesting thought. I still don't blame Dusty for Wood and Prior -- I think, in general, pitchers are excessively babied now just so a manager or GM never has to face accusations of overwork. Dusty doesn't ask his young guys to go beyond 110 pitches or so very often -- and 120 is sort of a threshold for “pitcher abuse,” according to Baseball Prospectus. Older pitchers, like Harang, can pitch lots more than their younger counterparts because their arm strength has already developed.
Not everyone remembers the other end of the Bell Curve from Wood or Prior: Livan Hernandez can average something like130 pitches per start over his entire career without arm damage. Or, look at Joba, who was babied as much as any young pitcher, and yet has still succumbed to arm trouble. Oh, for the days when starting pitchers knew the art of pitching, when they held back their fastest fastball just for crucial situations so they could pitch 8 or 9 innings.
But you raise an interesting and likely correct point about Harang... I'd also note that Mr. Volquez has had two good starts since Dusty gave him an extra day off a few weeks ago.
Oh, and Steve, if you're going to continue to contribute, you need a foodstuff-related theme name.
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