Good deal for the Reds - Phillips deserved a long term commitment as well. Happy for the Reds' fans as well, they deserve a winning product on the field.
Reds fans deserve nothing but many more years of Dusty Baker managing their team.
But good to see that they keep Phillips as it makes them so easy to hate with him on the team.
Not sure how they are going to pay these big bucks to their guys with their tiny TV deal, mediocre attendance and no play-offs.
The Twins have scored 6 runs this season. 4 games in and playing the 5th tonight 3 innings in the books and 1 hit. That Twins team is looking god awful. Also looks like the OrioLOLes are going to get swept by the Yankees and continue to be an awful franchise.
Edit: The Twins just did almost double their run total for the season now up 3-1 on the Angels
Last edited by flames_1987; 04-11-2012 at 07:29 PM.
Why is Vernon Wells allowed to play baseball by any team in the majors still? Nice guy and all but he's just god awful and taking up a spot on the Angels lineup that could go to someone far more deserving.
Do they really look that bad? I haven't been able to watch any Twins games on TV yet.
Well they had scored 6 runs after 40 innings of baseball. At least they got some pop tonight but they rank last for Runs, 2nd last for batting average, 3rd last for OBP and last for slugging. It's still far to early to draw any real conclusions but the Twins are still going to be awful.
Why is Vernon Wells allowed to play baseball by any team in the majors still? Nice guy and all but he's just god awful and taking up a spot on the Angels lineup that could go to someone far more deserving.
I know it's a rhetorical question, but it's likely ownership praying and hoping he can return to his form from his hayday. I really liked Wells as a person when he was with the Jays, but with him packing on the blubber over the years, to me it's pretty clear he's not a hard worker in the off-season. For someone who signed such a large contract, he should have been more professional and worked harder during his winters, but he didn't. I think all his problems steam from being overweight. He's a step behind and injury prone.
I know it's a rhetorical question, but it's likely ownership praying and hoping he can return to his form from his hayday. I really liked Wells as a person when he was with the Jays, but with him packing on the blubber over the years, to me it's pretty clear he's not a hard worker in the off-season. For someone who signed such a large contract, he should have been more professional and worked harder during his winters, but he didn't. I think all his problems steam from being overweight. He's a step behind and injury prone.
He's not just bad....he was historically bad last season. He's even worse now. It's one of the biggest handicaps teams give themselves is just like you said, the refusal and ignorance to not be able to take a sober look at themselves. If Wells makes 3-5 million a year, he's not playing.
Every pitcher in this game has been terrible in this joke of a ball park. Worst game I have ever watched. COL was winning 6-0, then SF was winning 7-6, now it is 16-7 for COL, and it is only the 5th inning. SF could still come back.
Every pitcher in this game has been terrible in this joke of a ball park. Worst game I have ever watched. COL was winning 6-0, then SF was winning 7-6, now it is 16-7 for COL, and it is only the 5th inning. SF could still come back.
Wow, Rockies have at least 1 run and 1 hit from every spot on their lineup (and 8 of 9 have at least 1 rbi). I wonder if there has ever been a game where the entire order 1 thru 9 has had at least 1 hit, 1 run and 1 rbi.
Wow, Rockies have at least 1 run and 1 hit from every spot on their lineup (and 8 of 9 have at least 1 rbi). I wonder if there has ever been a game where the entire order 1 thru 9 has had at least 1 hit, 1 run and 1 rbi.
"You never see a game like that in other parks," losing pitcher Guillermo Mota said.
Coors Field is the type of place where Michael Cuddyer can one-hop the right-field fence with one hand on the bat on a pitch 6 inches off the plate.
Lincecum faced 17 batters and allowed four singles, two doubles, two walks and two Carlos Gonzalez triples. In two starts, he has been hammered for 11 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. In two games, he has surrendered five first-inning runs, three fewer than he did in 33 starts last year.
Lincecum dismissed the notion that he and his coaches needed a big powwow to remedy all this.
"I don't think it's a matter of finding answers per se," he said. "It's a matter of grinding through it and knowing at some point in the season you're going to have these."
Something is wrong with Tim Lincecum. After giving up five runs in his first start this year, things got worse for him last night. In just 2.1 innings, Lincecum allowed six runs on nine hits while walking two and striking out only one batter. While it’s usually not smart to make conclusions based on just 7.2 innings, Lincecum has already shown some reasons for folks to be concerned. And unless something changes, Lincecum could be in for a rough season.
After his first start, some writers wondered about Lincecum’s velocity. A look at the Pitch f/x data confirms those questions. Last season, Lincecum averaged 92.2 mph on his fastball. In his first start of the season, his fastball averaged 90.0 mph. And while critics will be quick to point out that it was just one start, as Jeff Zimmermanpointed out last June, pitcher velocity stabilizes after just one start. There’s a chance Lincecum could increase his velocity as the season goes on, but according to Jeff’s article, it will only increase by a maximum of 0.8 mph. The early returns on Lincecum’s second start aren’t encouraging, either. Lincecum’s velocity was even worse last night, according to Brooks Baseball.
Velocity loss has been a growing concern for Lincecum, and the speed on his pitches has been in steady decline since his rookie season. After compiling 15.5 WAR between 2008 and 2009, Lincecum dropped to 9.3 the past two seasons. While 9.3 WAR is still good enough to make him the 12th-best pitcher during that time, he rated as baseball’s top pitcher in 2008 and 2009.
With his diminished velocity, Lincecum has also seen his peripherals drop. In his first full season, Lincecum struck out 28.6% of the batters he faced. That number dropped to 24.4% last year. That’s still pretty exceptional, but the number is declining. What’s more concerning is Lincecum’s walk rate. Lincecum’s BB% fell to a career low 7.5% in 2009, but it jumped to 9.6% last year. And even though he has lost velocity in the past and succeeded, you have to wonder how long he can be effective if his fastball averages 90 mph the whole season.
Lincecum combated his decreased velocity by developing one of the nastiest changeups in baseball. In the past, Lincecum’s change has been about 9 mph behind his fastball. This season, the difference between the two is about 7 mph. That small change can produce some pretty awful results: Essentially, the smaller the mph difference, the less effective a change-up becomes. That could be the case this season as Lincecum’s changeup currently has a negative pitch-type rating, the first time that’s happened in his career. Sure, were only talking about two games, but if Lincecum can’t increase his velocity, it’ll be interesting to see whether he can still effectively use his changeup.
Lincecum already made headlines this season when he said that he planned to scrap his slider. While he’s made the decision so that he could stay healthy, he may want to reconsider if his struggles continue. Lincecum’s slider has always rated well, according to pitch values, and it would give him another effective pitch. It couldn’t hurt for him to at least experiment with the pitch if he can’t return to form over the next few starts.
While Lincecum has seen some signs of decline in the past couple years, this latest velocity change could be a sign that something is seriously wrong. Unless he regains his lost velocity, or he alters his repertoire, his run as an elite pitcher might be in jeopardy.
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