Indians Sign Giambi, Dice-K
The Cleveland Indians have extended spring training invitations to veterans Jason Giambi and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
The Giambino signs a minor-league deal, but will earn $750K if he makes the big club. His chances will depend somewhat on how the Injuns decide to handle Carlos Santana — will he primarily catch, or DH?
Dice-K also gets a minor-league deal, and could make $1.5M if he makes the Indians. The Japanese hurler would seem to have a pretty good shot at going north come April, considering that new Cleveland manager Terry Francona is familiar with him. No doubt, Francona’s presence played into the signing. How many other managers have the patience (and supply of Tums) to sit through one of Matsuzaka’s 37-minute half-innings?
The Indians also made the Brett Myers signing official; it had first been reported in early January.
In other news, the Dodgers continue to stockpile arms for the sake of stockpiling arms — they’ve added reliever Kevin Gregg to their spring training invitation list. Hey, throw enough paint on the wall, and eventually something will stick. I like this strategy by LA, particularly if the veterans who don’t go north agree to hang around in AAA for a while. A team can never have too many pitchers, and I’m an advocate of regularly cycling through at least two
bullpen spots over the course of a season to limit exposure.
According to CSN Chicago, Mark Prior is “in the best shape of his life” (where have I heard that before?) and is hoping someone will invite him to spring training. I don’t care what kind of shape he’s in — if he still has the same rotten mechanics that were praised as “perfect” by mad scientist Tom House and celebrated by “injury expert” Will Carroll, he’ll keep tearing the same shoulder muscles over and over. For what it’s worth, Prior pitched in 19 AAA games and 25 innings last year, striking out 38, walking 23, allowing 15 hits, and posting a 3.96 ERA. According to reports, his fastball velocity was in the 92-93 MPH range.
Finally, Michael Bourn remains unsigned, and the Mets remain interested in the veteran center fielder. Similarly, I remain interested in driving a Lamborghini some day.
About the Author
Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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Interestingly, the rest of Prior’s mechanics were pretty good. He got his head out in front, “nose to toes,” he stayed square to the plate with a quiet head, finished in control of his body with good balance, and his back foot flew up, which usually indicates good forward momentum. But all that good stuff was negated by his arm lagging so far behind the rest of his body.
From the limited video I’ve seen of him with the PawSox last year, it appears his arm is still behind, which suggests to me that he’ll continue to put extra strain on his shoulder and the chronic arm problems will continue.
Stephen Strasburg does the same thing, but in a recent chat Keith Law claimed Strasburg’s elbow never gets too high and blamed camera angles for the appearance that he does.
From what I’ve seen of Zack Wheeler, he also does this. Whether it’s too far or not, I don’t know.
The high elbow isn’t NECESSARILY the issue — it’s where the ball is when the front foot lands. Often, pitchers who get their back elbow too high (some call it the “inverted W”), it causes the arm to be behind. However, there are pitchers who are able to use this kind of motion and still get the ball where it needs to get to in time. It’s similar to a hitter who may have a weird setup or stance (i.e., Rod Carew or Julio Franco) but manage to get their hands in the right place when their stride foot hits the dirt.
And you are right about Wheeler — his arm is WAAAAY behind the rest of his body. Unfortunately, that means there is a very good chance he will blow out his shoulder, just as Prior did.
I’m just guessing here; I don’t know what the change to his motion was, or why the Giants made it.
Man, it’s frustrating that the Mets’ “brain trust” doesn’t have anyone looking at this kind of stuff. If Wheeler’s arm is as far behind as you say, that’s something someone should definitely have tried to fix.
- James Andrews’ biometrics lab
- some intern tape-reviewer who only sometimes gets listened to
- the AAA pitching coach
- a cabal of scouts
- some executive(s)
- a combo of all of the above
Like Joe, I have my doubts about whether the right eyes are looking for the right things. Leaving it to a AAA pitching coach who only knows about mechanics from having been a pitcher… this would count, in my book, as “not having anyone looking at these things”. Perhaps my wording wasn’t the best, though. “Not having anyone with a voice in the organization looking for specific mechanical red flags in the minors” was more what I mean.
That said, you might be right, Wheeler might just be stubborn.
I also have never and will never buy into the idea that a pitcher will be less effective by improving his mechanics. We’ve had this argument before over Chris Young and it’s not worth trying to convince me otherwise — it would be more fruitful arguing politics or religion. But, that doesn’t mean the Giants feel differently. A better guess is that Wheeler resisted the changes and was unhappy with them. He was too quick to throw his former organization under the bus when he joined the Mets and given the opportunity to “change back.”
What is clear is that batters can’t pick up the ball from him the way they can from pitchers who get the ball from the glove to the cocked position in a slower and more direct fashion. Even as Lincecum’s velocity and control have declined, hitters still swing and miss in droves because they have trouble seeing the ball in time. I’ve heard quotes to that effect from Mets hitters, anyway.
Is something about Lincecum’s motion causing him to decline prematurely? If so, was it worth it regardless, after being possibly the best pitcher in baseball for 4 years?
Not that Zack Wheeler is Tim Lincecum. I just think the equation can get complicated, that’s all.