Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Enough With the Walks Already

I get that this is a rebuilding year. In fact, I'm all for it. As I've said before, I was and remain well prepared for 95 losses this season.

The early season mirage has been wonderful to watch but has yet to lull me into thinking this could somehow be The Year. Further to that, I know that young pitchers will break your heart. For every Ricky Romero near no-hitter (or Brandon Morrow near no-hitter, or Shaun Marcum near no-hitter, or Brett Cecil near perfect game) there will be speed bumps. I am well prepared for those, as well.

But what truly drives me crazy are the walks. By my count, Jays pitchers have walked sixty-seven Red Sox hitters over the past two nights. That's too many. I had to turn Monday night's game off in the second. I felt for Morrow. Especially after Hill launched his end of the double play throw onto the Mass Turnpike. But I simply can't stomach watching walk after walk after walk.

I feel better now.

Posted by braden on Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 12:17 PM EDT.

Enough With the Walks Already | 21 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

adrianveidt - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 01:53 PM EDT (#214960) #

Mylegacy - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 02:44 PM EDT (#214962) #

Let me think... I'm trying to remember an old baseball axiom that I remember thinking was appropriate in several other threads long before our Babyarms turned into walking machines - oh yes - now I remember - "Young pitchers will break your heart."

There is a reason the Rays and Jays will not have the years we might have had - "see above".

Nonetheless - our fate this year is to watch - while they learn - at times it will be painful. The sad part is while Drabek, Jenkins and Alvarez - among others - might actually be better pitchers than some of those on the team now - when they come up they will - wait for it - "...break your heart."

Savour (Savor - for our American friends) the good times - there will be plenty of them - but during the bad times remember, Scotch - single malt (natch).

Mike Green - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 04:11 PM EDT (#214968) #

I was peeking in on Gameday for the 9th inning. It looked like home plate umpire Dale Scott had a strike zone roughly the size of Alaska for Gregg, particularly in the Ortiz at-bat. It was not a surprise that Francona was ejected right after.

Shaun Marcum is not Roy Halladay, but it looks like he's the man. Couldn't work out better, in my opinion.

MatO - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 04:25 PM EDT (#214969) #

The more I see of Marcum the more I see him as a current day Mike Boddicker. You just have no idea what is going to come out of his hand. Fastball, cutter, slider, curve and I swear he has multiple changeups.

Timbuck2 - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 05:00 PM EDT (#214971) #

MatO - Marcum DOES have multiple change ups! He has one that looks like a 4 seam fastball and one that looks like his 2 seam fastball.

Apparently when he was growing up pitchers in his league weren't allowed to throw real breaking balls - so he learned how to make the one breaking pitch he could throw (the changeup) look like different pitches. He has actually referred to it as more of a "slip pitch" than a true changeup.

92-93 - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 05:11 PM EDT (#214972) #

Speaking of Harry Halladay...watching the Phils game today and they zoomed in on Doc's dad, Harry Halladay Jr - don't remember that happening in Toronto.

scottt - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 06:21 PM EDT (#214975) #

That's funny, while I was thinking the same thing last night, a thought also occurred to me -- why has Aaron Hill forgotten how to play baseball? He's really not doing anything right at this point, not hitting, making embarrassing fielding mistakes etc.

Hill is getting a 2 day break to rest his right hamstring.

Snider hit 7th and won the game today. I'll take that as an encouraging sign.

The word is that Overbay might be seeing less playing time from now on. His May numbers are even worse than April's.

Chuck - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 06:34 PM EDT (#214976) #

they zoomed in on Doc's dad

They were playing in Colorado. HLH is from there. Presumably his parents still live there.

Chuck - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 06:41 PM EDT (#214978) #

Snider hit 7th and won the game today. I'll take that as an encouraging sign.

If that is his hitting, well, you can certainly take that as a good sign -- he's been hitting the whole road trip. If that is batting 7th, he has batted ahead of McDonald and Molina whenever they have been in the lineup, so this was not new.

The word is that Overbay might be seeing less playing time from now on.

Word from whom, exactly? Wakefield is weaker against RHB and Ruiz seems stronger against RHP, so Ruiz being in the lineup may have had more to do with match-ups than anything else. If memory serves, Gaston has tilted his lineups to the right against Wakefield in the past.

Magpie - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 07:29 PM EDT (#214982) #

One of the many fringe benefits of having a pitcher issue a zillion walks - and for once aren't we all with Gaston this time ("I hate 'em. I absolutely hate 'em.")- is the lousy defense that invariably gets played behind him. You stand there, and you stand there, and you stand there, waiting for something to happen. By the time it does, your legs are stiff, your hands are cold, and it's possible that you've long since lost interest...

I assumed Lind and Hill were sitting today because Gaston has always believed that knuckleballers will Mess You Up, and the prospect of Lind and Hill hitting even worse simply scared the crap out of him. But evidently Hill's hammy is bothering him.

greenfrog - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 07:29 PM EDT (#214983) #

Marcum is pretty amazing. He's picking up right where he left off before he started having arm troubles.

I have to think that if Wallace continues to rake and Overbay continues to flounder, the Jays will have a new first baseman sometime in June. My impression of AA is that he's unlikely to be as patient as JP was with struggling veterans in the lineup.

Sano - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 07:36 PM EDT (#214985) #

What's the rule of thumb for IP for a pitcher coming off of TJ surgery? I'm just wondering if Marcum can handle 200 IP this season.

Magpie - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 07:41 PM EDT (#214986) #

I don't know if there's a rule - Tommy John himself threw 207 IP his first year back, when the surgery was an untried experimental thing performed with no real expectation that he'd actually try to pitch with that arm.

Marcum, of course, has never even thrown 162 IP in a season. I don't expect he'll go much past 180 even if he's healthy.

scottt - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 08:19 PM EDT (#214989) #

With all the rehabbing and rookie pitchers around, I don't expect anybody to start 30 games for the Jays this year. Romero could come close if he's healthy.

Mike Green - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 08:58 PM EDT (#214990) #

Subjectively, it wouldn't surprise me if Marcum threw 200 innings this year. He appears to me to be much stronger in the lower body than he was two or three years ago.

TamRa - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 09:46 PM EDT (#214991) #

Barring a new injury, I fully expect both Marcum and Romero to crack 30 starts and 200 IP

"Pace" numbers are really just for fun but it is fun to observe that Snider, even with his struggles for almost all of April, is on a pace to hit 49 doubles and 25 homers this year.

John Northey - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 09:56 PM EDT (#214992) #

Actually, in 2008 Marcum threw 17 innings in the minors plus 151 in the majors = 168 total. The 30 inning increase rule only applies if the pitcher is 25 or less, although I suspect it is a good rule for guys coming off injuries. Thus 198 innings should be the limit for Marcum.

In his 8 starts so far Marcum has thrown 55 innings. That is a pace for 227 over 33 starts, or 206 over 30. So 29/30 starts is probably the point the Jays will be getting nervous, which puts us into September at which point the roster expands and Marcum can be babied quite easily.

92-93 - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 10:47 PM EDT (#214996) #

If Marcum continues taking the ball on a normal schedule until September, I don't see how he can be shut down just because of an IP limit. Perhaps you can cap his starts at 5 innings once the roster is expanded, but it's hard to tell a healthy successful pitcher that he's not allowed to pitch anymore, especially when doing that can cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in his arbitration award.

TamRa - Wednesday, May 12 2010 @ 11:19 PM EDT (#214997) #

Someone in the Jays system (still I think) commented in an interview last year to the effect that the Jays looked at a percentage, but I don't remember how much. 20%? 30%?

anyway, the idea is that it's not a hard and fast +30 in their view.

92-93 - Thursday, May 13 2010 @ 05:58 AM EDT (#215000) #

Clarence's reason for Encarnacion taking over as the everyday 3B once he returns from injury :

"Probably so," Gaston said. "You've got to remember, he's another guy that takes home a pretty good paycheck, too."

Time for the spin doctors to get to work.

scottt - Thursday, May 13 2010 @ 06:19 AM EDT (#215001) #

Who's the last Jay that went to arbitration?

There's not much point in pitching in September unless the Jays are still contending or the pitcher is a Cy Young candidate. It should be more important to get other guys a chance to show what they have. Spring training is often too late to make a team.

Anyway, lots of baseball to be played until then.

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