While We’re Waiting…
January 26, 2009Live Blog: George Kokinis Press Conference
January 26, 2009Sunday mornings are admittedly the only time I read a physical newspaper not named the Wall Street Journal. Mostly due to the fact that Sundays are truly my only day of relaxation where I can pour some coffee and bury myself on the couch for the duration of the morning, but also due to the fact that I truly enjoy the “Terry’s Talking” segment that rolls on the back page. It’s the perfect layout for blogger types like myself, with quick bullet-like points full of analysis, opinion and statistics.
Plus, at this time of year, it could be my favorite outlet for thoughts on the Cleveland Indians. Whether it is pertaining to the development of minor leaguers, independent opinions on whom Mark Shapiro and company should target in a free agent/trade situation, or key splits, it’s always a solid delivery. And this weekend was no different.
There is no doubting that the 2008 Fausto Carmona was considerably different than the one we saw a year prior. Many saw this coming simply based on inning totals given the amount of time that the 19-win Carmona saw in 2007. Enter last year and we saw a pitcher who was very erratic and fought several bouts against the injury bug. You know its not your year when you miss considerable time during a routine play of covering first base on a slow roller to Ryan Garko.
But even those injuries cannot account for the vast increase in walks that were surrendered by the young Dominican. In nearly half of the innings pitched, Carmona had nine more walks in 2008 than in 2007; not a trend that the Indians could afford to see continue.
Thankfully, pitching coach Carl Willis believes that he spotted the crux the issue: a mechanical flaw in the right-handers delivery. Reportedly, the team spent a considerable amount of time with Carmona working on this issue, and they believe they’re noticing results.
“We saw much better results,” said assistant GM Chris Antonetti. “Fausto had four walks in one game [in the Dominican], and the rest of the time, his command was back. He is a guy who always had good control in the minors, so we feel good about him.”
Pluto hits home the point that this upcoming season will have a lot riding on No. 55. With the bulk of the team’s free agent money spent on the bullpen, Mark Shapiro had to decide whether to address the rotation or the infield/lineup. With the addition of Mark DeRosa, he obviously addressed the latter, making for less wiggle room at the top of starting pitchers.
The team will already be waiting for Jake Westbrook to return from his surgery, but even then we are talking July at the earliest. Similar to how Cliff Lee (and his agent) feel that 2007 was his aberration, the Indians feel that 2008 was that of Fausto Carmona. A lot will be riding on the fact that the team is correct in this assessment. As much as we’re a fan of our young lefties in Triple-A, I fear the day that one of them has to debut against another team’s opposing number two starter.
7 Comments
Terry made good points about the Indians. But, the place I felt he did an even better job was when he really called out the Browns, and let them know that THEY need to speak to US. Terry and BW are the best writers that paper has seen in many years.
Gary Sheffield is not a fan of Fausto’s flaw.
the PD is garbage… but Pluto is the diamond in that pile of coal.
Fausto had a sophmore slump, he’ll be back in form by the end of spring training. When Westbrook gets back, I actually feel pretty good about this rotation. Here’s to waiting…
Not sure why people are assuming come July that Westbrook will be ready to move right into the middle of the rotation and pitch as effectively as before. That’s not generally true of pitchers with that injury and surgery, it’s usually the following season that they can return to form. I think we’ll hear Shapiro lowering expectations about him as the season goes.
The news about Fausto is encouraging. Last year I was worried that his problem was that he was pitching the same as ever, but that his killer sinker, down and in to righthanders, had always been a ball and hitters had just stopped swinging at it. So it’s great to hear that there was actually a difference and the Indians think they have identified both the difference and it’s cause.
Good to hear on Carmona. Definitely seems like a comeback candidate after having a year to rest from his huge pitch count rise in 2007.
Per the article, I think Wedge is overly bullish on Shin Soo-Choo. Fun name to say but his 14 HRs in 317 AB last year are a mirage. He had a 16.1 HR/FB ratio last year which is higher than Sizemore’s ratio. By the look of his fundamentals, he looks like he has the 10-15 HR power of a Coco Crisp w/o the speed….
Just for the record,
I’m sick of constantly waiting for Westbrook.