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Saturday, April 5, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
Peter Gammons on rash Of Pitching injuries
Peter Gammons: Tommy John injuries a growing epidemic in baseball
April 3, 2014 by 0 Comments
Diamondbacks’ Patrick Corbin
But the first week of the 2014 season has been a cacophony of concerns about the ongoing process known as instant replay, five days in a three year project to try to get the highest possible percentage of calls correct. Look, the teams’ video coordinators need to speed up their decision-making and communication with managers. The biggest arguments have yet to come when the bases are loaded, a ball is hit down the right field line, it’s called foul, the call is reversed and they have to place the runners. Since Tony La Russa is a lawyer, perhaps he should handle the ensuing protests.
Instant replay will get better. But the biggest industry issue is the number of pitching injuries and the cost they have to clubs—not to mention the human beings who get hurt. Jason Collette reported that $415,422,175 is currently on the disabled list, which is 12.3% of industry payrolls.
Of those disabled players, 69% are pitchers. Collette reports that 68% of the $415,422,175 are comprised by pitchers. One club’s information is that in 2013, 31-to-33% of all the dollars spent on pitchers went to pitchers who were disabled.
Dr. James Andrews and Los Angeles Dodgers Director of medical services reported that 27% of the pitchers on major league rosters this spring have had Tommy John Surgery at some point in their careers. More than a quarter of all major league pitchers, and some beginning their ascent to the big leagues like Baltimore’s Dylan Bundy and Washington’s Lucas Giolito had Tommy John surgeries as teenagers.
The Braves have lost Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy and Cory Gearrin for the season with TJ Surgery, and are hoping they get Gavin Floyd and Jonny Venters during the year, both coming off the same surgery. Oakland’s vaunted pitching depth was dealt a dual blown when Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin underwent elbow surgery. The Diamondbacks have lost their best starter, Pat Corbin, and power reliever David Hernandez to Tommy John. The Rangers have been beset by a plague of varied physical problems, the Dodgers have Kershaw and Brian Wilson on the DL. The Mariners opened the season with Hisashi Iwakuma, Taijuan Walker and Stephen Pryor disabled.
Suggestions have been made that teams sometimes try to rush pitchers back too quickly. If it did exist in the past, Dr. Andrews’ experts at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham feel the opposite is true today. “We find that trainers and rehab specialists are trying to give the pitchers more time to rehab,” says Dr. Richard Wilk. “It might have been 10 or 11 months at one point, but almost every trainer sets a minimum of 12 months for the rehab.”
Now, it is hard for trainers and rehab specialists to hold pitchers back. They’re human. The game fills them with insecurity. They often feel they are “way ahead of schedule” at eight or nine months, but they are not ready for the final three percent of effort that separates major league pitchers from the normal masses. “The general rule of thumb is that they often are ready to pitch at 12 months, but it isn’t until a year and a half after surgery that they have the feel for the ball, the location and the velocity that they had before having ligament or tendon problems.”
We all get it when club officials say there’s nothing they can do. But baseball takes little interest in the development of talent, which amounts to the players who play, the reason we pay so dearly to watch games. It’s not about promotions or videos that urge fans to “make noise,” it’s about the players. If you’re one of the few people in Florida who is a fan, you go to Miami to see Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich and Nate Eovaldi. Not the art; all that is the edamame before the meal.
Baseball has never addressed a way to get minority athletes scholarships to play college baseball.
And baseball doesn’t look at development, and the disturbing trend to teenagers being raised to play one sport year-round. Ask the experts at ASMI or the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic or Children’s Hospital in Boston and the subject comes back to the money-making world of showcases and travel teams. Instead of carefully constructed weekly and annual programs with rest and recovery major elements, kids in their teens are going to showcases from February to November trying to run up radar gun numbers to impress scouts, the scouting services and gurus.
When we were discussing this, Dr. Glenn Fleisig said, “you sound like Dr. Andrews without a southern accent.” The strain on tendons and ligaments in physically developing players is, in the experts’ chronicled judgments, a precursor to future problems because of the damage done to the fibers in the ligaments. And that’s before they get to some college programs known for abusing pitchers come May and June, when winning means money to the coaches. Dr. Andrews recently had to perform TJ Surgery on a catcher who blew out his arm after a drill throwing buckets of baseballs to second base in a short period of time.
“Baseball should study the showcases and the travel teams,” says Wilk. The ASMI doctors and rehabilitation experts are also concerned about some of the pitching gurus and schools that crop up; one suggests constant long toss up to 300 feet, which say necessitates an unnatural motion that puts tremendous straight on ligaments and tendons.
By Collette’s calculations, more than $282M right now is being paid to pitchers who cannot pitch, not because they so choose, but because they’re hurt. If indeed the injury cycle begins between 14 and 22, it’s because kids are abused trying to fastlane their careers because they love the game.
When, as happened in 2013, nearly a third of the money paid to pitchers was paid to disabled pitchers, it’s a good idea for the people who run a very good, profitable industry to study why so much—young men’s careers, as well as money—is wasted on ligaments and tendons and rotator cuffs that can no longer bend, but break.
ESPN 710 Seattle Shannon Drayer details bad calls and a negative result as Mariners lose 3-2 in walk off Crisp HR
Miscues and bad calls lead to the Mariners first loss
By Shannon Drayer
Oakland, Ca.,- Before the Mariners game against the Oakland A's Thursday night Lloyd McClendon was asked for his thoughts on the Mariners "hot" three game start. McClendon shrugged and said,
"Like I told the players, you gotta turn the page. I don't think Oakland gives a (expletive) what we did."
He then added, "At some point we are going to have to win a game 3-2."
And they are still going to have to win a 3-2 game at some point as it didn't happen last night. No, the A's came out on top of a frustrating 12 inning contest at the lovely O.co Coliseum. I don't think I would be going out on a limb to say that was the worst called game I have ever seen in the big leagues. Perfect pitches were being called balls. No part of the zone was exempt from being called a ball. Top of the zone, left, right, bottom, middle, all was fair game. It was ridiculous to the point of one fateful curveball to Nick Punto being so obvious that the pitcher, catcher and hitter all started to head for their dugouts only to have to return after a ball was called. Unbelievably bad, but no excuse according to McClendon.
"The fact is we didn't execute on several fronts and we walked guys. I don't use that type of stuff as an excuse. We just didn't play good," he said.
True, there were miscues, an episode of bad baserunning, Abraham Almonte getting caught in between on a ball that led to a run, and ten walks. That said some of those walks were far from deserved. For Mike Zunino it was a long night as he tried to keep his pitchers focused while dealing with an unpredictable strike zone.
"Obviously I think there was a couple of really good pitches that he didn't think were strikes," he said. "I'm protecting our pitches and I wanted to get every pitch we could from our relievers and I thought it was a decent pitch but he thought otherwise. I'm just protecting my guys and O just want to get all of the strike calls I can get."
Zunino knew better than to talk about the curve to Punto but it was clear he was still bothered by that call after the game. It was even more clear during the game as Zunino could be seen having words with umpire Sean Barber who is a fill-in ump from Triple A. At one point he even turned and faced the umpire while addressing a call, a no-no in baseball. Zunino knows this and usually has a great relationship with the umpires from what I have heard. He knows the importance of the catcher's communication with the umpires and it no doubt would take a lot for him to show that kind of breach of etiquette.
The ball and strike calls were not the only issue with the umpiring. A lengthy, umpire called review of a play at the plate, not to judge if the runner was out or safe but if Zunino was blocking the plate which he clearly wasn't, cost the Mariners an inning from their starter Roenis Elias who after a nervous start had settled down and retired ten in a row before the awful Punto call.
"It was unfortunate his pitch count got up and we got that big delay and he couldn't go back out there. It baffled me because my catcher was in fair territory the whole time until he got the ball," said McClendon. "I was not going to send him back out there at that point. That was a very unfortunate incident in a lot of different ways. One that I felt was not supposed to happen. where the team was supposed to stay on the field and you have got your pitcher sitting over there for almost 5 minutes. to me that is not acceptable and we have got to get that straight."
A tough, frustrating loss for the team that McClendon will want to see lessons learned from but quickly put behind them. We have seen this group win and we have now seen them lose. Friday we will see how they bounce back.
Oakland, Ca.,- Before the Mariners game against the Oakland A's Thursday night Lloyd McClendon was asked for his thoughts on the Mariners "hot" three game start. McClendon shrugged and said,
"Like I told the players, you gotta turn the page. I don't think Oakland gives a (expletive) what we did."
He then added, "At some point we are going to have to win a game 3-2."
And they are still going to have to win a 3-2 game at some point as it didn't happen last night. No, the A's came out on top of a frustrating 12 inning contest at the lovely O.co Coliseum. I don't think I would be going out on a limb to say that was the worst called game I have ever seen in the big leagues. Perfect pitches were being called balls. No part of the zone was exempt from being called a ball. Top of the zone, left, right, bottom, middle, all was fair game. It was ridiculous to the point of one fateful curveball to Nick Punto being so obvious that the pitcher, catcher and hitter all started to head for their dugouts only to have to return after a ball was called. Unbelievably bad, but no excuse according to McClendon.
"The fact is we didn't execute on several fronts and we walked guys. I don't use that type of stuff as an excuse. We just didn't play good," he said.
True, there were miscues, an episode of bad baserunning, Abraham Almonte getting caught in between on a ball that led to a run, and ten walks. That said some of those walks were far from deserved. For Mike Zunino it was a long night as he tried to keep his pitchers focused while dealing with an unpredictable strike zone.
"Obviously I think there was a couple of really good pitches that he didn't think were strikes," he said. "I'm protecting our pitches and I wanted to get every pitch we could from our relievers and I thought it was a decent pitch but he thought otherwise. I'm just protecting my guys and O just want to get all of the strike calls I can get."
Zunino knew better than to talk about the curve to Punto but it was clear he was still bothered by that call after the game. It was even more clear during the game as Zunino could be seen having words with umpire Sean Barber who is a fill-in ump from Triple A. At one point he even turned and faced the umpire while addressing a call, a no-no in baseball. Zunino knows this and usually has a great relationship with the umpires from what I have heard. He knows the importance of the catcher's communication with the umpires and it no doubt would take a lot for him to show that kind of breach of etiquette.
The ball and strike calls were not the only issue with the umpiring. A lengthy, umpire called review of a play at the plate, not to judge if the runner was out or safe but if Zunino was blocking the plate which he clearly wasn't, cost the Mariners an inning from their starter Roenis Elias who after a nervous start had settled down and retired ten in a row before the awful Punto call.
"It was unfortunate his pitch count got up and we got that big delay and he couldn't go back out there. It baffled me because my catcher was in fair territory the whole time until he got the ball," said McClendon. "I was not going to send him back out there at that point. That was a very unfortunate incident in a lot of different ways. One that I felt was not supposed to happen. where the team was supposed to stay on the field and you have got your pitcher sitting over there for almost 5 minutes. to me that is not acceptable and we have got to get that straight."
A tough, frustrating loss for the team that McClendon will want to see lessons learned from but quickly put behind them. We have seen this group win and we have now seen them lose. Friday we will see how they bounce back.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Matt Garza and his first Start as a Brewer
Matt Garza pumps wicked heat in debut loss with Brewers
April 3, 2014 by 0 Comments
In his debut with the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, Matt Garza erased at least some of the concern placed upon him after a porous spring training (8.80 ERA over 15.1 innings), holding the Atlanta Braves to one earned run over eight complete innings of two-hit baseball, albeit in a losing effort.
The four-year, $50 million January free-agency pickup for manager Ron Roenicke at one point struck out four consecutive Atlanta batters early in the outing and took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before allowing a solo home run to Chris Johnson — marking just the fifth time since 2008 that a Brewers starter maintained a no-no through six full frames.
“I just came in telling myself, ‘I’m going to attack,’” Garza told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy after the game. “I know they’re great hitters and they’ve got a nice lineup, but I just had a lot more confidence in my stuff than in them.”
And attack Garza did.
The former first-round draft pick from 2005 pounded the strike zone Wednesday afternoon, posting a 57.8% zone rate that was well above his 51% mark from a season ago. Opponents were aggressive against his pitches in consequence, offering at a whopping 63.3% of his offerings (markedly increased from their 47.5% swing rate last season) and swung through Garza’s stuff at a 26.3% rate compared to 22.5% last season.
How Garza garnered these impressive rates may surprise you.
Instead of concentrating on his traditionally above-average slider and curveball to break down Atlanta’s discipline at the dish, he focused on pounding the zone with his fastball that generated a 63.2% zone rate and clocked in at a 93.9 MPH average velocity — nearly a mile per hour faster (on average) than his 93.0 MPH fastball velocity throughout last season.
Correspondingly, Braves hitters had immense trouble putting bat on ball against it, posting a 22.4% miss rate (increased from 12.7% in ’13), and 42.3% chase rate, a stark increase from the 26.3% chase rate it produced last season.
Not only did Garza’s fastball clock in at a higher velocity than in all but two of his starts in 2013, but it had much nastier movement to it. Brooks Baseball notes that Garza’s four-seamer generated a -3.93 inches of horizontal movement (explanation on pitch movement here) and his two-seam fastball (a.k.a. ‘sinker’) -7.79 inches of movement — compared to the -3.76 and -6.90 inches of movement those offerings produced last season, respectively.
Something tells me this probably contributed to his 52.6% ground ball rate Wednesday, which was nearly 20% higher than his 38.2% grounder rate in 2013.
Matt Garza isn’t getting any younger, which almost assuredly means he can’t expect to see his fastball velocity increase or stay steady for the long-haul. But for this season? I wouldn’t put it out of the question. Couple that with his wicked-improved fastball movement, and Garza could very well transform from fly-ball pitcher to ground-ball hoarder with Milwaukee in 2014.
The four-year, $50 million January free-agency pickup for manager Ron Roenicke at one point struck out four consecutive Atlanta batters early in the outing and took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before allowing a solo home run to Chris Johnson — marking just the fifth time since 2008 that a Brewers starter maintained a no-no through six full frames.
“I just came in telling myself, ‘I’m going to attack,’” Garza told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy after the game. “I know they’re great hitters and they’ve got a nice lineup, but I just had a lot more confidence in my stuff than in them.”
And attack Garza did.
The former first-round draft pick from 2005 pounded the strike zone Wednesday afternoon, posting a 57.8% zone rate that was well above his 51% mark from a season ago. Opponents were aggressive against his pitches in consequence, offering at a whopping 63.3% of his offerings (markedly increased from their 47.5% swing rate last season) and swung through Garza’s stuff at a 26.3% rate compared to 22.5% last season.
How Garza garnered these impressive rates may surprise you.
Matt Garza pitch frequencies
| Fast% | Slid% | Curv% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. 2014 | 78.9% | 17.8% | 3.3% |
| 2. 2013 | 64.0% | 24.5% | 8.3% |
Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 4/3/2014
Correspondingly, Braves hitters had immense trouble putting bat on ball against it, posting a 22.4% miss rate (increased from 12.7% in ’13), and 42.3% chase rate, a stark increase from the 26.3% chase rate it produced last season.
Garza didn’t have to expand the zone to generate his lofty fastball miss% Wednesday afternoon.
Something tells me this probably contributed to his 52.6% ground ball rate Wednesday, which was nearly 20% higher than his 38.2% grounder rate in 2013.
Matt Garza isn’t getting any younger, which almost assuredly means he can’t expect to see his fastball velocity increase or stay steady for the long-haul. But for this season? I wouldn’t put it out of the question. Couple that with his wicked-improved fastball movement, and Garza could very well transform from fly-ball pitcher to ground-ball hoarder with Milwaukee in 2014.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Warren Grimes Cable sports subsidies contribute to rising costs of Cable TV Warren Grimes
How 100 Million Cable Subscribers Are Forced to Subsidize Professional And College Sports
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By Warren Grimes
The pay TV system is broken. Over a 100 million US households face subscription rates increasing at twice the rate of inflation. To obtain programming we wish to watch, we are compelled to buy an elephantine bundle containing hundreds of channels we have no interest in watching. Sports TV is the largest cause of increases that are expected to drive the average monthly bill from $90 to $125 over the next few years. In desperation, some consumers are cutting the cord and resigning themselves to broadcast TV and the Internet for video programming. The choice is a tough one because, except through pay television, much popular programming is unavailable or offered only on a time-delayed basis.
The source of the problem is that programmers who control access to popular programming all insist their channels, even their scarcely watched channels, be included in the expanded basic bundle subscribers purchase. Programmers do this because they can and because it is highly profitable. The more widely a channel is distributed, the more the programmer receives in subscription fees and advertising revenues. Time Warner Cable TWC +0.96% is using the popularity of its Dodgers baseball channel to force other Los Angeles area distributors to include the Dodger channel in the expanded basic bundle, an inclusion likely to raise the viewer’s monthly cost by roughly $5 a month. That’s fine if the viewer wants to watch the Dodger games. But for the roughly 80% of viewers who have no interest in watching – this is a $5 tax forced upon us without any right to vote. As Senator John McCain has put it, this practice gives consumers “all the choice of a Soviet election ballot.”
Precisely the same tactics that the Dodgers and Time Warner TWX +1.05% Cable are using are employed by professional teams and leagues in all regions of the country. All subscribers to the expanded bundle pay ESPN ESPN roughly $5 a month. There is no choice in the matter. Then there are the college teams. Take the Pacific 12 conference. The members are ten prominent public universities, many with worldwide reputations as preeminent educational institutions, and two very distinguished private universities (Stanford University and the University of Southern California). Both the public and private universities receive substantial tax-payer support in various forms. Now they are also getting a subsidy from pay television subscribers throughout the West where the Pac-12 television network is charging every subscriber to the expanded basic bundle an additional $2 a month. Is this collective exploitation of the broken TV delivery system tolerable behavior from our nation’s elite and publicly supported educational institutions?
Whatever dismay this might occasion for the Deans of Cambridge or Oxford, we Americans have grown accustomed to accepting the money-making role of major sports in our colleges and universities. But the greed to make more money out of sports television at the expense of consumers is not acceptable for ESPN, not acceptable for the Dodgers, and it is particularly offensive when the money grubbers are prominent, publicly supported educational institutions.
To be sure, the sports industry is doing the same thing as any television programmer who has a channel likely to be popular with a significant number of viewers. That is why the problem ultimately must be addressed through antitrust litigation, legislation, or FCC regulation.
The solution to broken TV distribution is to end the forced bundling and allow each distributor to package television programming in a manner responsive to consumer choice. The Canadians have long since moved to address this problem, ensuring that Canadian viewers have meaningful choices that include smaller, more customized bundles. The average TV bill in Canada is roughly $30 a month lower than in the United States.
The current system of bundling large numbers of channels is ultimately doomed. When it falls, both college and professional sports teams will have to adjust to lower revenues. College football coaches may have to accept cuts in their multi-million dollar salaries. Genuine fans of these teams will have to pay more to receive telecasts. But the system will be fairer, the average TV bill will be lower, and university presidents will sleep at night with a cleaner conscience. Instead of paying a forced sports subsidy, millions of Americans will have $30 a month or so to spend on a cappuccino, a theater ticket, or a donation to starving children.
Warren Grimes is Professor of Law at the Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
The source of the problem is that programmers who control access to popular programming all insist their channels, even their scarcely watched channels, be included in the expanded basic bundle subscribers purchase. Programmers do this because they can and because it is highly profitable. The more widely a channel is distributed, the more the programmer receives in subscription fees and advertising revenues. Time Warner Cable TWC +0.96% is using the popularity of its Dodgers baseball channel to force other Los Angeles area distributors to include the Dodger channel in the expanded basic bundle, an inclusion likely to raise the viewer’s monthly cost by roughly $5 a month. That’s fine if the viewer wants to watch the Dodger games. But for the roughly 80% of viewers who have no interest in watching – this is a $5 tax forced upon us without any right to vote. As Senator John McCain has put it, this practice gives consumers “all the choice of a Soviet election ballot.”
Dodger Stadium (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Whatever dismay this might occasion for the Deans of Cambridge or Oxford, we Americans have grown accustomed to accepting the money-making role of major sports in our colleges and universities. But the greed to make more money out of sports television at the expense of consumers is not acceptable for ESPN, not acceptable for the Dodgers, and it is particularly offensive when the money grubbers are prominent, publicly supported educational institutions.
The solution to broken TV distribution is to end the forced bundling and allow each distributor to package television programming in a manner responsive to consumer choice. The Canadians have long since moved to address this problem, ensuring that Canadian viewers have meaningful choices that include smaller, more customized bundles. The average TV bill in Canada is roughly $30 a month lower than in the United States.
The current system of bundling large numbers of channels is ultimately doomed. When it falls, both college and professional sports teams will have to adjust to lower revenues. College football coaches may have to accept cuts in their multi-million dollar salaries. Genuine fans of these teams will have to pay more to receive telecasts. But the system will be fairer, the average TV bill will be lower, and university presidents will sleep at night with a cleaner conscience. Instead of paying a forced sports subsidy, millions of Americans will have $30 a month or so to spend on a cappuccino, a theater ticket, or a donation to starving children.
Warren Grimes is Professor of Law at the Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
Peter Gammons MLB reports on Grady Siezemore
Peter Gammons: Determined Sizemore returns to major league stage
March 30, 2014 by 0 Comments
Mark Shapiro was watching a spring training game between the Indians and Angels when his son Caden said, “people say the same things about Mike Trout that you used to say about Grady Sizemore.” As ever, Caden was right. His father, then the Cleveland general manager who traded for Sizemore when he was a 19-year old playing for Brevard County in the Expos organization, in 2006 called Grady “one of the greatest of his generation.”
And meant it, for what Shapiro says “is the person as well as the player.” This spring, Shapiro was texted an iPhone picture of Sizemore’s first at-bat since Sept. 21, 2011, and before the at-bat had finished, Mark had returned a text of thanks. No regrets. “Anyone who ever cross Grady’s path felt nothing but pure joy when he heard that John (Farrell) had announced Grady is the opening day centerfielder,” Shapiro said Saturday. “Coaches, trainers, teammates, ballpark workers, clubhouse kids…he always treated everyone with respect.”
One of those persons whose path he crossed was Farrell, who was the Indians farm director when Sizemore was traded to the Cleveland organization on June 27, 2002 and assigned the teenager to Kinston in the Carolina League. And Farrell knows the anecdote Shapiro, Chris Antonetti and everyone in the organization used to define Grady Sizemore. “He would never come into the clubhouse, take off his uniform and whatever he had on underneath and leave it on the floor for the clubbies to pick up, like everyone else,” says Shapiro. “He would take all his stuff and put it in the laundry bin himself. Even his towels.”
Marlins pro scouting director Jeff McAvoy was pitching in Brevard County on a rehabilitation assignment in 2002, with Sizemore. “He was really young (19), raw, but obviously was a great athlete, a football player learning baseball,” says McAvoy. “He was extremely respectful, wanted to learn about everything, and while he was a bonus boy because of his football commitment (the Expos bought him out of his commitment to the University of Washington as a quarterback), he acted he was the last guy on the team. He was clearly special, but never acted as he were special. It was impossible not to really like him.”
From the beginning of the 2002 season, Shapiro realized that he had to transition from the glorious, powerhouse Indians of the 1990’s to a new, younger, less expensive team. Expos general manager Omar Minaya was trying to save the Expos for Montreal, was looking for a frontline starting pitcher, and in mid-June the two general managers began trying to put together a deal for Bartolo Colon. “Tony LaCava knew Grady because he was working for Montreal (and Jim Beattie) when they drafted and signed him,” says Shapiro. “Our scout, Dave Malpass, had put in very good reports on him. So as we worked on the deal, we insisted on Grady.”
The big name in the deal was infielder Brandon (Dat Dude) Phillips, a Baseball America headliner prospect. The second player was double-A pitcher Cliff Lee, described by Shapiro as “the rock solid guy.” And, eventually, one of the best pitchers in the game. Then, Sizemore. They also took on veteran first baseman Lee Stevens. “We got killed, because to the fans it was Colon for Stevens and we were giving up,” says Shapiro. “When the deal came across the scroll on ESPN, it read, ‘The Indians traded pitcher Bartolo Colon for first baseman Lee Stevens,” says Shapiro.
Three years later the Expos moved to Washington. Imagine how different that initial season at RFK Stadium might have been if Sizemore, Lee and Phillips were Nationals.
After playing in AA Akron in 2003, Sizemore played 101 games in Buffalo, then moved up to Cleveland for the final 41 games. At the end of the season, Farrell and his assistant Mike Hazen held meetings with all the rookies who’d come up for the final month. Farrell made it clear to Shapiro and Antonetti that Sizemore was not only an extraordinary athlete, but a special individual.
In Sizemore’s first four full seasons, beginning 2005 at age 22, Sizemore averaged 158 games, 41 doubles, 8 triples, 27 homers and an .868 OPS. He won two gold gloves and a silver slugger award. In 2007, his Indians were up 3-1 over the Red Sox in the ALCS.
“I was the roving hitting coach with Grady in the Florida State League and the Eastern League, and I had never met anyone like him,” says current Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton. “He never had any fear. Remember, I was with him all those great years in Cleveland, and I can tell you that in all the years I was with him, he never took a play off. Never. He always competed, he was always striving to improve and learn and not only be the best, but be the best he could be on every play.
“Some guys get to the big leagues and take a deep sigh of relief,” says Shelton. “He got to the big leagues, he wanted to be an all-star. He became an all-star, and immediately wanted to win a gold glove. He won a gold glove, and he wanted to win a silver slugger. And from the day he arrived, more than anything, he wanted to win a World Series. It really matters.”
In 2006, Sizemore was the fourth player to hit the 50 plateau in doubles, 10 in triples, 20 in homers (53, 11, 28). The other three were Chuck Klein, Joe Medwick, Lou Gehrig. “That meant nothing to him,” says Shelton. “What mattered was playing the game right and winning the World Series.” Which he nearly did.
Shapiro has two distinct Grady memories. The first came, in all places, Winter Haven. “First exhibition game, no one in the stands, no one cared,” Shapiro says. “He leads off, gets jammed and hits a little roller to second base. He tore down the line like he could win a World Series game. I turned to Chris and said, ‘That’s Grady Sizemore’.”
The second incident came when Sizemore dove across a brutal warning track in a spring training game, scraping up his arm. “Eric Wedge told Grady, ‘you need to pick your spots, you don’t have to do that kind of thing here.’ Grady looked at Eric like he had three heads. He had no idea what he was talking about because he didn’t understand playing the game without a disregard for his body.”
Shelton got to see Sizemore this spring and says “I wish he were in another division, but because he is who he is I am really happy to see how he looks. His swing is practically the same. It’s uncanny how short, quick and direct to the ball his swing is, consistently. The only other lefthanded hitter today who has that same kind of short, simple, quiet, direct swing is Joe Mauer. But Mauer is a little different in that he keeps the bat in the zone a little longer, which enables him to take the ball the other way so well.
“What is really unusual,” says Shelton, “is that he’s a lefthanded hitter and thrower with that swing. Mauer is a righthanded thrower, which means that he’s naturally stronger with his front shoulder and his bottom hand. Grady is left-left, which means he has to do it with his top hand. The only other player I can think of that was left-left and had that kind of quiet swing was Paul O’Neill. “
What also stands out about Sizemore’s swing is that is so flat. Before the string of injuries began, opposing pitchers talked a lot about how unusual it was to pitch to someone with so flat a swingpath. From the beginning of spring training, it was clear that that swingpath was back.
Sizemore told Shelton more than a year ago that he was going to get his body back in order before trying to come back from seven different, complicated operations. Hence, he sat out all of 2012 and 2013, rehabbing to get his body back in alignment. The Red Sox signing and the immense respect for Dan Dyrek, who is the director of medical services, and trainer Rick Jameyson, whom Sizemore knew from their Cleveland days. Over two years, Grady was confident that his body would tell him when he was ready to resume his career at full tilt, and wanted to sign with a team with the right medical staff. “This isn’t someone trying to come back at the age of 35,” says Shapiro. “He’s 31, in the condition of someone far younger.”
Monday, in Camden Yards, Grady Sizemore returns to the major league stage, back with Hazen, Farrell, Torey Lovullo and Jameyson from his Cleveland days. They saw him when Shapiro called Grady “one of the greatest of his generation.”
Brian Butterfield says “you can judge the character of a baseball player by the way he runs the bases,” and they saw that character, daily, by running his hardest on every play, and early on this spring they saw him run into a wall with no regard for more than two years out of the game.
When he was one of the greatest of his generation, what Indians people remember about him was running out the first ground ball of spring training in an empty Winter Haven park, that he would never allow a clubhouse kid to have to pick up his dirty laundry after him, that he never took a day off.
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