Pitching Woes

Many times in baseball we see that a team looks like it has the potential to reach the post season based on the lineups.  we all know the teams that start the season with what looks like a batting line-up with great potential, and a rotation that should go the distance.  But then, only one pans out.  The bats are hitting, but there’s no pitching.  Or, the pitching is solid, but the run support never materializes.

This is frustrating to the casual fan, as seeing half of your team develop and contribute is great, but the lack of the second half of the puzzle is more than just a little annoying.  The Toronto Blue Jays are a great example of this.  Last year it was all pitching an no hitting.  This year the hitting has been solid (with the exception of two notable players), but the pitching has experienced the greatest string of injuries that I have ever witnessed.

I was wondering if the same phenomenon can happen to a country.  Can the Canadians in the major leagues experience this bi-polar problem?  What lead me to thinking about this was reflecting on the World Baseball Classic, and the news that Colorado Rockies Jeff Francis is starting to throw again.

In the WBC, we had a very solid offense, with Jason Bay, Justin Morneau and Joey Votto leading the way.  They did OK, but nothing spectacular.  But then the pitching was very weak.  Our ace was Scott Richmond, who never got into a game.  The rest of our pitchers were minor leaguers, where a few had previous major league experience.  Sure, there were some prospects like Phillipe Aumont, but they were prospects and not proven starters.  This weak rotation was because Erik Bedard, Jeff Francis, and Rich Harden were injured.  Adam Loewen is no longer pitching due to multiple shoulder injuries, and Ryan Dempster … well, he just didn’t show up.  Overall, it was not the line-up we were expecting, and the results reflected this large weakness (yes, I am still bitter about those results).

So what is next for the set of Canadians who are major league pitchers.  Well, Demspter has had a good year for the Cubs, and Francis is on his way to an uncertain recovery.  Bedard has had a rough year, and is currently back on the DL.  Harden has pitched well and been one bright spot in the Cubs rotation.  But we also have not season any new pitchers emerge from the minors.

So all in all, next year seems to have a lot of potential for Canadian pitching.  But potential is just that … potential.  It is uncertain what we will see.  Hopefully the injuries will subside and new stars will emerge.  But lets just hope we don’t go through the same thing with the position players.

Adam Loewen … revisited.

A while ago I had a baseball blog that didn’t really go too far.  But one post that was quite popular was what I wrote about Adam Loewen.  You may remember him as a Canadian top prospect pitcher, who after being drafted by Baltimore, appeared to have a good career ahead of him.  But injuries slowed down his progress, and he made the brave decision to end his pitching career in order to prevent any more surgeries.  He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays and has been working his way through their farm system as a position player.

Here is my original post …

Now Pitching … Not Adam Loewen

It takes a lot of courage to quit a job that you have been successful at and start over at a new one.  It also takes a great deal of intelligence to understand the long term risks to your health and put yourself first instead of money, fame, and a major league career.

But that’s exactly what Adam Loewen did this week when he announced that he was done with elbow surgeries and would restart his career as a position player.  He refused the suggestion of yet another surgery and decided to start over by picking up a bat and changing his career.  I can’t say I believe his would be the preferred choice of most MLB players, given the amounts they are paid in the majors versus the minors.  Loewen showed that money is not at at the top of his priority list.

Now, we’ve seen this happen before, with the notable case being that of St. Louis Cardinals’ Rick Ankiel.  Not too many people have forgotten his post-season pitching performance where he continually tested the strength of the screen behind home plate to the dismay of the catcher.  Most thought his baseball career was done, but he stuck with it, moving through the Cardinals’ farm system and eventually making it back to the majors last year where he’s had great success and is one of the reasons the Cardinals are still in contention.  Most had written the team off before spring training.

So now we get to see if Loewen can be as successful.  Let’s hope that the percervearavnce that got him to the majors continues, and we can once again head to Camden Yards to cheer on the Canadian.  Now that would be a great story.