The Official 2014 AL East Thread

Agreed, all of the games so far have been pretty good as far as drama goes.

 

Wouldn't touch him. While I would love to have him on my team. A massive contract and/or big prospects/package is too risky with Sale.

Sale's arm is a ticking time bomb.

 

I like Sale a lot but yeah I wouldn't touch him. I'm shocked he hasn't had any major injuries yet with that motion. Plus the package to get him would be insanely high, with good reason. Just not worth the risk, imo.

And yes FinYank, he just has poor pitching mechanics and a violent motion/delivery. That's why he fell in the draft and why a lot of scouts thought he'd only be a RPer.

Of course on the flip side scouts said guys like Mark Prior had the perfect pitching motion and couldn't stay healthy so who really knows.

 

His arm slot is fine. It's what happens before that, compounded with his velocity and body type that is alarming. His arm action is super late. Which stresses the weaker of the two, shoulder or elbow.



Pedro is a good example of a hard thrower with a slight frame. Pedro's arm action is better. Notice how his arm as his foot comes down is already up before his front side starts to fly open.

Sale's arm is still parallel and his front side is already flying open. Jose Fernandez has the same issue as Sale, except Jose's body would seem to be built better to handle it.

Pitching is extremely stressful on its own, which is why some guys with perfect mechanics can blow their arms out. But I believe that late arm action is the cause to the spike in TJs. The late arm action cause stress on elbow and shoulder. And whichever one is weaker will eventually blow out. However, it also causes higher velocities. So it's being taught to our youth at an alarming rate, because pitching guys can teach it, kid throws 7 MPH faster al the sudden, and pitching guy is a genius. While the effects don't happen until later on in life so the pitching coaches aren't even looked at as being responsible.

Baseball teaching at the youth level is an epidemic. A bad one, from pitching to hitting.

 

Prior had similar issues. Prior had a lot of good things in his delivery, but his arm action was late too. I think people aren't jumping on this train just yet which led everyone to believe Priors mechanics being perfect.

Like I said before though, even if you have perfect mechanics, this is stressful position and movements over and over and over.

 

This. There's really no rhyme or reason as to why some pitchers get hurt or some don't. Bottom line is its an extremely high risk position and you never know when the bottom could fall out.

 

I don't understand your questions, which part was your "how?" to? lol

I definitely think there is some rhyme or reason why some pitchers get hurt. However, some get hurt just because of the position. So while there is a lot of randomness with injuries, there certainly are some that aren't random imo.

 

Causes higher velocities because the body is running so far ahead of the arm, the arm is just whipped through at higher rates.

 

I meant that it's not black and white of this guy has a good delivery so he'll be fine and this guy has a bad delivery so he'll get hurt. Every pitcher is different which is what my no rhyme or reason comment was aimed at.

 

Kind of crazy. I'd have to think the next labor/union talks they change the FA system in terms of draft pick comp again.

 

Meaning you don't see how a player would accept? Ask Stephen Drew or Kendrys Morales if they should have. Obviously the top top talent like a Max Scherzer or Lester (if he qualified for it) would turn it down. The issue too is because the price tag is so high some players won't even get that offer that they might have last year. Again all depends on the player and where he is in his career.

 

I don't think that's an issue, I think that's a point. No way should a team have to give up a first round pick for the likes of Stephen Drew. It should be that high, because they only guys worth giving up a first round pick are worth more then that.

 

Wow. Kind of surprising. Hopefully Boston remembers the 2007 and gives Beckett his just due if he ever comes back to Fenway. Guy was incredible that year, especially in the post season. I also think if the Sox had a healthy Beckett in 2008, they would have won the WS that year too.

 

Apparently Drew couldn't find a 3/30-40 million dollar deal last year or he would have signed that. The problem with Drew is once the Sox gave him the QO it killed his value as teams didn't want to give up a draft pick for him. That's the problem.

The problem is with the new system in place it hurts the small market teams and the players themselves. A team like the Red Sox could afford to gamble on Drew with the QO, but a team like Tampa Bay can't. I think the system is a bit broken in that respect. Someone like Drew or Cruz or Ervin Santana is they probably could have gotten a multi-year deal with a team but once they had a draft pick attached to them their value dropped big time so they are screwed. Cruz is going to be in the same boat he was this offseason because why wouldn't Baltimore want him back on a 1 year deal worth 15 million? But coming off the year Cruz had he probably can get a multi-year deal but like last year his value is going to drop because of the QO so the player is pretty much screwed.

I think the union needs to look at that and make some changes with the system. Maybe as simple as getting rid of FA comp but also allowing trading of draft picks. That way a team like Tampa Bay, for example, they still have David Price, again for example, on their roster in 2015 but he's going to be a FA next year and mid way through the year they realize they aren't making the playoffs so they can ship Price off to a different team and get prospects/players and potential draft picks back for him. They way you see more trades being made at the dead end thus adding more excitement to the sport as well.

Or maybe you keep the system in place the way it is but a player can't get a QO two years in a row or something like that.

 

Did the Yankees offer Drew a contract last offseason? I kind of remember that. Do you know how long it was? I honestly don't remember what the Sox offered Drew, if they even gave him an offer but once he rejected the QO they said they would only go 1 year for the 14.1 million.

I do think if Drew didn't have the QO linked to him more teams would have been interested and he would have gotten a multi-year deal. Drew was obviously awful this year but he was coming off of a good 2013 season.

 

Pretty good article on Josh Beckett written in the spring before he was drafted:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draf...h-beckett-emerges-as-latest-texas-fireballer/

His quotes are priceless, as he had that big game bulldog mindset already.

 

Yeah good luck with non-guaranteed contracts.

Boston might have offered him 2 years at 24 million perhaps at the beginning of the winter but once he rejected the QO the Sox said they would only bring him back at the 1 year/14.1 mill.

 

Yeah, someone like Beckett with his attitude was a perfect fit for a big market team like the Sox. He could handle the pressure and loved it.

The Yankees did that too? I know Cleveland did it for Game 5 of the ALCS in 2007 and when Beckett was asked about it after the game on live TV his comments were pretty funny and he also dropped a few swear words in the interview too.

Of course nothing would beat his comments to, I believe it was Letterman, after the Marlins beat the Yankees in the 2003 WS, Letterman asked him what he was going to be for Halloween and he said he was going to wear an ugly sweater with no rings and be George Steinbrener.

 

He and/or Boras misjudged the market for him there's no denying that.

 

Cross his name off the list of potential Yankee targets for SS next year. Guess this means that Manny Machado will never be a MLB SS now, although with his knee surgeries the past two years perhaps he wouldn't have the same range he use to.

 

It seems like Drew is probably the only realistic FA option right now. Hanley, Lowrie and Cabrera are FAs but they're pretty much 3B/2B types now and them playing SS for 162 games would probably be a mistake defensively.

 

Haha I hope so. Surprised he hasn't since the O's swept the Tigers.

 

Got to love the hot shove starting up before the season is even over.