Guns don't kill young pitchers..... [Archive] - Front Office Football Central

Atocep

08-03-2009, 02:16 PM

As fun as it is to poke fun at Dusty and his history with injuries, this one isn't on him. Volquez threw 196 innings last year, never threw more than 121 pitches in a start, and was 18th in PAP per start. Keep in mind, 18th in PAP isn't what 18th used to be either since teams have overreacted in how they handle pitchers.

At 25 years old he should be able to handle that unless there's some mechanical issues that would prevent him from taking a full season's load regardless of who is handling him.

rowech

08-03-2009, 02:17 PM

So does every team have like 3 guys a year that need Tommy John surgery? It seems very common these days and I wonder why. I mean, guys pitched much more in the 80s and early 90s then they do now.

Only my opnion.....I wonder what the percentages of breaking balls today is compared to the percentages of breaking balls "then".

Atocep

08-03-2009, 02:17 PM

So does every team have like 3 guys a year that need Tommy John surgery? It seems very common these days and I wonder why. I mean, guys pitched much more in the 80s and early 90s then they do now.

They're better at diagnosing the problems now. We have more pitchers able to pitch into their mid-late 30s because of it.

Butter

08-03-2009, 02:22 PM

MLB Network had a story one time on how Volquez's mechanics are BAD. And from what I heard, I don't believe the Reds wanted Volquez to pitch winter ball.

DeToxRox

08-03-2009, 02:24 PM

So how long until Lincecum gets the ol' TJ?

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 04:08 PM

So how long until Lincecum gets the ol' TJ?
I like his mechanics, but he's still throwing the ball 97MPH - it wouldn't shock me in the slightest if he ends up under the knife at some point.

RainMaker

08-03-2009, 04:28 PM

RomaGoth

08-03-2009, 04:33 PM

We have more pitchers able to pitch into their mid-late 30s because of it.

I thought that was what HgH/Steroids were for....:confused:

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 04:43 PM

I was reading an article years ago where Kerry Wood said that young pitchers should get the surgery before they get to the bigs. They'll have time to recover and won't need it later when their career is at its highest point.
The issue with that is that if the pitcher's motion is excessively stressful, they'll end up needing the surgery multiple times. It's not that the native tendon isn't strong enough - it's that the pitching motion is quite stressful under the best of circumstances, and a guy like Wood puts even more stress on his elbow with his mechanics.

lungs

08-03-2009, 04:47 PM

Only my opnion.....I wonder what the percentages of breaking balls today is compared to the percentages of breaking balls "then".

There is new research showing that the curveball is actually less stressful on the arm than a fastball. New as in I just read about a few weeks ago. I know it came from Dr. James Andrews' research institute but I'm too lazy to look it up.

JonInMiddleGA

08-03-2009, 04:55 PM

There is new research showing that the curveball is actually less stressful on the arm than a fastball. New as in I just read about a few weeks ago. I know it came from Dr. James Andrews' research institute but I'm too lazy to look it up.

Actually it doesn't seem to be Andrews (he's still lobbying against curves but stopped short of trying to discredit the institute study) but another group in Alabama.
Keeping Score - Two Studies Show That the Curveball Isn’t Too Stressful for Young Arms - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/sports/baseball/26score.html)

lungs

08-03-2009, 05:00 PM

Actually it doesn't seem to be Andrews (he's still lobbying against curves but stopped short of trying to discredit the institute study) but another group in Alabama.
Keeping Score - Two Studies Show That the Curveball Isn’t Too Stressful for Young Arms - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/sports/baseball/26score.html)

Thanks for the link. I thought I had read that it came from the Institute that Andrew had founded but Andrews wasn't involved with the research himself, if I remember correctly. Now I'm going to have to dig it up.

lungs

08-03-2009, 05:03 PM

Dola

Yup, American Sports Medicine Institute was founded by Andrews.

Crapshoot

08-03-2009, 05:05 PM

So how long until Lincecum gets the ol' TJ?

HEATHEN BASTARD!

RainMaker

08-03-2009, 05:08 PM

The issue with that is that if the pitcher's motion is excessively stressful, they'll end up needing the surgery multiple times. It's not that the native tendon isn't strong enough - it's that the pitching motion is quite stressful under the best of circumstances, and a guy like Wood puts even more stress on his elbow with his mechanics.
I thought the ligament they replace it with is much stronger and thus very unlikely to need a second surgery.

DeToxRox

08-03-2009, 05:30 PM

HEATHEN BASTARD!

I love Lincecum. Dude is a monster and a top 3 pitcher in baseball, but it looks painful watching him pitch. Maybe he's a freak of nature but I feel like it'll get him eventually. I hope not though.

Crapshoot

08-03-2009, 06:15 PM

I love Lincecum. Dude is a monster and a top 3 pitcher in baseball, but it looks painful watching him pitch. Maybe he's a freak of nature but I feel like it'll get him eventually. I hope not though.

I dunno; I think he actually designed his motion with his dad to maximize efficiency. He never ices his arm, etc etc - it works very well for him. I think its a completely radical approach and while its scary, I believe he will be fine.

RainMaker

08-03-2009, 06:56 PM

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 08:08 PM

I stopped basing injuries on throwing motions years ago. I remember all the talk of Mark Prior being the perfect prototype with perfect form. I think a lot of it's just genetics and luck. Sure some motions will have a bad impact, but it's tough to tell what players will be able to overcome them.
All the talk about Prior's "perfect mechanics" came from his pitching coach, Tom House; hardly an impartial judge. There is a growing field of people analyzing pitching mechanics, and a number of them seem to think that Prior has perfect mechanics - perfectly bad that is.

Now, this field is pretty new, and not everyone in the field agrees with each other. But the points that people like Chris O'Leary and Kyle Boddy make about pitchers like Mark Prior make a lot of sense. Boddy is supposedly working on a database to track his analysis and see how accurate his assessments are, though it will take quite a few years before it would have any statistical significance.

Obviously individual genetics are a big part of determining whether a pitcher will get injured, but I think we can all agree that it's highly likely that certain types of pitching mechanics are more stressful on elbows and/or shoulders than others - the question is figuring out what those really are.

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 08:13 PM

I thought the ligament they replace it with is much stronger and thus very unlikely to need a second surgery.
I haven't seen anything that indicates this is the case. There may be that misconception because the replacement ligament has no pitching wear and tear on it, whereas the replaced ligament has been undergoing pitching stress for a number of years and has been degrading for a while. But there are players that have had multiple TJ surgery.

BishopMVP

08-03-2009, 08:15 PM

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 08:16 PM

There is new research showing that the curveball is actually less stressful on the arm than a fastball. New as in I just read about a few weeks ago. I know it came from Dr. James Andrews' research institute but I'm too lazy to look it up.
I'm having a hard time believing that - most pitchers throw their curveball with a supinated release which over time will cause problems in the elbow, whereas most pitchers throw their fastball with a pronated release which avoids the problems a supinated release introduces to the elbow.

If I were coaching young pitchers, I'd advise them to throw pronated fastballs and changeups; if they really want to throw a breaking ball, teach them a pronated release on the breaking ball rather than a supinated one.

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 08:22 PM

Yeah, Prior had the now infamous inverted W mechanics (FWIW, Strasburg is also mentioned as having these) and Lincecum's was designed by his dad who worked at NASA - something about how much longer his stride was then any other pitcher 6' tall.
The funny thing about people talking about how "radical" Lincecum's mechanics are is that when you break it down, they really aren't that radical. Probably the most notable thing is the length of his stride, but Seaver and Koufax had very long strides too. Lincecum also has more side tilt in his torso than most pitchers which, in addition to his incredible hip/shoulder twist gives him a great deal of upper body torque as his upper body comes around and brings his arm with it. But the basics of it are actually pretty similar to many pitchers - it's just that most can't get as much hips/shoulder twist as he can.

What's really remarkable about his mechanics is the number of moving parts involved - to stride that far and with that much twist in his body and have consistency in his delivery is a testament to his great athleticism. Even so, I'm still surprised at how good his control has been in professional baseball - coming out of Washington, that was my biggest concern with him, that he walked too many people, but that hasn't been an issue so far in the minors or with the Giants.

BTW, I believe his dad is/was a Boeing engineer; not sure if he worked on NASA projects or not. But he was also an amateur pitcher himself, and is passing along the motion he developed for himself.

Atocep

08-03-2009, 08:33 PM

I haven't seen anything that indicates this is the case. There may be that misconception because the replacement ligament has no pitching wear and tear on it, whereas the replaced ligament has been undergoing pitching stress for a number of years and has been degrading for a while. But there are players that have had multiple TJ surgery.

This is correct. Its a myth based on the fact that pitchers who end up having Tommy John have had ligament damage for some time. The feeling of being stronger after the surgery comes from the fact that they're pitching healthy for the first time in years.

lungs

08-03-2009, 09:16 PM

I'm having a hard time believing that - most pitchers throw their curveball with a supinated release which over time will cause problems in the elbow, whereas most pitchers throw their fastball with a pronated release which avoids the problems a supinated release introduces to the elbow.

If I were coaching young pitchers, I'd advise them to throw pronated fastballs and changeups; if they really want to throw a breaking ball, teach them a pronated release on the breaking ball rather than a supinated one.

Would a supinated release be more of a slider release anyway? And would a pronated release be more of a pulling the lightswitch type curveball release?

Just trying to get some baseball context to your big words :)

RainMaker

08-03-2009, 09:28 PM

This is correct. Its a myth based on the fact that pitchers who end up having Tommy John have had ligament damage for some time. The feeling of being stronger after the surgery comes from the fact that they're pitching healthy for the first time in years.
But from a player's perspective, wouldn't it make sense to get it at 21-22? I mean you've probably had some damage done throughout your life and I'd argue that some pitchers probably do more damage in high school/college than the pros (Kerry Wood for example). So at 21, you get the surgery and are ready at 23-24 to hit the big leagues with a brand new ligament.

Doesn't make a ton of sense today with the long recovery time, but if that shortens dramatically and the surgery becomes more foolproof, I could see it happening. Every 5 years a pitcher goes in during the offseason to get a new ligament.

BishopMVP

08-03-2009, 09:49 PM

The funny thing about people talking about how "radical" Lincecum's mechanics are is that when you break it down, they really aren't that radical.

BTW, I believe his dad is/was a Boeing engineer; not sure if he worked on NASA projects or not. But he was also an amateur pitcher himself, and is passing along the motion he developed for himself.Sounds right on the Boeing instead of NASA claim - a rocket engineer here, a rocket engineer there. :)

And you're also right with the mechanics - it's not so much the motions themselves but the amount of torque he can generate with his body is unbelievable for such a short pitcher. It keeps much of the stress of throwing so hard off his arm. If he stays healthy through his 20's it will be interesting to see what happens later when he starts losing that flexibility.

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 09:50 PM

But from a player's perspective, wouldn't it make sense to get it at 21-22? I mean you've probably had some damage done throughout your life and I'd argue that some pitchers probably do more damage in high school/college than the pros (Kerry Wood for example). So at 21, you get the surgery and are ready at 23-24 to hit the big leagues with a brand new ligament.

Doesn't make a ton of sense today with the long recovery time, but if that shortens dramatically and the surgery becomes more foolproof, I could see it happening. Every 5 years a pitcher goes in during the offseason to get a new ligament.
If they can improve the success rate, then yes - the chances of this becoming something that pitchers elect to have increases. But currently the success rate is somewhere between 74% for high school pitchers vs. 85-92% for elite level pitchers. That's a pretty good rate for the elite, but still up to a 15% chance you don't recover. And add to that you lose basically a year, and you may not be fully up to speed for a couple of years. For a young pitcher, that's valuable development time lost and a potential hit to your earning power. It's still a risky move.

If the process improves a great deal, elective TJ surgery will have to be discussed along with steroids and HGH as a performance-enhancer.

RainMaker

08-03-2009, 09:54 PM

If they can improve the success rate, then yes - the chances of this becoming something that pitchers elect to have increases. But currently the success rate is somewhere between 74% for high school pitchers vs. 85-92% for elite level pitchers. That's a pretty good rate for the elite, but still up to a 15% chance you don't recover. And add to that you lose basically a year, and you may not be fully up to speed for a couple of years. For a young pitcher, that's valuable development time lost and a potential hit to your earning power. It's still a risky move.

If the process improves a great deal, elective TJ surgery will have to be discussed along with steroids and HGH as a performance-enhancer.

Is the success rate at age do to physical differences or the fact that younger athletes are probably not having the surgery done by top surgeons like Andrews?

I'd imagine over time that the recovery rate and success rate would go up. From what I've gathered, they've already cut 6 months off the recovery rate from a decade ago.

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 10:05 PM

Would a supinated release be more of a slider release anyway? And would a pronated release be more of a pulling the lightswitch type curveball release?

Just trying to get some baseball context to your big words :)
Supinated release is one where the hand (and thus the forearm) rolls outward, i.e. to the right for a RHP. With a classic curveball, you're trying to put forward spin on the 4-seams; typically pitchers throw a supinated curveball where the hand rolls outward, with the fingers snapping the seams downward with a forward roll. This supinated release slams the elbow joint violently and leads to lengthening of the ulna bone and a loss of flexibility in the elbow.

A pronated release would be one where the hand (and thus the forearm) rolls inward, i.e. to the left for a RHP. For a curveball, you'd still roll the seams off the fingers, but the pressure would be more on the index finger than the middle finger and you snap the seems down with an inward roll of the wrist instead of an outward one.

To get an idea of why a pronated motion is easier on the elbow than a supinated one, try punching in front of you with your thumb pointing up - a supinated motion is one where you end the punch with your thumb still up, and you'll feel your elbow slam as you do it. Then punch normally - you're hand will roll inward with your thumb pointed ending up pointing horizontally instead of vertically, and the impact is far less on your elbow.

To see a supinated breaking ball motion in action, see below:

Clemens pronated slider (http://www.drivelinemechanics.com/2008/12/11/690223/pronated-curveballs-slider)

Here's Steve Carlton talking about how to throw the slider, and his instruction leads to a pronated release:

Steve Carlton on how to throw a slider (http://www.carlton32.com/pages/slider.html)

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 10:06 PM

Is the success rate at age do to physical differences or the fact that younger athletes are probably not having the surgery done by top surgeons like Andrews?

I'd imagine over time that the recovery rate and success rate would go up. From what I've gathered, they've already cut 6 months off the recovery rate from a decade ago.
I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has more to do with the superior physiology of top level pitchers and/or a better work ethic in rehab. Here's where that data comes from:

The gory details of Tommy John surgery (http://www.thegoodpoint.com/baseball/jul09/the-gory-details-of-tommy-john-surgery.html)

sterlingice

08-03-2009, 10:15 PM

Dusty Baker does.

I don't think you've gotten enough credit for the title and first post of this thread :D

SI

stevew

08-03-2009, 10:34 PM

Eh. Just a play on the "Guns don't kill people, Lamar Woodley kills people" shirt I've seen before.

Cueto is next btw. Just a Matter of time.

stevew

08-03-2009, 10:54 PM

Why don't you see the Forkball/splitter anymore? Arm stress or better hitters?

dawgfan

08-03-2009, 11:57 PM

Why don't you see the Forkball/splitter anymore? Arm stress or better hitters?
Supposedly puts a lot of stress on the elbow.

That said, a lot of pitchers throw their changeups with a forkball grip, though they typically don't spread their index and middle fingers quite as far apart. My understanding is that spreading those fingers far apart adds stress to the elbow. I know some clubs discourage their young pitchers from throwing splitters - the M's had Brandon Morrow scrap his splitter which was his secondary pitch in college, and he's had to work on his curveball to give him a solid breaking pitch.

sterlingice

08-04-2009, 08:14 AM

Eh. Just a play on the "Guns don't kill people, Lamar Woodley kills people" shirt I've seen before.

Cueto is next btw. Just a Matter of time.

I know, but it was still nicely done

I was thinking of Richard Kiel's character from Happy Gilmore and the shirt he was wearing, tho.

SI

dervack

08-04-2009, 10:28 AM

Atocep

08-04-2009, 03:51 PM

This apparently wasn't your typical Tommy John. According to Will Carroll he also had a "shredded" or "ruptured" (depending on the source) flexor mass which puts the minimum timetable at 12 months.

BishopMVP

08-05-2009, 09:19 AM

I don't think you've gotten enough credit for the title and first post of this thread :DFWIW, in this case it appears to be mostly on pitching winter ball and the WBC and not Dusty, but yes, props on the title.

dervack

08-10-2009, 10:09 PM

Jordan Zimmerman has the inverted W too.
Washington Nationals' Jordan Zimmermann likely to need elbow surgery - ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4390177)

Looks like Zimmerman's going to be on the shelf for all of 2010.

fantom1979

08-11-2009, 08:37 AM

I pitch for my beer league softball team and I got elective Tommy John surgery in 2006. I highly recommend it for all pitchers. I used to throw 21-23 MPH with a 9 foot arc, but now, I can get that bad boy up to 25 or 26 MPH. The movement I get on my "fake to the plate, fake behind my back, throw it through my legs" is just silly.

stevew

08-19-2009, 08:15 PM

Cueto to the DL. Dunno what for though.

JPhillips

08-19-2009, 08:32 PM

Cueto to the DL. Dunno what for though.

I'm not too worried. He did winter ball and the WBC so this is really a way to limit wear and tear instead of letting Dusty kill him in September.

stevew

08-19-2009, 11:38 PM

Gotta get that push in for 70 wins!

(trust me, I know the feeling :( )

Karlifornia

08-20-2009, 04:02 AM

So how long until Lincecum gets the ol' TJ?

This has been a question pondered by everyone else but Giants fans. It may happen eventually, don't get me wrong, but this kid is just a pure athlete. He didn't hit for many years, but he looks better swinging the bat than any Giants pitcher not named Matt Cain. He doesn't ice after games, and he seems pretty much bulletproof. That's not to say that he is bulletproof, as anything can happen, but I think Lincecum uses his body so well that I'd surprised if his arm catastrophically blew up.

JPhillips

08-20-2009, 07:18 AM

Gotta get that push in for 70 wins!

(trust me, I know the feeling :( )

The way they're playing I'd be thrilled to get to 70 wins.

stevew

07-27-2010, 08:30 PM

I'm gonna give Riggleman credit if he broke Strasburg this quickly. Never remember a pitcher not being able to get warm.

Merry Strasmas.

dawgfan

07-28-2010, 01:06 AM

I haven't been keeping track of Strasburg's pitch counts, but he's got the kind of pitching motion and the velocity to be an injury concern regardless (if you buy the theories of guys like Chris O'Leary and Kyle Boddy).

Toddzilla

07-28-2010, 07:54 AM

Hey, give the guy credit...he scratched Strasburg's start in front of a nearly packed house for a team that can't give tickets away. That took some giant balls.

Subby

07-28-2010, 08:03 AM

MRI came back negative, so that's good news. They were just being EXTREMELY cautious. I think 95+% of the time the pitcher takes the mound and pitches in this situation - this is just a fairly unique situation.

lungs

07-28-2010, 09:31 AM

I've actually been quite impressed with how the Nats have handled Strasburg. He's going to be shut down anyway so he can just miss a start or two right now instead of later.

lordscarlet

07-28-2010, 01:59 PM

And to make us Nats fans feel better, they had a great game despite scratching Strasburg. Batista and the rest of the bullpen stepped up when they needed to.

Logan

07-28-2010, 03:17 PM

The Nats have done a solid job with Stras. To put last night into perspective, Riggleman didn't make the decision. Mike Rizzo was summoned to the bullpen and made the call himself. That, kids, is a GM with a plan that is going to do everything possible to make it work.

You mean to keep his job?

DaddyTorgo

07-28-2010, 03:26 PM

stevew

07-28-2010, 03:28 PM

They'd probably be better off taking the hit on the invariable Tommy John sooner rather than later.

DaddyTorgo

07-28-2010, 03:32 PM

They'd probably be better off taking the hit on the invariable Tommy John sooner rather than later.

Shit - do it this year, after you shut him down for the year.

claphamsa

07-28-2010, 11:36 PM

Hey, give the guy credit...he scratched Strasburg's start in front of a nearly packed house for a team that can't give tickets away. That took some giant balls.
we enjoyed that....

miked

07-29-2010, 06:02 AM

And to make us Nats fans feel better, they had a great game despite scratching Strasburg. Batista and the rest of the bullpen stepped up when they needed to.

And those classy Nats fans booed him.

claphamsa

07-29-2010, 07:24 AM

I heard no booing... well we booed chipper.

lordscarlet

07-29-2010, 01:51 PM

And those classy Nats fans booed him.

I heard no booing... well we booed chipper.

All the news reports say that they did. I wasn't there that night, though. If they did, it was classless and fairly atypical of Nats fans. Of course, typical Nats fans don't sell out the stadium, these are people that just came to see Strasburg, not the Nationals.

stevew

07-29-2010, 06:23 PM

"precautionary" trip to the DL.

lordscarlet

07-30-2010, 08:06 AM

Needed the bullpen arm. Retroactive to 7/22 and he's already slated to start 8/6. Already said he could start Sunday. They are just being freakishly protective.

Needed the starting rotation arm. :) I believe he made room for Olsen.

miked

07-30-2010, 08:13 AM

They are trying to protect their best trading chip for his move in 3 years.

Butter

07-30-2010, 08:21 AM

How much of this is precaution, and how much is trying not to panic the team and/or its fans?

Marmel

07-30-2010, 08:35 AM

I think I speak for all Yankee fans when I say "Thank You!" to Washington for taking good care of our 2016 opening day pitcher.

lordscarlet

07-30-2010, 10:27 AM

I think I speak for all Yankee fans when I say "Thank You!" to Washington for taking good care of our 2016 opening day pitcher.

I think I speak for all baseball fans when I say, "Fuck you."

stevew

07-30-2010, 12:01 PM

I think I speak for all Yankee fans when I say "Thank You!" to Washington for taking good care of our 2016 opening day pitcher.

It'd be 2017. Yankees sign Pedro Alvarez, Mike Stanton and Stephen Strasburg in the 2016-17 offseason for more than a half billion dollars.

sterlingice

08-03-2010, 09:03 AM

I think I speak for all baseball fans when I say, "Fuck you."

:D

SI

Marmel

08-03-2010, 09:17 AM

I forgot about this thread. Sorry. It is hard to keep track of the entire Yankee farm system. I have to constantly monitor information coming out from Washington, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Oakland, Cleveland, Baltimore, Florida, Houston, etc... That is a lot of work.

But the nice thing about being a Yankee fan is that MLB has set up a network where you can not only catch all the Yankee games, but all their minor league games as well. Yeah, its called MLB TV.

lordscarlet

08-03-2010, 12:15 PM

Subby

08-03-2010, 01:26 PM

Good to see it isn't hard to push the good lord's buttons :mad::mad::mad:

Marmel

08-03-2010, 01:57 PM

The other nice thing is people don't have to figure out that you're a douchebag, they just have to find out you're a Yankee fan and all the detective work is done.

The other great thing about being a Yankee fan is that we are so far superior than the rest of you baseball fans, that it doesn't even matter what you think.

Edited to add: Are personal attacks allowed on this board now?

Ronnie Dobbs2

08-03-2010, 01:59 PM

Edited to add: Are personal attacks allowed on this board now?

So long as there's no hint of a nipple.

dawgfan

08-03-2010, 02:08 PM

Edited to add: Are personal attacks allowed on this board now?
Exceptions are made with regards to Yankees fans.

Subby

08-27-2010, 09:56 AM

Well that was fun while it lasted!

molson

08-27-2010, 09:59 AM

The other nice thing is people don't have to figure out that you're a douchebag

That is exactly what the question was. People were complaining that they have to walk around on egg shells because of mod decisions. I said I act the same no matter what, someone claimed that's because Wade was a mod, and I said I would act the same regardless of whether Wade was a mod. I would be incredibly shocked if something I posted had ever been reported. The implication here is that I can say whatever I want, get reported, and I'll get away clean because Wade is a mod. But show me one post I've ever written that has been reported (prior to now when some asshat could report it later today to prove a point) and we can talk

I don't act like a douchebag, I don't get reported, I don't get boxed/banned. It's as simple as that. It has nothing to do with Wade.

Interesting bump considering recent events....

I'm going to guess this post wasn't reported. Though Marmel did call him on it.

lordscarlet

08-27-2010, 10:12 AM

Interesting bump considering recent events....

I'm going to guess this post wasn't reported. Though Marmel did call him on it.

RendeR and others have said that and worse plenty of times without getting banned. I think any person on this board who called someone a douchebag one time would not get banned. The only people that get banned for personal attacks are repeat offenders. And they're generally blatantly doing it toward Ben because of mod decisions.

Particularly with such an accurate sentiment. ;)

BishopMVP

08-27-2010, 10:22 AM

Well that was fun while it lasted!If only people saw this coming... oh waitPrior had the now infamous inverted W mechanics (FWIW, Strasburg is also mentioned as having these)Chris Sale, you're next.

Marmel

08-27-2010, 10:31 AM

Particularly with such an accurate sentiment. ;)

So now that's twice.

Rizon

08-27-2010, 10:36 AM

Strasburg on the DL?

In other surprising news: Lance Bass is gay.

Rizon

08-27-2010, 10:37 AM

Oh wow, he's done for 2011, too.

Lance Bass is gay.

stevew

08-27-2010, 11:18 AM

I wonder if ESPN is gonna pick up this story

samifan24

08-27-2010, 12:54 PM

If only people saw this coming... oh waitChris Sale, you're next.

Here's a good blog post (http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Pitching/RethinkingPitching/Essays/DeathToTheInvertedW.html) about the inverted W for anyone needing a refresher. Interestingly enough, both Jeremy Bonderman and Anthony Reyes were listed as pitchers with an increased risk of injury (the post was written several years ago) and the poster was right about both players, who have lost time with arm and shoulder injuries the last few years.