In this week’s edition of Blue Jays Central: Ask the Insiders, they answered several fan questions including how the Jays will find upgrades at key positions and which prospects and rehabbing players will get a look when the rosters expand in September.
Carson asks: Looking ahead to next season, where do you see Alex Anthopoulos looking for upgrades to catcher, second base and left field? Do you think with his knees that Melky Cabrera becomes the DH?
Buck Martinez: Carson you have identified the problem areas for the Jays but may have overlooked the most important weakness, the starting rotation. No matter what you do on offense, if you don’t have good starting pitching it is tough to win. I know they brought in three starters this off season but they are going to have to look at improving the staff once again.
Gregg Zaun: It’s really hard to say whether AA will look to upgrade any of those positions. He plays things very close to the vest. We won’t know how he feels about those positions until he makes a move.
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Shi Davidi: Second base and the starting rotation will be Alex Anthopoulos’s primary areas of focus this off-season and I’d expect him to be fairly active on the trade market. That’s where he typically likes to do his business and the free agent market isn’t ideal on either front. Melky Cabrera could end up at DH depending on what happens with Adam Lind, but the Blue Jays right now believe Cabrera can return next season with better range and more running ability. The jury is out on that one.
Jamie Campbell: Carson: Remember this about Anthopoulos, it’s impossible to predict his moves. He’s never going to tell you where he’s looking to make a deal or who he’s considering as a free agent.
Christa asks: Looking ahead to September, and with the Jays likely out of the playoff race, which minor leaguers to you expect the club will call up when the rosters expand in September?
Buck Martinez: Christa, I would expect we will see Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchinson, Luis Perez, A.J. Jimenez and Kevin Pillar at some point in September. I think it would be important for the three pitchers to get back to the big leagues before the end of the season so they can have closure from their Tommy John surgeries and look forward to a “normal” offseason of preparation and anticipation for the 2014 season.
Pat Tabler: Looking to September I am sure that we will see some of the Jays that have been injured this year and who are on the 40 man roster. Names like Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison come to mind. I am sure the Jays will want to see them at least once before the off season just so they feel they can compete and feel good about 2014. I’m sure Ricky Romero will be back up and the same thing goes for Anthony Gose and Moises Sierra. Should make for an interesting month.
Shi Davidi: The two most intriguing possibilities are Marcus Stroman and Sean Nolin, but I’m not sure whether the Blue Jays will bring up the two prospects from double-A New Hampshire. More certain are Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison, barring any setbacks for them as they rebuild arm strength, Luis Perez if he’s ready, Munenori Kawasaki, and perhaps Mickey Storey and Thad Weber for depth in the bullpen.
Jamie Campbell: Christa, I’m only guessing, but Kevin Pillar has an excellent chance at getting a promotion. You may also see Anthony Gose, Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchison, Sean Nolin, Jim Negrych, John Stilson, or Marcus Stroman. Then again, you may not see any of them!
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HolyMole asks: Do pitchers ever advise their coaches, either during a game, or immediately before a starting or relief assignment, that they “just don’t have it today?” Or is a pitcher expected to answer the call, even if he knows he hasn’t got his “good stuff?”
Buck Martinez: HolyMole, the starters don’t often tell a coach that they “just don’t have it today.” A starter may go to the mound seven or eight times during the course of a season with everything working on a given day. You may not feel good during the warm up process but find it during the game. It is rare for a starter not to answer the bell unless he is injured or sick.
Pat Tabler: Yes pitchers will inform their managers that they don’t have it that day but they better wait until the day is over. Every pitcher feels that when it is their day to pitch they have to come up big for their teammates. They will get into the game and if they don’t “have their best stuff” they still have to compete. Many times pitchers go to the mound without their A-game and still get their team in to the position to win. I don’t think they would like to pull out of the game if they don’t feel they have it.
Gregg Zaun: Pitchers don’t need to inform coaches. They can see it for themselves. They spend so much time around one another, it’s hard to hide it. Pitchers have their good stuff one out of every five starts typically. I once told Pat Hentgen he had the worst stuff I’d ever seen that day and we still found a way to win.
Dirk Hayhurst: Yes, they do. Well, I have anyway. Old baseball men like to say you’ll have your best stuff one out of every five games you pitch in. You’ll have absolutely nothing one out of every five as well. The rest of the time you have what you have and you make the best of it.
Another thing to bear in mind is, sometimes when you feel like you’ve got nothing, you end up *pitching* at your best. I say pitching because, when you know you can’t rely on late, nasty movement, or overpowering velocity, you have to think about what you’re throwing instead of simply going with your gut. I’ve heard several pitchers say they had nothing and pitched like CY Young regardless. Pitching can be like poker in that regard. The batter doesn’t know you don’ have your “best stuff” he only knows he has got to face whatever you’re throwing to him that day. Hell, he may not have his best stuff either.
Pitching during days when you don’t have your best stuff is one of the best ways to learn just how good a pitcher you are.
Shi Davidi: Barring injury or severe illness, a pitcher (and position player) is expected to answer the call. The best pitchers are the ones who can compete even without their best stuff on a given day, and it’s what sets the elite apart from the average. Over the course of a long season, pitchers will have plenty of games where they don’t feel at their best, they must learn to manage it.
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Blair Spencer asks: I was having a conversation with an old Expos fan and I recalled Pascual Perez throwing his Pascual pitch which I understand is also known as an eephus pitch. Have any of you had any experience with it and has anyone thrown one recently? Who was the best at it?
Buck Martinez: Blair, I can recall two pitchers that I saw use the eephus pitch during a game. Steve Hamilton of the Yankees and Dave LaRoche of the Indians. LaRoche threw it to Gorman Thomas back to back during a game against the Brewers and Gorman nearly screwed himself into the ground swinging at the second one. Everybody was laughing in both dugouts. I think Gorman hit a weak grounder to end the at bat.
Pat Tabler: Love the eephus pitch! Perez did throw one and it has been around for a long time. It can be a very tough for a batter to hit because it is so slow. The timing to the hitter is all messed up. The pitch looks so easy to hit! The best that I have ever seen was Dave LaRoche who had his own name for the pitch The LaLob. Priceless!
Shi Davidi: A handful of pitchers around the majors throw the occasional eephus, including Carlos Villanueva, who threw a handful last year with the Blue Jays. Vicente Padilla, who pitched for the Red Sox last year, threw them regularly. The difference is no one throws their eephus quite like Perez, whose trick pitch had a high arc before breaking down. That’s why his became known as the Pascual Pitch.
Jamie Campbell: Blair, the one guy I remember throwing that pitch was Dave LaRoche. He was a left-hander who pitched in the ’70’s. They called it “La La Lob”. He’s the father of Adam and Andy LaRoche and was a coach with the Blue Jays a few years back.
Rob asks: I’m curious why Alex Rodriguez, if found to have lied about his Biogenesis role, would be hit with a 211 game suspension when Ryan Braun blatantly lied about his role and got 65 games? What’s your gut say about what the arbitrator will do? Any chance the evidence vs. A-Rod will become public?
Buck Martinez: Rob there are so many unanswered questions surrounding the Rodriguez suspension I don’t think we will know the entire story until the arbitration hearing is finalized. There must be overwhelming evidence for the others to have accepted the suspensions without a fight, it is hard to believe they don’t have a good case against A-Rod as well.
Gregg Zaun: Any arbitrator with half a brain will see that A-Rod’s suspension length is him clearly being singled out. Braun’s suspension is a farce as well. The others, including Melky Cabrera, were given 50 game suspensions. He tried to cover it up by launching a fake website. Alex shouldn’t be punished any more harshly than the others because he tried to cover it up.
Dirk Hayhurst: I think you’ll see disclosure at some point, but not until this is all resolved. I also think that the 211 game suspension was way over the top, but, since we don’t know what the MLB is bringing against A-Rod, we can’t be sure. I’d say there is no precedent for a first time offence suspension of 211 games, and that alone will warrant the arbitrator to knock it down.
Shi Davidi: There are several reasons for this. First, Braun negotiated a deal with MLB, meaning his initial punishment would have started much higher. Rodriguez could have taken this route but decided not to. Second, MLB investigators reportedly have proof of Rodriguez’s alleged PED use over a longer period of time, hence they believe they have multiple violations. Third, if proven, not only did Rodriguez lie about his use of PEDs, MLB also says he tried to sabotage their investigation. Put it all together, and that’s how baseball came to its conclusion. My gut says the arbitrator will reduce the suspension but not by as much as Rodriguez is hoping. And I expect some of the evidence against him to leak out.
Jamie Campbell: Rob, I hope you don’t mind my sheer honesty here, but I don’t give a rat’s behind about what may happen to Alex Rodriguez.