Not a lot to read on Monday
DMZ · March 6, 2006 at 8:40 am · Filed Under Mariners
TNT: Meche’s injury puts him behind others in trying to get into the rotation.
“At this point it’s not a major injury, but with a baseball player, and particularly a pitcher, anything with an oblique or an intercostals muscle (which allows inner flexing of the chest wall), you’ve got to be very cautious and very conservative,†trainer Rick Griffin said.
“We’re not going to let him pick a ball up for three days, and then we’ll re-evaluate him. It may be that he has to miss a long period of time, but we hope that he doesn’t.â€Â
PI: Washburn pitched yesterday.
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They should have all the Mariner pitchers doing yoga on off days. It’s fantastic for preventing injuries like this.
Petagine is 4-for-6 in the Best of Small Sample Size Theater production of Mariner Spring Training ™.
Scott Hansen (who has been covering Peoria for the Times the last few days ) talks to Tui, Kirby Arnold in the Herald also talks to Griffin about Gil and also looks at the team ERA so far (14.88)
Welcome to the rotation Mr. Foppert.
What’s puzzling is that Foppert is the one guy not mentioned in the laundry list of potential candidates to replace Meche. Even though it goes into such esoteric possibilities as Soriano (yes, please) and Gulin (what?).
Now I know that they are saying this is not a big injury to Meche, but how many times have we heard that in spring training? It’s always just “something minor, he will be be back in a week” thats what they said about Pokey too, but then it kept getting worse. Who knows, I just read that and thought “Here we go again”.
But in this case, replacing Meche actually improves the rotation, so I might be hoping for a lingering ailment.
My biggest fear is not that Meche gets healthy and returns at 100% nor is it that his injury is longer lasting and Foppert/Nageotte/Harris starts the year.
I worry that we will see what happened with Pineiro last year. That is, Gil will sit out a while, come back and pitch well enough to make the team, even though he is not at 100%. Because he missed some of ST and didn’t get all his work in, plus his oblique continues to bother him, so he pitches accordingly. I hope Management puts the best player out there to start, irregardless of salary.*
*I realize that historical precedent makes this comment borderline comical, but I can dream, right?
I dunno, in depressing things to read on Monday, Kirby Puckett had a stroke and is in critical condition…
Is anyone else just plain sick and tired of Gil Meche and his “setbacks”? This guy just simply cannot be counted on. They’ve given him chance after chance after chance and he just can’t get out of his own way, whether it be his mechanics, approach, confidence, physical condition, etc. – it’s ALWAYS something. At some point, enough is enough. If this is more than just a very temporary setback (and you just know it will be) I say give someone else his spot in the rotation. If he’s not at 100% when the season starts, he loses his job, plain and simple. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggghh!
OK, I’m better now.
Meche had labrum surgery. The number of guys who’ve come back from labrum surgery and shown any consistent level of major league performance is what, 3 guys?
#5– FWIW, Foppert’s name came up during the game & post-game….
Oh my. And you thought you watched a lot of slop innings being pitched for us last year. I don’t have my hopes up about Foppert; I’ll be positively thrilled if he can give us 120 innings of league-average ERA (which is crummy in Safeco).
The pressure to use Felix too much is going to start in mid-May at the latest.
Oh, but it doesn’t matter, because Kevin Appier and Dave Burba are going to finish 1-2 in the Cy Young voting this year. Burba’s reportedly got a new pitch! Which, if true, makes, er, just the one, I guess. Appier reportedly looks great after having one of his legs grafted on where his arm used to be, though it does frighten the children.
Today’s game — a win that feels like a crushing loss — 3 nohit innings from the Ape. I remember another Spring, another pitcher . . . . Poulsbo native . . .
Kirby Puckett dies at age 44.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2357158
I just suffered a minor stroke  known as a transient ischemic attack  at age 40, and seeing this story just now made my stomach feel like I just dropped 40 floors in an elevator.
Keep close watch on your blood pressure, folks.
And, to make a connection from #16’s comment to the Mariners, Eddie Guardado and Ken Griffey Jr. were 2 of the major leaguers who were at the hospital to see him in his last hours.
http://www.startribune.com/10017/story/289432.html
Very sad. So young. And having grown up in Minnesota, well, Puckett was definitely one of a kind. He played the game with complete and utter joy, which was a beautiful thing to watch, and why fans loved him so. Kinda like the old (young) Griffey, or a Mike Cameron or Charles Gipson. We really don’t get too many like that anymore, who play with such obvious joy.
Rest in peace Puck.
I remember back when things got a little contentious around here towards the end of the season, Dave put up a post about why he loves baseball. Having grown up in Minnesota, I don’t think I would love baseball if it wasn’t for Kirby Puckett. It’s going to be a little tougher making it through spring training this year.
Puckett has his own thread now.
#16– hey Jim, hope you are doing ok…
Jeff Sullivan mentioned this and I’m inclined to agree: even with the likes of Nags and Foppert, you can’t feel good about the prospect of replacing Meche if he can’t go in the Opening Day rotation. Foppert needs time to show he can pitch up to speed in Tacoma before we should ask him to carry a rotation spot. His velocity’s back to 90-91 but we still don’t know if he’s his old self yet.
Nageotte did start in the Fall League but, all due respect, that’s about a couple steps up from a rec league. We have yet to see him start against quality minor league hitters, let alone in the majors, and to pencil him in before he’s proven he can do so probably isn’t a good idea.
I shouldn’t need to discuss the perils of Kevin Appier or Dave Burba owning a spot in the rotation. Think Aaron Sele, except even worse.
As for bright spots: Hey, Matt Thornton’s throwing strikes for a change!