Comments on: Rodney, Zumaya report to minors on Tuesday

By: ron

ron — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:19:34 +0000

Mechanics, shemanics. Hit the black with a little bit of movement at 85 mph. Simple.

By: JML

JML — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:33:38 +0000

The bullpen is just fine without them, trade them for some power hitters.

By: Angus

Angus — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:32:20 +0000

Bilfer, Thanks for the update. Appears that Zumuya will get his money whether he pans out or not. Hope that he can recover and settle down to be a force in our organization. Leave the keg stands and Guitar Hero to his younger brother.

By: billfer

billfer — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:01:54 +0000

Angus – Unless Zumaya gets optioned to the minors he will still be arb eligible. Time on the DL counts as service time, and a rehab stint while on the DL still counts as service time.

By: Eric Cioe

Eric Cioe — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:13:52 +0000

Mark in Chicago,

Yeah, I forgot I commented on that article. If it was something along the lines of, “he looks uncomfortable,” then I still think that.

Regarding Bonderman versus Zumaya on mechanics – look at Bonderman when his elbow is at the highest, and then look at Zumaya. Replicate each of them sitting in your computer chair. Bonderman’s arm mechanics probably aren’t great but they aren’t quite awful, and everything from the waiste down on him seems to work well. Looking at where Zumaya’s arm is before he releases the ball, it hurts. Try doing it. It isn’t comfortable.

By: Joel in Seattle

Joel in Seattle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:41:16 +0000

They also weren’t meant to catch boxes with their shoulders, or play fake guitar.

By: Joel in Seattle

Joel in Seattle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:40:00 +0000

You White Sox haters will enjoy a interesting quirk over on Bless You Boys right now… the Current AL Central Standings show the White Sox having lost their last 105.

If only…

By: Chris in Dallas

Chris in Dallas — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:34:48 +0000

Prior was also abused with some ridiculous pitch counts by Dusty so there’s that. Bonderman was capped at what, like 85 pitches in ’03? They handled him with kid gloves. I don’t really think there’s a such thing as “perfect” mechanics since the act of pitching a baseball is so unnatural. The fact that Zumaya throws with such tremendous velocity has to put more strain on his joints than Bonderman does. Humans weren’t meant to throw tiny baseballs 102 mph.

By: Joel in Seattle

Joel in Seattle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:34:29 +0000

Sounds like an infant maneuver.

By: Tigercub33

Tigercub33 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:28:37 +0000

You don’t want to know.

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:27:06 +0000

how exactly does one “poop up”? sounds messy.

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:24:14 +0000

If Bonderman and Zumaya have the same issue – why is one more suited to the pen than the other?

This is a great question, and it may be a combination of things. It may not be strictly the Inverted W that does so much damage, but having that in conjuction with other things (timing of the plant foot, etc.). Perhaps someone like Prior generated so much strength from his legs that he literally “blew out”, or exerted more than his shoulder and elbow could handle. It could also be a function of innings and usage. Bonderman was brough along slowly, gradually building innings each year. Prior jumped from 116 innings in 2002 to 211 in 2003 (thank you, Dusty Baker), and who knows what that could do? And genetics probably plays some role. I don’t know the answer to your question, those are some ideas to throw out there.

Also, after googling those terms, I was referring to the articles in the first link at the top of the page in each case. Not sure why one didn’t work, they were fine for me…

By: Tigercub33

Tigercub33 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:21:41 +0000

Darn – now I can’t even go back and change it since I was called out. Stupid firefox spell checker

By: Angus

Angus — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:20:37 +0000

Couple of thing to ponder over.

1. Zumuya is eligible for arbitration next year if the Tigers bring him back this year. If he does not make it back to the majors, he is not eligible for arbitration until 201.

2. I agree that loss in velocity is an issue but not that big of one. Zumuya had movement on his fastball in 2006. Last year he was pitching straight balls over 100+. The batter gets his bat on the ball and you have instant homeruns. Same thing with Verlander. Had good movement on his fastball with velocity in 2006 and during his no hitter last year. This year, not as much movement and lower velocity equals higher ERA.

I am not worried about Zumuya’s velocity as much as his movement on the fastball. He can afford to go down in the high 90′s if he has the movement. Other issue is that if we bring him back, can he have an impact on our win/loss ratio. I vote for a very extended stay in the minors to prove what he can do but knowing DD, he will bring him back no matter what and in the process give Zumuya a huge salary for 2009 with little to nothing to prove for it since 2006.

By: Chris in Dallas

Chris in Dallas — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:18:45 +0000

Tigercub makes the typo of the day. “pooped up”. lol. Anyways, my rudimentary understanding of mechanics would be that Bonderman has a strong base (legs) in his delivery. I haven’t actually seen Zumaya in such a long time I kinda forget what his mechanics look like to make a comparison in my head, though. I don’t know how much these studies on mechanics mean, though. Everyone lauded how perfect Mark Prior was mechanically and look at what happened to him. And then there’s Tim Lincecum who makes *my* shoulder hurt, and he seems to be quite durable thus far. Seems like kind of a crapshoot to me.