Teixeira “very encouraged” by elbow’s progress
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on Mar 31, 2010 
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Mark Teixeira hopes to take swings off a tee today, and he firmly believes he’ll be in the Yankees lineup tomorrow against the Blue Jays.
“Very lucky,” he said. “Any time you get hit on a bone, a lot of bad things can happen.”
Teixeira reported to camp with very little swelling on Tuesday, and the swelling is still minimal today. He said his range of motion is good and said he’s “very encouraged” by how well it has rebounded after being hit by a pitch on Monday. The bruise, though, is still pretty nasty.
“You can still see the seams in there,” he said.
Teixeira will wear a protective sleeve for the next few days, just to make sure he doesn’t take a direct another direct hit, but he has no plans of wearing protection during the regular season. He doesn’t like the way it feels at the plate.
Someone joked that if he got hit there again he might charge the mound. “I’ll be crying on the ground is what I’ll be doing,” he said.
• Alfredo Aceves was also feeling good this morning. He’s been doing exercises twice a day to strengthen and stretch his lower back. He plans to throw off a mound today and pitch in a game on Friday.
• Phil Hughes has not been told when he’ll make his first regular season start. He’s making what should be his final spring start this afternoon.
• Still no official word on an opening day center fielder, but Curtis Granderson is back in center field today, with Brett Gardner starting in left.
• Available to pitch out of the bullpen: Joba Chamberlain, Chan Ho Park, Dave Robertson, Royce Ring and Boone Logan.
• Available off the bench: C P.J. Pilittere, C Jose Gil, INF Brandon Laird, INF Jose Pirela, INF Luis Nunez, OF Randy Winn, OF Reid Gorecki and OF Edwar Gonzalez.
• Twins lineup:
Denard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
J.J. Hardy SS
Jason Kubel DH
Delmon Young LF
Brendan Harris 3B
Brock Peterson 1B
Juan Portes RF
Drew Butera C
LHP Brian Duensing
Yanks really dodged a bullet with Tex.
I read this morning that Ace has a disc problem; obviously that’s not good news.
Speaking of Teixeira – did anybody happen to catch his interview on Michael Kay’s show yesterday? Kay asked him about the incident at the end of last regular season with Price and Tampa. Judging from his answer, I don’t think that’s quite settled yet. It’ll be interesting to see how that first series with them plays out and whether there will be any retaliation or not.
Rob
March 31st, 2010 at 10:34 am
Speaking of Teixeira – did anybody happen to catch his interview on Michael Kay’s show yesterday?
—————–
That would mean I’d have to listen to Michael Kay’s radio show, so no. lol
Very good that both Tex and Aceves are feeling better!
Rob-
“Speaking of Teixeira – did anybody happen to catch his interview on Michael Kay’s show yesterday? Kay asked him about the incident at the end of last regular season with Price and Tampa. Judging from his answer, I don’t think that’s quite settled yet. It’ll be interesting to see how that first series with them plays out and whether there will be any retaliation or not.’
Fine with me.
As long as Smoochie gets one right in the kisser.
Betsy-
Do you have a link for the Aceves thing ?
I’d like to read about it for myself.
Thanks.
with the way Boone Logan is throwing, the Vazquez trade looks even better. If that were possible…
Boone Logan may prove to be a better LHP then Mike Dunn
MTU, I believe it was in one of the NY Post articles in the past day or so (maybe yesterday), but I can’t provide the link just now.
“I read this morning that Ace has a disc problem”
Link, please?
Vinny-
If Aceves happens to go DL, or Phil goes to AAA then maybe Logan gets a shot.
I like what I have seen.
Another effective lefty might be good.
good news for Tex
for those who worry about predictions, I was cleaning out some paperwork and came across these WS predictions from last year
The Sporting News: Yankees over Cubs
Sports Illustrated: Mets over Angels
ESPN the Mag: Rays over Cubs
Lindy’s: Yankees over Cubs
Athlon: Red Sox over Phillies
in ’08 only one (Lindy’s) had the Phillies (losing to the Tigers) and, of course, no one had the Rays
I hope Teix’s luck continues and he actually gets off to a fast start.
The Yankees have said all along that this is a disc issue with Aceves.
Betsey, was this the article you read re Ace’s back?
http://www.northjersey.com/spo.....swers.html
MTU:
yes. Didn’t really like losing Phil Coke and Mike Dunn in one off-season, as it took the yankees forever to get LHP in the system (even if they do have limited ceilings), but Boone Logan and Royce Ring have been money. Maybe at least one will do well at the MLB level
Chad, any idea how this injury happened? I would have thought they’d have kept Gaudin knowing Ace’s condition. Even if Mitre performs well, I don’t see him as having the same type of rubber arms those two have.
IF Aceves has a “bulging disc” that is a chronic problem.
It can be both debilitating and painful.
Most people try to manage the pain with a combination of physical therapy and cortisone shots.
The relief is usually just temporary.
In severe cases disc laminectomy is required.
Hope it’s not a bulging disc.
“Betsey, was this the article you read re Ace’s back?”
———————————————–
Holden: been wondering. Are you any relation to William Holden. My fave all-time actor? Thanks
Betsey, was this the article you read re Ace’s back?
———————————————–
Holden: been wondering. Are you any relation to William Holden? My fave all-time actor. Thanks
I just finished checking up on the posts I missed from yesterday. Listening to that Jon Weber audio and with his performance this spring, man I’m pulling for that guy to get a call-up at some point this year. I hope the Yankees can be that team that finally gives him his ticket to the show at 32. What an awesome story that would be, huh?
Holden, I don’t think that was the exact article as I’m sure I read it in the Post, but the iniformation conveyed is the same. It’s not like the Post did a huge article on Ace – just a blurb, if that.
Betsy,
Gaudin doesn’t have a rubber arm. He’s just a guy who has started and relieved in his career.
At 3 million bucks, the Yankees have guys, both here and in Scranton, who can be as serviceable as Gaudin in that role if needed for much less money.
Considering there were some in the game thread who where getting ready to administer last rites to Tex, it’s nice to know he will live to play another day.
i think it’s obvious that the joba who threw in the high 90′s was a case of catching lightning in a bottle .
i’m not saying he won’t get it back, but the probability is against it because he didn’t throw that hard before and he hasn’t since.
joba could still be a very good pitcher once he knows where his maximum fastball sits and builds a game around it.
what i wonder about is how the yankees train velocity with joba.
are they just waiting for it to come back or are they actively training it ?
the only thing that i know of that will train a fastball is throwing a fastball as fast as you possibly can.
i’m not sure the yankees have joba doing this on a regular basis. i actually have no idea what they do with their fastball training methods.
if they tell pitchers to work below their maximum effort( say 95% ) that’s not going to increase velocity. i believe pitchers need to train at 100 % to increase velocity.
the red sox have had good results with getting lester’s velocity up. we haven’t seen that with young yankee starters. again i don’t know what the two teams do, but the red sox seem to have better luck with their starters throwing faster as they progress. lester also is throwing faster than when he came up.
i think any attempt for a starter to pace himself by not throwing a maximum fastball is going to take off of his maximum fastball, so if joba was pacing himself at all times when he was starting and never airing it out , it’s no wonder his present fastball is less than it once was.
simply speaking, use it or lose it.
everyone see the Swish commercial w/ buckholtz…kinda funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk-5aYRNLUo
Randy-
As Sherlock Holmes would often say.
That’s very interesting.
But I hope you are wrong about Joba’s velocity returning.
Where has it been determined that Mitre can’t relieve?
SJ, let’s just hope a Jason Hirsch goes down and has a good year because we may need him (hopefully not).
Randy, I mentioned this yesterday. Isn’t it possible that Joba is really the guy who threw low to mid 90′s in college and that is how he will best succeed in the majors? I’m not sure what changes the Yankees made to get him to increase his velocity, but maybe it’s not natural to him and now Joba is falling back to what IS natural. I believe Joba only fell to the Yankees because of an injury history, so he was still considered a very good prospect even throwing 92-94 (or whatever). If that’s the case, maybe Joba should go back to being that pitcher…….On the other hand, if he’s fearful of reinjuring his shoulder, that could be a problem. Isn’t it kind of “dangerous” to try and get a pitcher to throw harder than he’s capable of? Would the Yankees really want to try and get Phil to throw 94-96 consistently if it meant he wouldn’t have such great control?
I probably shouldn’t joke about it but what the heck.
Nothing is sacred, right ?
What has Aceves wife done to his back ?
I thought that was supposed to help.
tampayank
March 31st, 2010 at 10:57 am
everyone see the Swish commercial w/ buckholtz…kinda funny
**********************
I just saw that this morning! Loved it
vinny b – I read the other day, I think from Chad, that Mike Dunn had been sent to minor league camp by the Braves; he was walking a batter per inning, obviously not good for a reliever. That’s been his big problem for a while.
By the way, Joel Sherman wrote a really interesting feature on Posada’s offseason workout regimen. Boy, he works hard. I’m sure it’s the same for many other successful pro athletes, especially as they get on in years. If Jorge continues to defy time, he may well be a serious HOF candidate.
don’t know why Buster Onley gets disrespected on this site.
and then i saw his rating of 2010 lineups:
1) Minnesota
2) Yankees
3) Phillies
4) Tampa Bay
5) Colorado
i know this isn’t important. But whatever
Last night I linked an article about Liriano telling the writers that he won the last spot in the rotation. (even thought the Twins weren’t ready to announce it).
I think he’s going to stay behind for one more MiL start before joining the team (in Anaheim?).
There seems to be some parallels between Liriano & Joba.
But aside from those, Liriano had a chance imo to win some major points for volunteering to fill the late innings void left by Nathan’s TJ surgery. Instead he simply declared that he’s always been a starter and battled for the 5th spot.
If Mo went down, and Joba or Phil was our best internal solutions? I really feel that either of those kids would put their personal wants aside and graciously take on the role asked of them.
When I saw the Dave Matthews Band at Fenway he did Sweet Caroline as the 8th song in the set- that was a long 4 minutes.
*********NEWSFLASH********
Joba and Hughes are very young pitchers learning how to pitch at the major league level. Which by the way is a very difficult thing to do.
They may succeed or they may not.
Can’t anyone just sit and watch their development without breaking down and trying to read something into everything they do despite the fact that we have maybe 5% of the info that actual baseball people in the organization have?
“Where has it been determined that Mitre can’t relieve?”
————————————————–
Betsy told us
oops. That should be take on the role needed of them.
I don’t know whether or not the Twins asked Liriano to do it. Nor do I know if he’d be able to do it. But the article said that he had the arsenal and is apparently back to form.
1) Minnesota
2) Yankees
3) Phillies
4) Tampa Bay
5) Colorado
___
is he assuming tht mauer/morneau/kubel fill all 9 spots in the lineup?
Um, Minnesota has a better lineup than the Yankees? Ok……and SI picked the Yanks to win the division and then lose to the Rays in the ALCS. Huh? Why not just pick the Rays to win the division?
That’s not what I said, Vinny-b, but I’m not going to explain myself to you.
Vinny-b, I also heard him say this morning that TB was better than the Yanks and Boston.
Don’t know how he came to that conclusion. Those ESPN guys just say stuff they know is BS to get attention.
then SI thinks Boston wont make the playoffs?
Someone has actually jumped ship on the red sox?
tampayank -
I hadn’t seen that ESPN promo. Thanks for linking it. Loved it! It was spot on.
Betsy,
That’s easy. Because the Rays have a .667 winning record in postseason series?
Guess Olney forgets too that Morneau is coming off pretty major surgery.
I love how these guys go on and on about the old injury prone Yankees and that Jeter is sure to regress this year, blah blah blah. Then they go and overlook players from other teams who actually have injury issues.
“That’s not what I said, Vinny-b, but I’m not going to explain myself to you”
———————————————–
it’s all good
vinny-b…don’t you know betsy is opinionated and owes no explanations(which is an opinion and an explanation)!
vinny-b (Granderson is my fave NYY position player – no rite of passage necessary)
March 31st, 2010 at 11:14 am
but I’m not going to explain myself to you”
————————
thank God.
I will admit I don’t follow the NL that closely, but does CO really have a better line up than St.Louis w/ Pujols and Holliday?
Randy,
Totally agree with your post as we have discussed this before. That’s why I was a little surprised to see Joba appear to be in “coast mode” the other day when he knew he was only throwing one inning. Now when I say “coast mode” I’m not implying that he wasn’t giving his all, it just doesn’t look like he’s trying to “throw as hard as he can” as you said. Maybe he’s just not at a point mechanically where he can do that right now without fear of injury…I don’t know.
M, lol – true. The Yankees HAVE lost a lot of post-season series. I used to subscribe to SI, but I didn’t need anymore sweatshirts and let my subscription lapse, lol. I don’t miss it much anymore.
I think it’s Colorado’s bench that may give them the edge. They have a lot of good bench bats. I saw something on the MLB network about that.
Buster always goes a little off the beaten path with his picks…he picked Rockies over Yankees in the WS.
I think the Twins should have a very solid lineup but 1-9 on paper its not in the class of the Yanks IMO.
kate,
Neyer had a lot of predications. (didn’t go with his beloved Phillies-they got the WC, Braves the division)
But he picked the Rox for the division. The conscensus seems to be is that the division is going to be even smellier this year. They like what Tracy’s done with the team.
Nick posted about trouble in LA with the Dodgers. It seems as if the off-field problems have infected the clubhouse (not directly).
But get this. Padilla is their opening day starter. Unless Billingsly is injured or there’s some other logical explanation, that should tell you all you need to know about the Dodgers’ chances.
Oh, and Russell Martin’s quad/hammy(?) is behind schedule. He’ll start on the DL, albeit in MiL rehab games.
“Vinny-b, I also heard him say this morning that TB was better than the Yanks and Boston”
——————————————–
greg: maybe he thinks Tampa has better pitching/defense. Anyway, i won’t pretend to understand. Unless the yankees charter jet ends up in the bottom of the ocean, I think he’s nuts
Minny’s old park was a good hitters park. I can’t wait to see how the Twins hit the first two months of this season, playing outside in Minnesota. That just sounds miserable.
Blake-
“I think the Twins should have a very solid lineup but 1-9 on paper its not in the class of the Yanks IMO.”
And their rotation compared to ours is …..
And their BP w/o Nathan is …..
Wish they were our only threat.
Minnesota lost their closer. They won’t better than the Spanks.
Looks like there’s a YES feed for today’s game. That’s good news/bad news.
The good news is that we get to see Phil after Friday’ blackout. The bad news is that we probably have to listen to Kay talk about how Phil should be in the bullpen because he was so good there last season.
Vinny-
” Unless the yankees charter jet ends up in the bottom of the ocean”
Or at the top of a mountain.
The Twins actually have a very good rotation. Especially if the spring Liriano is for real.
all these analysts are going to say how age will catch up to the yankees until it actually does, then they will say, “look i told you so”.
MTU:
in fairness, Buster was only talking about the lineups.
nonetheless, Minnesota at #1 is like OOOkkkkay…
MTU,
Agreed.
“The Twins actually have a very good rotation. Especially if the spring Liriano is for real”
—————————————
greg: then why is Scott Baker their #1 ??
Listening to the so-called scribes opinions is a waste of time. You learn nothing as you do in here. The best policy is to keep to oneself, enjoy the games and live in your own fantasy world, no need to share.
thanks Derek and M
Yeah, I thought the same thing when I saw Padilla as the Dodgers’ opener. There is also a lot of noise that the Rays are in do or die mode, before they lose Crawford and Pena.
I think most people on this blog could come up w/ better predictions
How can Mauer/Morneau/Keebler be better than Alex/Tex/Posada or Alex/Tex/Cano or Alex/Tex/Swisher or…?
Anyway, the espn “expert analysts” predictions will be out in the next few days. We know who won’t be listed!
Vinny-
I understand that but a TEAM is not just a lineup so what sense is there in that ?
Oh, I know it’s Olney.
i never count out the twins until the first round of the playoffs. gardy always has that team overperforming.
M, we’d better get used to it as this is going to be the way it is all season. Whenever Joba comes out of the pen, he’s going to whine about how we’ll never get to see what Joba could have done as a starter…
Tampa is definitely a team to be reckoned with, but I still see the Yankees winning the AL east with Boston getting the wild card.
The Rockies have a very good, young team with some high quality arms in the rotation and pen. They’re my pick to win the NL West as well.
Gonzalez
Fowler
Helten
Tulo
Hawpe
Iannetta
Stewart
Barmes
That’s a dang good 1-8. Plus a bench of S. Smith, Spilborghs, Mora, Olivo with EY Jr waiting to play 2B if Barmes struggles.
Jimenez, Cook, De La Rosa, Hammel, Francis is a good 1-5 rotation. With Street, Morales, Betancourt, Corpas, Buchholz at the back end.
M, we’d better get used to it as this is going to be the way it is all season. Whenever Joba comes out of the pen, he’s going to whine about how we’ll never get to see what Joba could have done as a starter…
————————————————————-
And you would be above that, Betsy?
Ray
I would never count the Twins out either, altho I think Detroit is going to take the central this year.
I would never count the sox out…or my sisters would kill me
Lackey’s AAV as the Over/Under for Beckett’s.
What do you guys think?
m
March 31st, 2010 at 11:24 am
The good news is that we get to see Phil after Friday’ blackout. The bad news is that we probably have to listen to Kay talk about how Phil should be in the bullpen because he was so good there last season.
***************************
LOL
If Beckett signs for a lower AAV than Lackey got, he and his agent are idiots.
upstate kate….I like your sisters!
I agree about the Twins. Even though they trade away people like Santana they still seem to be very competitive most years.
Kate-
“I think most people on this blog could come up w/ better predictions”
That’s so easy.
The Sun will rise tommorrow.
Death and Taxes will always be a part of life.
Flowers will continue to bloom in the spring
If you start a pendulum moving in one direction it will inevitably go in the other.
A toilet will always circle the drain differently in the southern hemisphere.
And so on ….
How’d I do ?
70m for 4, Beckett should jump all over that.
Hey Ray
How are you doing?
“Lackey’s AAV as the Over/Under for Beckett’s.
What do you guys think?”
———————————————–
don’t know
I just hope Beckett walks. And the Redsox invest another $100 million, in a japanese pitcher
randy,
From everything I’ve read, Joba threw at the same velocity as a college pitcher, in 2007 and in 2008 until he got injured.
I see no reason why he can’t do so again.
“Lackey’s AAV as the Over/Under for Beckett’s.”
Over. Lackey’s at what, $16.5M? I’d guess Beckett ends up at 4 and $68M to $70M. Around a million more than Lackey.
MTU
those are all good predictions
what is your weather like?
Betsy – Hughes rules (Pleading the Fifth)
March 31st, 2010 at 11:38 am
Hey Ray
How are you doing?
——————————————————
Hi Betsy. I am well. Looking forward to the start of the season! I hope you are doing well, making sure Phil gets all the support he deserves!
m-
Having two starters who are prone to injury.
Priceless.
Good (almost) afternoon all!!!
I don’t post very frequently but I’m an avid reader of the comments section. I just wanted to say this: In 4 days we are about to embark on yet another season of baseball. I look forward to reading everyone’s thoughts, opinions, and rants (however irrational they may be) of all of the people in this little community that’s developed. I look forward to spending my summer with you folks, lets hope this season works out as well for us as last year!! LET’S GO YANKEES!!!
Ray, I’m doing well, thanks. I hope you are doing the same for Clay, lol.
Upstate Kate-
I live in St. Louis and the Cardinals lineup is not very deep. Yes Pujols and Holliday form one of the bet 3-4 combos in baseball but they don’t have much outside of that. They are expecting Ludwick to fill the 5 hole and outside of him and Rasmus they don’t have much in terms of pop. Colorado’s lineup is deeper and more complete with Fowler, Tulo, Helton, etc.
“and SI picked the Yanks to win the division and then lose to the Rays in the ALCS. Huh? Why not just pick the Rays to win the division?”
Because they think the Yankees are better.
The best team will almost never be topped over 162 games, but is frequently beaten in a best of 7.
I just hope Beckett walks. And the Redsox invest another $100 million, in a japanese pitcher
___
Boston has a starting rotation that i would question whether they can stay healthy.
Beckett usually ends up on the DL once a year
Dice-K is looking like their version of Wang (as it is now)
Lackey has never pitched 200 in.
Wakefield has a horrible back issue.
Buchholz, while not injury prone yet, cannot face Baltimore and Toronto ALL THE TIME. He has to face good teams too.
Twins with the best lineup? Not so sure about that..
Mauer C
Morneau 1B
Hudson 2B
Hardy SS
Punto 3B
Cuddyer RF
Span CF
Kubel LF
Thome DH
That lineup is the best offensive lineup they could field but they’d be giving away a lot of outfield defense to do so. But for the sake of argument lets say that’s their lineup.
I’d give them advantage at catcher, and LF. Push at 1B and RF. Everywhere else, the Yankees have a very large advantage offensively.
Kate-
“what is your weather like?”
It’s been great lately. Aound 65-70 mostly sunny.
Next couple of days cloudy with 40-50 percent chance of rain.
Going forward. Fantastic.
Remember, I warned you about the snowpack. about 200 % of normal.
I’ll send you my Phone # as your date approaches.
“Lackey has never pitched 200 in.”
What? That’s not true.
“I think most people on this blog could come up w/ better predictions
”
If that were the case, the prediction would look something like this:
AL East Yankees
AL Central/West, NL East/Central/West: Yankees (they will simply submit to the Yankees awesomeness)
AL/NL Wildcard: Yankees (see above)
ALDS: Yankees over the Yankees
NLDS: Yankees over the Yankees
ALCS: Yankees over the Yankees
NLCS: Yankees over the Yankees
World Series: Yankees over the Yankees
AL MVP: Alex Rodriquez
AL Cy Young: Phil Hughes
AL Rookie of the Year: Mark Melancon
AL Manager of the Year: Joe Girardi
“Lackey has never pitched 200 in.”
2003 thru 2007 say hi.
m
Kay said Kenny and Tino were doing the game today. He may have the day off.
Also heard YES will be broadcasting Saturdays Stars/Futures game which I didn’t originally see on the schedule.
Patrick is correct.
Lackey pitched over 200 innings in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
It is fine to question Boston’s rotation, but at least keep the facts straight.
“I’d give them advantage at catcher, and LF. Push at 1B and RF. Everywhere else, the Yankees have a very large advantage offensively”
They don’t have a large advantage in center. Maybe an advantage, but a very small one.
The Twins don’t have an advantage in center. Granderson is a more productive offensive player than Span. Don’t forget, we are only discussing offense here.
thanks rodg12 and Tyler for the info on the Rox, I will pay closer attention once the season begins.
stuckey
that was priceless
sounds good MTU
ok i was wrong about lackey, I meant the last two years. sorry about that, i got too into writing about the injuries.
forgive me fellow LHYBers.
Patrick is correct.
Lackey pitched over 200 innings in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
It is fine to question Boston’s rotation, but at least keep the facts straight.
___
last two years sorry again
Stuckey,
.
You have the Yankees losing a lot of games there. That can’t be right
tex’s friend
March 31st, 2010 at 11:51 am
ok i was wrong about lackey, I meant the last two years. sorry about that, i got too into writing about the injuries.
forgive me fellow LHYBers.
—————————————————–
Your punishment tex’s friend………you must have Sweet Caroline as the number one song on your ipod!!
Patrick:
and for Buster to make that prediction, it means he’s counting on big things from Thome and Orlando Hudson. Confusing…
“The Twins don’t have an advantage in center. Granderson is a more productive offensive player than Span. Don’t forget, we are only discussing offense here.”
Wouldn’t give the Twins the advantage, but the Yankees advantage is marginal at most.
Watch Denard Span the globe to catch those fly balls !
Don’t get caught up in predictions. The writers need to write something. If they write the Yankees will win easily with no problems, it’s boring.
Don’t know if this has already been discussed but RLYB has a compilation of the standings projections from 5 statistical models (CHONE, Marcel, Oliver, PECOTA and CAIRO). The average projections for the Yanks, Red Sox and Rays are:
Yankees 95.5 Wins
Red Sox 92.5 Wins
Rays 90.5 Wins
The Yank win projections run from a high of 98.7 (Oliver) to a low of 90.4 (PECOTA), the Sox from a high of 94.3 (Oliver) to a low of 89.1 (Marcel), the Rays from a high of 92.0 (Oliver) to a low of 87.2 (CHONE).
My seat of the pants guess is that the Yanks will be in a dogfight this year, that the Sox offense will be better than people think, that the Rays will bounce back from an off year and that the final result will depend on how healthy Posada and the Yank veterans stay all year.
Frank,
I disagree that the difference is marginal. Granderson is a much more productive offensive player in my opinion. Even if you say the two CF’s are equal, the Yankees still have a large offensive advantage.
” Isn’t it kind of “dangerous” to try and get a pitcher to throw harder than he’s capable of? ”
betsy-
there are different schools of thought on this. personally i think it’s pretty obvious that if a pitcher doesn’t throw at 100% at least sometimes that he won’t reach his maximum velocity.
will this hurt his arm ? i don’t think so because i think throwing is a natural activity and that trying to throw as fast as you can is more a neuroscience thing than a muscle thing. throwing as fast as you can doesn’t necessarily mean pushing one particular muscle to 100% . it means coordinating probably hundreds of muscles firing in a sequential order that results in maximum velocity.
what’s difficult in training maximum velocity is focusing that hard to train the brain to coordinate the sequential firing. it’s mentally draining and exhausting. yes there’s some intense physical effort, but mentally your brian is having to make neuron connections that it’s not used to doing.
the idea is that more neuron network connections are built with each maximum workout. that’s what creates the increased velocity. you have to TRY to develop the brain connections to get the synchronized sequential muscle firings in exactly the right order.
something as simple as how a foot is placed or how relaxed a particular muscle is will affect velocity.
throwing speed is a result of a complex chain of events where counterintuitively relaxation of muscles at the right time is as important as firing muscles.
i can’t prove any of this, but i think it’s true. twenty years from now when sports neuroscience is more advanced i think it will back up this idea that velocity is very much a brain thing.
for a lay person, i still think use it or lose it sums it up.
We’ll agree to disagree on the Span/Granderson comparison, Patrick. We’ll 100% agree on the Yankees having a far superior offense to the Twins.
“Don’t get caught up in predictions. The writers need to write something. If they write the Yankees will win easily with no problems, it’s boring”
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G Love: you’re right. The idea is to bring attention to themself and their second-rate sports network. It is funny, cuz have not tuned into ESPN (on tv) in months
no more Stuart Scott and other assorted ESPN clowns and propoganda
thank you NFL Network and MLB Network
Ray
would that be Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline, or drunken Sox fans singing it?
is Joe Girardi the nicest person in baseball? I vote yes
what a wonderful transition it’s been from a former good manager in Joe Torre, to another Joe
Betsy, if Hughes was in the pen, you would be constantly whining about how the Yankees were stunting his growth.
From Clemens twitter…im guessing this is in response to the McCready claims? lol
rogerclemens and BTW…I’ve taking great care of my body and to this date and time all the pipes on this body are still working great. Thx for asking..
“i can’t prove any of this, but i think it’s true. twenty years from now when sports neuroscience is more advanced i think it will back up this idea that velocity is very much a brain thing.”
Actually, you can somewhat prove it now. They have a device for world class sprinters (I believe that hook them up to a car or motor vehicle of some kind) in which runners are “pulled” to run fraction of mph’s faster than they are physically capable of alone, but still does not alter their natural running style.
The result is the body “remembers” how to go that fast (the brain is forced to write neural pathways that allow for the increased speed at the natural gate), and after a certain amount of training, the otherwise unreachable speed can be reached without the pulling device.
This who is playing CF is funny in regards to Girardi’s comments throughout the spring. Granderson has played CF most of the time this spring. Girardi always says a decision hasn’t been made and he couldn’t even remember who was scheduled to play CF that particular day. But when Grandy and Gardy are both playing, Grandy is in CF. And we’re supposed to believe a decision hasn’t been made. Hilarious.
Randy, that’s very interesting, but do we know what the Sox are doing with Lester (or did do)? Maybe he just added velocity because it came naturally to him.
Joba seems like a very complex case, but with Phil we probably need to wait on him. He doesn’t usually hit his best velocity until the worst of the early season weather is over. Last year as a starter, he was mostly 92-94, but I think he probably hit 95 a few times. I have a feeling the Yankees arent’t teaching their kids to push for their best, but then I’m not sure other teams are doing that either.
“But when Grandy and Gardy are both playing, Grandy is in CF. And we’re supposed to believe a decision hasn’t been made. Hilarious”
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it’s New York. The team has 9 beat writers, and 8 different print media. Teams have ways of doing things. If you think you can do a better job, step up
stuckey -
I saw a special on MLB Network, I believe – could have been ESPN, that detailed Carl Crawford’s off season workout. He and his trainer employed the ‘pull’ technique you talked about. Basically, the trainer set up a pulley system around a pole where he connected a band to Crawford and Crawford sprinted toward the pole while the trainer ran away from it, pulling Crawford faster than he could go by himself.
So basically Joba needs to take the “Ricky Bobby” approach to pitching and go out there with one thought ” I wanna throw fast”.
rodg, thanks for the clarification. I don’t even recall where I heard about this, just remember being fascinated by the science of it. I wasn’t sure exactly what method they used to do this.
blake
March 31st, 2010 at 12:26 pm
So basically Joba needs to take the “Ricky Bobby” approach to pitching and go out there with one thought ” I wanna throw fast”.
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Rodg12-
“I saw a special on MLB Network, I believe – could have been ESPN, that detailed Carl Crawford’s off season workout. He and his trainer employed the ‘pull’ technique you talked about. Basically, the trainer set up a pulley system around a pole where he connected a band to Crawford and Crawford sprinted toward the pole while the trainer ran away from it, pulling Crawford faster than he could go by himself”
I saw it too. And any doubts about how serious a ballplayer CC is were put to rest by that special.
i don’t see my posts
pat,
Thanks for that. Oddly enough, I’m a little disappointed.
If you ever run out of tp guys, use those prospect lists. Great post about ‘where were your Yankees [ranked]?’.
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/.....cts-26014/
Crawford is known for his work ethic..probably one of the reasons the Yanks are rumored to like him so much.
“The result is the body “remembers” how to go that fast (the brain is forced to write neural pathways that allow for the increased speed at the natural gate), and after a certain amount of training, the otherwise unreachable speed can be reached without the pulling device.”
as painful as it is to agree with stuckey , he’s absolutely right.
this method has been used for quite a while( maybe a decade or so ) with sprinters.
while he appears to be doing a great job in his conditioning position, i don’t think dana cavalea understands how velocity, either hitting or throwing is created. i believe this from articles he had on the web before the yankees had him take down his website.
he seems to think training the core is what will develop speed with a lot of slow reps that has nothing to do with the ideas the olympic sprinters use with the car apparatus.
i don’t know how much cavalea and eiland coordinate what joba does to develop velocity, but from reading cavalea before, i think his approach will develop well conditioned but slow athletes who won’t break down.
that may be a little extreme, but you get the idea.
the yankees should have a velocity/speed coach with advanced training credentials who works with cavalea , eiland , and long.
speed training is something different than just training the core.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
david ortiz putting on posada’s yankee hat
igotid88,
Open your eyes. Just kidding. We went through that yesterday.
Probably something to do with the new format they’re going to launch. When is that happening btw?
“Crawford is known for his work ethic..probably one of the reasons the Yanks are rumored to like him so much”
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Carl Crawford + LF
Curtis Granderson + CF
Nick Swisher + RF
= sounds good to me
Blake-
“Crawford is known for his work ethic..probably one of the reasons the Yanks are rumored to like him so much.”
The drills he was doing were to increase speed and agility.
Football type drills.
From what I could see there is nothing wrong with his legs at the present time.
Are we witnessing the start of a beautiful friendship (randy/stuckey)?
Actually, you can somewhat prove it now. They have a device for world class sprinters (I believe that hook them up to a car or motor vehicle of some kind) in which runners are “pulled” to run fraction of mph’s faster than they are physically capable of alone, but still does not alter their natural running style.
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I saw that on Seinfeld 15 years ago.
Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!
Blake-
Love can be born out of hate, and hate out of Love.
Somehow I doubt that’s what going on in this case though.
vinny-b (Granderson is my fave NYY position player – no rite of passage necessary)
March 31st, 2010 at 12:21 pm
“But when Grandy and Gardy are both playing, Grandy is in CF. And we’re supposed to believe a decision hasn’t been made. Hilarious”
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it’s New York. The team has 9 beat writers, and 8 different print media. Teams have ways of doing things. If you think you can do a better job, step up
What the heck are you talking about? I was calling out Girardi for not just naming Granderson the starting CF than playing all these games.
The filter could be eating the posts…
Watch out for Crawford on the base paths. His trainer had him change his take off position. I think he raised his arm before taking off. He supposedly took out the arm motion and going straight to his sprint to shave a few precious milliseconds.
SJ,
Thanks for more info about Joba and Hughes coming up. That is interesting how much weight he lost in 2 years and apparently how hard he worked on his coditioning/body. For a guy with his body type losing that much weight is impressive. Looking at some pics for 2007 you can see he has some clearly defined muscles in his forearm. Now, I am not so sure about that.
I would think if he was still on such a strict and intense regime we would hear about it. Like you said, young players have their ups and downs. Hughes seems to be on the up side right now. Hopefully Joba gets there as well.
Also, I apologize if you took me pasting your quotes from 2007 the wrong way. I was just looking for some reliable info from that time.
To speak to a point made earlier about Posada. I’m bullish on the prospects of Jeter AND Posada defying the known laws of age at their positions, of the simple fact I’m not sure there is reliable CONTEMPORARY data to measure against.
I don’t think it’s any secret we are in the different age when it comes to the science of anti-aging, but in nutrition, lawful supplements and off-season (and in-season training/rehabbing/conditioning).
The “problem” with measuring Posada against history and in the last 20 years, there has been few catchers that were offensively (and defensively) worthy of pushing their careers that far.
There’s Piazza, but defense became a major liability for him and he was HUGE, and though I’m not one to cast groundless accusations, for a man his size in the special era he played in, it’s hard not to speculate what role PED’s could have played in his performance.
Ivan Rodriquez I think is more obvious in that regard.
There has just been so few catchers that anyone would even consider to want prolong their careers farther than the average curve, I think it’s hard to draw conclusion about the existing sample data.
And has been well documented, Posada came to catching relatively late, and I also wonder if switch-hitting could play a small role in his cheating the age curve.
While he predominantly bats lefty of course, I do wonder if just the general exercise of working out both sides of the body as a batter could have a minor effect in curbing wear and tear of one particular set of muscles.
Again, offensive, switch-hitting catchers there is little precedent to compare “norms” to.
A little bit of the same for Jeter. There isn’t a lot of sample size to compare him to, because there historically there have been few shortstops worthy of TRYING to hang around at the position into the upper 30s.
Even the contemporary ones are tough comparisons. Larkin always had injury problems. which Jeter has avoided.
As I say, I know the numbers don’t bode well for 35+ shortstops and 38+ catchers, but I have to imagine one of the reasons is there have been few players in the history of the game where the team even bothered to try to push the envelope on players of that age.
Bad Scooter
March 31st, 2010 at 12:17 pm
This who is playing CF is funny in regards to Girardi’s comments throughout the spring. Granderson has played CF most of the time this spring. Girardi always says a decision hasn’t been made and he couldn’t even remember who was scheduled to play CF that particular day. But when Grandy and Gardy are both playing, Grandy is in CF. And we’re supposed to believe a decision hasn’t been made. Hilarious.
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I’m beginning to think there’s an understory to the hyperbole from the Yankees re Gardner.
It may be that at his price, they are just keeping their fingers crossed that he will somehow raise his skill level to make his speed relevant, and that he is privately on a short leash – and that the ultra-confident talk about him is some sort of ploy to raise whatever little market value he has.
Of course, they’d much rather pay their every day LF 400K (or whatever he makes) than their pinch runner/late defense OF, so it could be just trying to buoy the player’s confidence – while hoping Long can really remake him – and hope they can get away with him on an ever day basis.
The zeal on both his defense (especially as a CF) and ability to steal 60-70 bases (which assumes he can actually get on base) is otherwise out of order.
m-
“Watch out for Crawford on the base paths. His trainer had him change his take off position. I think he raised his arm before taking off. He supposedly took out the arm motion and going straight to his sprint to shave a few precious milliseconds.”
The people who really need to watch out are Varitek and Martinez.
Didn’t CC steal 6 bags off them in one game last year ?
This year he’s going for 7.
What a hoot.
Patrick, of you’re out there:
******LOST SPOILERS *******
“My point about the Alpert flashbacks was that they take place before 1977 and therefore his timeline hasn’t been changed as of the 1800’s ”
I don’t think the flash sideways stuff is relevant to the Alpert episode from last week. The backstory they showed for him was his original timeline backstory — not sideways reality. Last week was a break from the sideways narrative device.
And I agree that 1977 is where the divergence starts, but events BEFORE 1977 would also be affected because the Losties influenced events on the island before 1977.
**** END LOST GEEK TALK *****
Game thread up
Tex is a crybaby. Suck it up and play ball.
Ivan Rodriquez I think is more obvious in that regard.
_____________________________
if you’re going cast that allegation against Pudge because he played in that timeframe, you’d have cast against Posada as well. No matter how intuitive it seems, it’s just dumb to make that leap.
:boob:
:fool:
:idiot: