Diamondbacks Bullpen

[Robert S.]

It sure seems to be the case that the organization has bungled the Webb situation:

1. Slow to respond to initial arm trouble - "It went away? Fuck precaution. Make your next start."

2. Made the wrong decision/gamble when they finally did act - "It came back? Oh, and mechanics were a mess. Okay, we'll skip one whole start."

3. Failed to correct previous failures - "Mechanics still a problem after time off? We'll give you another start."

4. No control again and velocity's down - "Better leave him in to hit the pre-determined number of pitches."

Unless, of course, anyone believes that Webb's mechanics have been sparkling until he sets foot on the mound for the game, there is a serious problem with the FO & coaches. While I'm curious how much is incompetence/stupidity and how much of this is Fake Contention™, the real question is what to do now? Do you risk Webb's arm on the chance that he'll be okay next time? Does anyone trust these jokers to recognize if he's still unable to pitch like himself, or even act on it if they do?

For a team that's scared to death of giving rookie position players a chance no matter their track record, they are drunken degenerate gamblers with pitcher arms.

[levski]

the sky is falling, the sky is falling...

[Robert S.]

Drivel, drivel . . .

[levski]

the most important thing after today is how webb feels. not what the results were. not how he looked on the mound. it's how his elbow feels tomorrow.

the snakes sucked a bag of hairy balls at the plate today. i haven't seen such impotence in a four hour span since raffy palmeiro ran out of blue pills...

[Robert S.]

Webb's looked bad and performed bad in four consecutive starts now. His peripherals are out of whack. We know that he's had elbow pain dating back at least a month. If the organization is only concerned about how their pitcher feels, they should give Russ a call . . .

ETA: I have serious doubts about the organizational pitching culture, too.

[McCray]

lev, how he looked on the mound today IS important. i'd kill right now to find out if he was throwing open through the elbow (that's bad mechanics and will catch up to him, soon) vs if he was just really inconsistent in his landing spot (that's more rustiness, and easier to correct).

fucking spent the whole fucking day working on my goddamn truck, though, so i missed it.

[levski]

mccray, that's why you should buy a honda civic

i believe the dbacks are smart enough to shut webb down if the doctors think webb needs to be shut down. a lot of pitchers go through a dead arm period, especially in august.

your conspiracy theories are interesting, robert, but i'm not planning on subscribing to your newsletter just yet.

[Robert S.]

A lot of pitchers take a year off after they pitch through elbow pain.

[levski]

so let's exhaust all generalizations about pitchers then and wait to see how webb feels tomorrow and how he looks next week, if he starts.

get that truck fixed, mccray

[Robert S.]

How long does the team get the benefit of the doubt, then?

This is Webb's fourth season in the majors. He's been as healthy/durable as they come until now. This is the first time I've heard of elbow trouble (I forget why he hit the DL in '03). What specific reasons do I have to trust the organization on this?

[therealnod]

From Jose Valverde's player comment in BP 2006:

[foulpole]

I didn't see the game today but just saw the highlights on Baseball Tonight.

It seemed that the 3 or 4 Rocky hits they showed all of the pitches were up in the zone. Of course they were the highlights so one would expect many of them to be bad pitches.

How did Webby look today??? Velocity, placement, movement etc.

Thanks

[Robert S.]

Here's a piece from the U.S.S. Mariner folks. Plenty of discussion there from posters as well.

[Catharsis]

From the AP Recap:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=AjJx4E5FMrbq6SuT3PpHC0E5nYcB?gid=260817127

[EvilJuan]

IIRC, Webb got off to a shaky start; but after a few innings, he seemed to get into a groove, and had some good innings. That sounds very much like what Melvin said: There were periods where he was throwing the ball very well.

I think the coaching staff and FO know that without Webb, we have no pitching; and that they know they must be careful and protect his arm for the long run. I also think Webb, himself, is smart enough to know that, if he's got problems with his arm, he needs to do something about it -- including saying to Melvin and Byrnes, "Put me on the DL." After all, he's not Barbaro...
_________________
Is It Next Season Yet?

[TAP]

"He just didn't feel real good from the first," catcher Johnny Estrada said. "His good sinker didn't really show up until the third inning. His velocity is fine. He missed two weeks. I think he just needs to get stretched out and get his confidence back.

"I'm not concerned at all as long as he does not have pain and is feeling strong. He's just struggling with his location."

[tmar]

That's good news. As long as he feels OK we should run him out there to work on whatever he has to in order to get back in form. If he's feeling pain, we shut him down.

[charlie]

Also, it isn't as if lack of command is a new thing with Webb, either. This was the factor behind all those walks earlier in his career. Seems to me that Webb is one of those pitchers who has to have his mechanics down 100% in order to be consistantly effective with command. His ball moves so much that command has to be more difficult for him than for a pitcher who depends mostly on a wicked fastball, for instance. And it is just as fatal for him to leave the pitches up as it is for anybody else despite all the sink he has on the ball.

If he ain't hurt, don't worry about it. He'll get it back sooner or later, IMO.
_________________
formerly ROF

[Robert S.]

The command issue was clearly a one-year outlier, though.

If Webb's fine in his next start or two, it will go a long way to establishing credibility in this area. Right now, the organization doesn't have that as far as I'm concerned. I've seen plenty of pitchers skip a start before - Webb's not been himself for a month.

[levski]

drivel drivel

news and notes

[Robert S.]

I can't even tell you how much I hope it's true.

[dirtygary]

This is better long-term, but it doesn't matter how he feels if he's getting shelled.
_________________
The pen is mightier than the sword, if that pen is shot out of a gun