Cincy Reds vs. Tampa Rays...Just Out of Curiosity.

Busting Dusty Baker's balls is a hobby of mine, and a bit of a passion. And one of the greatest ways of going about that, is by referencing pitch counts, specifically with young pitchers.

Baker's in Cincy with Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto... and when I checked earlier this year, he was running up their pitch counts much the way he did with Mark Prior and Kerry Wood in Chicago.

For a point of comparison, I'm going to use the Tampa Bay Rays. Why? Because by my own perception, they seem to be relatively well-managed, and frankly, they don't get enough press.

I'm literally researching this as I write the article, so your guess is as good as mine regarding what this will show, if anything.

Cincy Reds

Edinson Volquez: 26 Starts, 157 2/3 IP, 15-5 W/L, 2.80 ERA, 1.313 WHIP
100+ pitches - 17 times.
110+ pitches - 9 times.
Season High - 118 on May 7th

Johnny Cueto: 27 Starts, 155 IP, 8-12 W/L, 4.65 ERA, 1.361 WHIP
100+ pitches - 12 times.
110+ pitches - 7 times.
Season High(s) - 120 on July 22nd, 119 on May 27th

Tampa Bay Rays

Scott Kazmir: 21 Starts, 121 IP, 9-6 W/L, 3.27 ERA, 1.231 WHIP
100+ pitches - 13 times.
110+ pitches - 5 times. Season High - 117 on June 11th.

Andy Sonnanstine: 26 Starts, 158 2/3 IP, 13-6 W/L, 4.42 ERA, 1.317 WHIP
100+ pitches - 7 times.
110+ pitches - 0 times.
Season High - 106 on April 19th.

James Shields: 27 Starts, 177 2/3 IP, 11-8 W/L, 3.75 ERA, 1.171 WHIP
100+ pitches - 14 times.
110+ pitches - 1 time.
Season High - 111 on August 3rd.

I could keep going with Edwin Jackson and Matt Garza, but I won't, so here are my findings.

What we can see is that Shields, Sonnanstine and Jackson (trust me here) have been held very tightly to pitch counts, very rarely getting very far over 100. Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir have been given slightly longer leashes, which means that despite their ages, and Kazmir's history of injury, there must be some trust and communication going on here.

On the other side, we have the Reds, with Dusty at the helm. He's got the future of that franchise routinely going over 100 pitches, and often pushing well into the 110-120 range. Both pitchers are in the process of setting career highs for innings pitched by what must be a pretty massive increase, and it appears that Dusty's taking very few precautions... despite the fact that his team is completely and utterly out of contention.

Oddly enough, the Rays appear to be taking every precaution, despite the fact that they're in first place, and have been battling the Red Sox for most of the season.

So yeah, props to Joe Maddon (didn't he just have a kid with Nicole Ritchie? Shit, now I'm confused) for proving that it is possible to win, and protect the future of your ball club by not destroying the arms of pitchers in their early 20's. Props to Andrew Friedman for the great job he's done assembling the team, and no-doubt, playing a role in this.

And to Reds fans, feel free to flame this post, but don't blame me when Volquez and Cueto are taking the plane trip down to Birmingham, AL to see Dr. James Andrews.

Maybe Johnny and Edinson will get smart and file restraining orders against Dusty while there's still time.

Somehow, This Must Be Dusty's Fault...

What am i talking about?  This.

Yup, the Cincinnati Reds just gave away Adam Dunn for a single-A pitcher and two players to be named later.

Dumping Griffey's salary for some guys who might be able to contribute?  Sure, no problem.  Handing off a 28-year old guy who's hit 46, 40, 40 and 40 homers the last 4 years, and has 32 already this season for nobody specific?  That's absolutely inexcusable, especially when there were at least 4 GMs who would have severed a testicle to get this guy less than a month ago.

The Mets and Yankees, the Red Sox, the D-Backs, the Dodgers, the Marlins and probably a few more that I'm entirely too lazy to think of... oh... the Astros too, were in the market for a power-hitting outfielder.

The Yanks came away with Nady.  The Sox and Dodgers pulled the Manny/Bay deal.  The D-Backs robbed Dunn today.  The Marlins and Astros still have nobody.  You're honestly going to try to tell me that the Reds couldn't get something majors-ready for this guy?  That the Mets wouldn't have given up Mike Pelfrey and a minor leaguer for Dunn and signed him to an extension?

In the long run, Adam Dunn isn't a "Dusty Baker" kind of guy.  He's not going to bunt down runners.  He's not going to hit-and-run or swipe bags.  And despite being dirty, he's not gritty or gutty.  There's nothing Ecksteinian about him.

Here's what Adam Dunn does.

1)  He gets on base more than about 80% of major league baseball players.

2)  He hits 40 home runs every year.

3)  He's OPS'd .900 for his career.

4)  He's pretty durable, having played in 747 of his teams last 767 games since 2004.

And all the Reds get for dealing that away is... a guy in the low minors... and two dudes who's moms didn't even like them enough to give them names.  Yeah.  I'm not happy.

Dave Fleming = Mark Prior?

Thanks to USS Mariner for this cool information that I would never have thought to look for myself.

For those of you who don't know who Dave Fleming was, he went 17-10 for the Mariners (basically as a rookie) in 1992, at age 22. He flamed out of the game of baseball with a rotator cuff tear after the 1995 season. The likely culprit? Overuse.

100 or less: 11 starts
101-109 pitches: 5 starts
110-121 pitches: 9 starts (this is where we start getting into the harmful)
122-132 pitches: 6 starts
133 pitches or more: 5 starts

And here's a comparison to Mark Prior, also at age 22, for the Cubs in 2003. He went 18-6 that year.

100 or less: 5 starts
101-109 pitches: 6 starts
110-121 pitches: 10 starts (this is where we start getting into the harmful)
122-132 pitches: 8 starts
133 pitches or more: 1 starts

This is what I mean when I say that the guys who show promise, but flame out after one good year because they're overused and get hurt... are forgotten by history. Nobody remembers Dave Fleming winning 17 as a rookie.

And 10 or 15 years from now, nobody will remember Mark Prior either.

This concludes installment # 729 of "Why MLB Should Take Cueto, Bailey and Volquez Away From Dusty Baker." Thank you.

Jimmy Hoffa was the Junior Griffey of Unionized Labor!

Dusty Baker gives the strangest fucking compliments in the history of the game of baseball. I thought it was odd when the guys up in Toronto were talking about what a couple of "dirtbags" David Eckstein and Scott Rolen were.

And I thought Dusty Baker had outdone himself when he talked about how Edwin Encarnacion "bleeds internally big-time."

Well, Dusty's added to his greatest hits collection of crazy with this one!

"Junior has given a lot to this game and this city," Baker said. "You go look at his body and his injury list, and he's left a lot of bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments out on that field. You dig up that field, and there's a lot of Junior bones in it."

Centerfield at the Great American Ballpark is an indian burial ground. And Junior Griffey is so broken down that body parts are literally falling off of him. I'm really not sure how either of these things amount to a compliment.

Apparently in the Dusty Baker book of baseball, things like hemorrhaging and losing limbs are signs of greatness. Here's a suggestion for Dusty's next comment along these lines:

"Man, that Mark Prior. I love him because he really tears his ulnar collateral ligament out there! And if you look out there under the rubber on that mound, you can find pieces of Kerry Wood's labrum! What a couple of ballplayers!!"

Mark Prior Should Sue Dusty Baker...

For pain and suffering, and for lost wages. Yes, bashing Dusty Baker has become something of a habit and a fetish for me... but I'm going to do it again and I'm not sorry.

Mark Prior made 30 starts in 2003, his first full year as a pro.

In those 30 starts, he went over 100 pitches 26 times.
He went over 110 pitches 19 times.
He went over 120 pitches 8 times.
And he went over 130 pitches 3 times.

And that's just in the regular season. Did I mention that he was 22? Did I mention that he's going for another surgery and one of the most promising careers of the last 20 years is basically over?

Did I also mention that in 2005, after Prior spent 2004 banged up and hurt... Baker allowed him to throw 115+ pitches 9 times with a high of 131?

How about the fact that in 2003, already injury-proned Kerry Wood broke 120 pitches in 13 starts and finished the season with 6 straight starts of 114 or more?

Would you believe me if I told you that Wood's highest pitch count in 2003 was 141?

Now Baker's in Cincinnati.

Already, Johnny Cueto (22 years old) has gone 108, 114 and 119 this year.
Edinson Volquez (24) went 112, 118, 110 and 111.
And Homer Bailey's coming up for his first start.

Here's some info on how a couple of other teams handle their prized, young pitchers.

High Pitch Counts for Phil Hughes (Yankees): 106, 102, 99
High Pitch Counts for Clay Buchholz (Red Sox): 115 (no hitter), 113, 103, 98

Point here is... find me another team, ANY TEAM, ANY MANAGER, that consistently abuses his pitchers the way Dusty Baker does... I beg you to. I implore you from the depths of my soul.

I think Mark Prior should press charges against Dusty Baker. I think Dusty Baker should be brought up on Murder charges... for killing Prior's career.

Dusty Baker Suspended For Stupidity?

Before our very eyes, a revolutionary series of events is unfolding people!  Major League Baseball has begun suspending managers for making complete retarded in-game decisions!!

Dusty Baker was suspended for two games!  No doubt this is for his decision to make Adam Dunn sacrifice bunt late in a game a few days ago!

For those of you who aren't aware of this situation, it's the second time this season that Dusty's told a power hitter to bunt in a late-game situation.  And it's the second time that the power hitter has failed to get a bunt down, and instead hit a walk-off home run with 2 strikes.

The first time, Edwin Encarnacion did it about 6 seconds after Jeff Brantley told the world how 'un-clutch' Encarnacion was, and suggested pinch hitting for him in late-and-close situations.

I haven't actually READ this article about Baker's suspension.  He probably got suspended for something stupid like bumping and ump... but I'm holding out hope that MLB is punishing him for doing the baseball-equivalent of soliciting a tranny hooking and thinking that 'she' is actually a woman.

Just for the sake of background on this situation, Adam Dunn has hit 250 career homers (and averages 40 a season) and has a grand total of 2 career sac hits.

Encarnacion has 48 homers, developing power and a total of zero career sacs.

My deepest sympathies go out to everybody who's team has ever been coached by Dusty Baker.  I cannot imagine how you have suffered.