March 2009
Versatility? I’m confused.
What a golden opportunity for someone to pick up one of the premier players in baseball – not just hitter, but player. The fact is here’s a guy who broke into the big leagues as a
shortstop, almost won the triple crown as a third baseman, moved to the
outfield, and can play first base. 
He can steal bags, hit with power,
drive guys in and catch the ball: So when the Tigers say they released him to provide the team with more versatility, I’m confused. I think it’s a proven fact through the years the impact that Gary Sheffield can have on a team – he’s going to play with fire, he’s going to push guys that he plays with and he’s always been on winning clubs and been about winning. So I think it’s a great opportunity for someone to pick up a player like Gary Sheffield.
There’s two things that are real interesting here. #1) He struggled all last year with the shoulder surgery but, if you watched him in spring training, has come back healthy. The way he has been swinging the bat, you see the force, you see the Sheffield bat waggle – that’s a clear indication that his shoulder is healthy. #2) And he can still play the outfield if you need him out there, he’s a good enough athlete. Or you can even put him at first because he’s a proven defender.
He’s going to be a difference maker for a club that’s interested in winning.
The kind of thing that makes the game so interesting
Great game, exciting! Great catch from Beltran, big home runs from Delgado, 
Rios, Youkilis – it was back and forth, everything you can ask. Some solid pitching performances – we saw JJ Putz put away Delgado and Beltran with nasty splits – so the game had everything. But at the end of the day, for me, the most important sequence of the night was in the ninth inning with runners at first and second, no outs and Derek Jeter comes to the plate. You’re wondering, “What is Davey Johnson gonna do?” Jeter had struck out in his last at-bat, but obviously he has a history in big moments. So do you let him swing or do you ask him to bunt to move the runners over? He’s one of the best bunters in baseball. I thought it was interesting because what’s going through the managers mind is “I got a guy at the plate who is not going to hit into a double play” – you’re hoping he’s not unless he hits a bullet right at someone – so that’s why he lets him swing. He hit a rocket to right field which moved Victorino to third and Roberts stayed at first. I think if it wasn’t the combination of speed on base in Victorino and Roberts, you may have seen Jeter bunting. But with those base runners, if he strikes out those two guys can steal bases. If he bunts them over, you’ve got your hottest hitters coming up and they may pitch around the next guy to set up a double play. 
Those are the things that Davey factored through his mind. The way it worked out, Jeter ends up flying out and it left first and third and Roberts was able to steal second. That’s the kind of thing that makes the game so interesting.
What did I think? What’s my strategy? I thought that with Rollins, Youkilis, David Wright coming up that Jeter bunts. But, as it turned out, he didn’t and it worked out pretty good.
WBC Injuries
This is the worst thing that can possibly happen in a tournament like this because everyone is already holding their breathe that this thing can be pulled off. A lot of of critics and a lot of cynics will probably attack the WBC because of the injuries. I’m just pointing it out.
I think it will have an affect on the future but if you look at the guys who got hurt, they’re the type of injuries that are alarming to me because they are the type of injuries that occur when you’re not game ready. For example, Dustin Pedroia with an oblique muscle. The oblique injury can happen from two things: fatigue and over use trying to get ready or getting caught off balance on a pitch when you’re timing is not right. In his case I feel like it probably was fatigue. He’s been swinging hard and it looked like he was on a lot of pitches.
Chipper Jones on the other hand, had struggled mightily, was concerned by the fact that he had 6 strikeouts in 10 at bats and when I spoke with him, he had hurt his oblique muscle by swinging at a change up he was off-balance and fooled on. And when you get out in front and you try and reach and extend to try and hit a ball, that’s when you become vulnerable and that’s when you hurt your oblique muscle.
With the pitchers, not throwing yet is the key. Most pitchers in spring training can get on a throwing pattern and most of these pitchers have not.
The one thing I would point out is the lack of games in between. There needed to be more practice or exhibition games played, even in between the competition. For example, if you sat out two days, played a game, sat out two more days and played again – there should never be that many days off. So now the pitching rotation was 5 pitchers on, 5 pitchers off and every 5 or 6 days these guys are pitching in a game. You just can’t have it like that this time of year. In the Venezuela game the other day, King Felix had not pitched in over 8 days and didn’t start until the third game of competition for Venezuela, which didn’t come until two weeks after the whole thing started. They have to schedule ‘B’ games or get these some kind of competition in between games. Unlike most major league spring training camps when they start, you have guys face pitchers to start off in spring training, you don’t have that luxury here. These guys are not gonna face a pitcher – I’m not. If I’m in this competition as a major league hitter I’m not going to WBC without facing major league pitchers. It’s not gonna happen.
I hope we can figure out a way to keep all the players healthy, I’d hate to see this tournament canceled.
Quick thoughts from Harold down in Miami
The U.SA. mercy rule game – that game was played about as perfect as Puerto Rico could have scripted it. They wanted Vazquez to get to Figueroa and then the back of the bullpen, they did everything right. The offense executed, they went base to base and did everything they wanted to do to put the pressure on. They wanted to run and force the action and they did all that. That’s what’s gonna get lost when you look at the score, all the little things that they did. 
The excitement of being down on the field after the game, it was a playoff atmosphere. These guys played it like it was a playoff game. The crowd was yelling and screaming, Beltran and Pudge were on the field celebrating and excited. It was real cool. It gave you a feeling of the importance of the WBC to so many people playing for their native countries.
Team USA is going to be fine the rest of the way. They will hang around if they have better swings, but the starting pitching is the key – Peavy in particular is just not ready, you can see it. I think there are certain pitchers you can look at on their roster that haven’t gotten to their second or third pitch yet. That’s why they have been getting hit so hard, not being able to throw that out pitch to get out of situations and jams. That stands out more than anything else.
The Next Greatest(s)
The cool thing about baseball is that every year there’s some player or pitcher that stands out above the rest — one that everybody says is the next greatest. And sure enough we wait with anticipation to see this person, and when we finally do, it’s the reason you watch the game, and hopefully they don’t disappoint.
In the case of this year’s World Baseball Classic, there are two internationally known pitchers that everybody anticipated seeing: Yu Darvish and Aroldis Chapman.
Yu, from Japan, 22 years old, 6 foot 5, throws in the mid 90’s with a slider, a curve ball, a split and a change up. A whole arsenal right? Whenever you hear he’s got the “whole arsenal, he’s got 4 or 5 pitches”, you say, “Yeah, whatever. A couple of them don’t work.” When I saw Yu pitch the other day for the first time, I was blown away.
And last winter during hot stove season, Bobby Valentine, who manages in Japan, had raved about Yu. Understand, Bobby V has been a top player in baseball at one time, a manager for a long, long time and managed Nolan Ryan! He has an idea what he’s talking about. He told me that Yu could be the best pitcher he’s ever seen. This is a guy who watched anyone you can think of from 1965 to now. The best ever!
I couldn’t wait to call Bobby and tell him “You’re wrong,” when I saw Yu Darvish pitch. You know what? I haven’t made that call yet.
The thing that is so impressive about him — outside of his youth, his size and all the things you look for in a pitcher — is his ability to duplicate his delivery. As a hitter, you’re always looking for an edge — some way to pick up a certain pitch. Here’s how he holds his arm when he throws a breaking ball. Here’s how he hold his hand in his glove when he throws a fastball. Or he may change his windup, his motion, his tempo — whatever it might be — to give you some of kind of edge to anticipate what’s coming.
When I broke this guy down with slo-mo & split screen, using all the technology available to us, I could not distinguish between his windup when he’s throwing a breaking ball and his windup when he’s throwing a fastball. Ridiculous. Ridiculous! That’s the only thing I can say: ridiculous. Will someone hit him? Absolutely. But can he possibly be the greatest of all-time? Yes, he could. Only time will tell.
As for Chapman from Cuba, anytime you hear that a guy throws 100 MPH, you think of Sid Finch. Yeah, that guy — the April Fool’s joke from Sports Illustrated years ago.
But sure enough, first thing I saw was him warming up and his wing span. He looked like the sprinter Usain Bolt! I thought, is this Bolt on a baseball field? Then I find out he’s about 6-6 with a wing span like Bill Russell. And then he’s a lefty, too! He gets on the mound, he’s got great mechanics. Sound as can be. And sure enough he’s delivering a nice fluid fastball, he’s got a breaking pitch – he was nasty!
To see Yu Darvish and Aroldis Chapman, if they ever get a chance to play in the majors, you can only imagine the impact they’ll have on baseball.
Spring Training Not About Wins and Losses
Spring training is not about wins and losses, it’s about progress. What I mean by that is, there’s three tiers of players: 1) the young guy trying to get established, 2) the established player, 3) the old guy trying to fit. Each one of them has nothing to do with wins and losses. Spring training is about development in those three categories. We would like to believe it’s important that your team is 5-0 in spring training, as opposed to being 0-5, but at the end of the day it’s about the three categories of players.
Let me explain.
If I’m a young player, trying to make an impression, trying to make the team, this is my spring training because the established, veteran guys are playing in the World Baseball Classic. They’re gone. If I’m on a team that has a player in the WBC that plays my position, I have to capitalize because I’m in front of the big league manager every day. And the longer I’m in front of him, the better off I am.
If I’m that established player, spring training to me is getting ready for that bell to ring in April. I want to make sure I have my swing right – I’m gonna take a couple of at bats then I’m going down to the lower fields and I’m working on base hits. And honestly, I don’t know if we won or lost that game we played until I check the board the next day to see what hitting group I’m in. You’re gone. You come out of the game in the 4th inning, and they play another couple more hours – you’re already at dinner before that game is over.
For that veteran guy, like Pedro Martinez, this is a very important time in spring training. You have to show people what you can do and that’s why the WBC is important. It’s high level competition and teams are going to use that to evaluate. That’s why the Red Sox signed Matsuzaka when they did, because he pitched so well in the WBC.
If you think it’s not important, it’s important. It’s important because it is great scouting ground where all the top scouts know they got all the top talent in the world in these four different regions. And if they want to go scout a player, this is when they go. If they want to see if a kid from Korea can really compete, then they’re going to watch him play. If someone wants to see if Yu Darvish is really as great as they say, when else are they going to see him compete on stage in international competition and really know if he can get major league hitters out.
Right now.
It’s a very interesting spring.
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