Never mind the man behind the curtain

by Rox Girl on Apr 3, 2008 6:37 AM MDT

The Rockies were probably expecting Luis Vizcaino to pitch around 70 innings for them over the course of each of the next two seasons when they signed him to the 7.5 million dollar contract. At his current pace, he'd give up 840 runs a year in those 70 IP. So what's the deal with the Viz?

What's going wrong:

Luis' velocity which in the past was in the low 90's, has been in the mid-80's. Any MLB hitter would welcome the chance of facing the latter over the former with open arms.
He's flattening out his breaking pitches and basically grooving them when they're in the zone.
Because his pitches are so juicy to hitters, he doesn't want to throw strikes. Really, I can't blame him.

Okay, that was simple enough, let's go through the possible reasons why it's going wrong:

It's mechanical. A mere flesh wound, easily correctable by moving his arm slot as Hurdle and Apodaca suggest.
It's physical. His body instinctively knows something the trainers and doctors can't see and his mechanical issues stem from a subconscious defense against further injury.

via www.freedigitalphotos.net --

It's dead. The arm is toast and there's no going back to what he once was, the mechanical fix won't restore his velocity which will leave us swallowing the 7.5 million and thanking the heavens we drafted Casey Weathers and moved Pedro Strop to the mound.

Right now, the Rockies are adamant that they made a good investment in Vizcaino, and that this won't wind up like that idea to invest in Bear Stearns a little while ago. That's fair enough, as a fan, I would like to believe this too, but I'm bracing myself for the worst here.

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

This is up early

but so am I.

This is a great time to bring up a theory around baseball, and that is middle relievers have up years and down years...because...they have up years and down years.

Now I'll try to type this to make sense. A relief pitcher is doing good one year, he's in a groove, he's reliable like the sun coming up....so the manager uses him, a lot, goes to his bread and butter pitcher in too many jams. The next year (or 2) this same pitcher looks like crap. What happened? His arm is tired, his body is tired, from making 80 appearances and since he's throwing like crap, he doesn't get used, maybe ends up on the DL for stretches so he in effect gets rested up. He then gets cut or traded or not re-signed, cause the team thinks he's washed up or not what he used to be, only to find a rebirth and a good year in his new place. It's not just a new scenery which can help...but he had a year to rest his tired body.

And if he's lucky to stay in baseball this long, the cycle starts again.

A good example of this is our own Matt Herges:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6296/career;_ylt=Ao4qax0OJ8KELzhz4MlAsmiFCLcF
There are ups and downs in several years (not as straight forward as my explanation above mind you, but close enough to make a point)

So we get Vizciano who has been a VERY reliable work horse for the Yankees the last couple years...and what do we get? a tired arm, lacking velocity. We fans and team, will say, we got robbed! but if the theory above is correct, this was expected. Next year he should be better.

This theory and his age is why I'm expecting Herges to disappoint this year as well as Visciano which will make our bull pen less effective than it was last year. I'm afraid Hurdle will move to slow to recognize these swings in performance, and will stick too long out of loyalty.

But on the plus side, due to his age, and lack of use last year, I look for Bucholtz to have a big break out year. (and in 2010 to have a crappy year because of the theory above)

What am going to do with all these "Jeff Baker for 2nd" bumper stickers?

by Redhawk on Apr 3, 2008 7:21 AM MDT reply actions

It has to be option two

Let's see, he's slow getting back into action in the spring despite daily calls for a likely Vizcaino appearance, he hurredly fits in a handful of outings before camp breaks, and his opening outing flashes low velocity and little action on his pitches. Isn't this the recipe for arm trouble?

DL him until he gets right. It would mean more for the team to have a fresh, healthy Viz in June, than one trying to overcompensate in April.

by David OhNo on Apr 3, 2008 7:40 AM MDT reply actions

Or Option 3

They should've put Viz in extended Spring Training to help him get over missing so much work.

Its too late now, so they'll have to work with him while games count, or DL him and waste 15days...

by rockieprogress on Apr 3, 2008 9:20 AM MDT reply actions

Option 4

It's one thing to see everyone worried about Barry Zito only throwing 83-84. After all, he's a starting pitcher who's thrown lots of innings for years. Presumably, his velocity will come back. In the meantime, he can fool people with offspeed stuff. Viz is a right-handed RELIEF pitcher, not some crafty lefty. The plain fact is, he can't throw the ball by anybody right now and he doesn't have a fallback breaker. I know I'm ranting too much, but we shouldn't be tolerating guys who are clearly not ready to pitch against major league hitters. Put another way, how many times do we have to see this kind of outing--2,4, 6, whatever, before we take appropriate action? Last season should have taught us once and for all how much value there is in winning every game possible. There is no room for error in this division. Again I say, no more experiments, no slack, no way. Send him to Tucson for more work or the Springs for more innings, but don't assume this is just a little slump. Who cares about 15 days? Or 30? Radar guns don't lie. We are the NL Champs, we have other options. To hell with his salary. He's not ready. We gave away that game last night for no good reason.

by Roxbb on Apr 3, 2008 10:06 AM MDT reply actions

It's mechanical

And that comes with just plain not being ready for the season to start, which is a product of missing two weeks of spring training.

In the long run, he'll be fine. Remember, LaTroy Hawkins didn't exactly make a great first impression on us, either.

Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.

by Franchise26 on Apr 3, 2008 10:15 AM MDT reply actions

Velocity

Slight mechanical issues explain the control issues and the lack of break and movement on his pitches but they don't explain the significant decrease in velocity.

If it was some simple and obvious mechanical issue (like arm slot) then Dac and Hurdle would have caught it very quickly.

by MADness on Apr 3, 2008 4:33 PM MDT up reply actions

Velo

If you don't think mechanical issues can rob you of velocity, you're wrong. If you aren't getting your arm around to match your hip drive, if you aren't finishing your pitches, if you aren't using your legs to their maximum potential, then you're going to lose velocity.

Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.

by Franchise26 on Apr 3, 2008 4:41 PM MDT up reply actions

To varying degrees

I agree with most of which has been written here. I think he'll be headed for a DL spot sometime soon, just because of lack of work will lead to either an real or imaginary injury.

Either way, GAWD was he painful to watch work. The results were pretty bad obviously, but when he took a half an hour to get through the inning... That was the worst part for me. I had to start flipping back and forth through channels at that point.

Just keep walking down the path boys...

by MattTheRock on Apr 3, 2008 10:50 AM MDT reply actions