Let’s try to have a mature discussion about this serious issue…
“Naturally, I felt terrible for the kid [Matt Harvey]. He’s got such a bright future. But at the same time, all I could think of was how it just goes to show how all this babying of pitchers—pitch counts and innings limits—is a bunch of nonsense. You can’t predict these things, and there’s really not a whole lot you can do to prevent them other than refining your mechanics as [’60s and ’70s Mets pitching coach] Rube [Walker] did with us. But one way I know doesn’t do anything to prevent them is babying these kids like they do." —Tom Seaver [New York Daily News]
…somewhat anecdotal evidence but I’m glad we’re keeping the discourse level high…
“Take a look at all of them, Marichal, Jenkins, Spahn, what do you think made them successful?” They conditioned their arms by pitching more, not less, starting from when they signed their first contract. Jenkins threw 300 or more innings half a dozen (actually five) times. Same with Palmer, Carlton, and Marichal. I keep going back to that (July 2, 1963) Marichal-Spahn game when they both pitched 16 innings and threw almost 500 pitches between them. Neither one of them had any adverse aftereffects from it." —Tom Seaver [New York Daily News]
…nevermind.
“These kids today, they want to be men, they want to be foxhole guys, but they’re not being allowed to do that. Imagine if these computer geeks who are running baseball now were allowed to run a war? They’d be telling our soldiers: ‘That’s enough. You’ve fired too many bullets from your rifle this week!’” —Tom Seaver [New York Daily News]
Tom Seaver speaking from his baseball and, I assume, war experience
“Look, I don’t blame these organizations for what they’re doing with pitchers. There’s just too much damn money in the game now. But it’s the wrong approach. I can only speak from experience." —Tom Seaver [New York Daily News]
I imagine Warthan shaking his head in the dugout
“Today I forgot I could go from the windup and I went from the stretch a couple times. I have to go back to the windup. It happened more than once and I caught myself." —Carlos Torres [New York Daily News]
At least he’s being honest
“It was pretty self-explanatory tonight. I was all over the place, all over the zone, I wasn’t able to throw the ball where d’Arnaud wanted me to throw it." —Daisuke Matsuzaka [New York Daily News]
I’m going to go ahead and assume anon is a pitcher
“We just went from struggling for three runs a game to struggling for one. That’s a huge blow." —Anonymous Mets Player regarding the Byrd/Buck trade [New York Daily News]
Terry says: You cash it in this year, you don’t get cash next year
“As I said all year long, there is still a clubhouse full of guys in there fighting for their jobs. If they want to cash it in, there will be somebody else in those uniforms next year." —Terry Collins [New York Daily News]
Sandy explains the traid
“We felt this was in our best interest. We want to finish as well as we can. The sense we create on the part of the fans and their confidence in the future is also a function of more than wins and losses, it’s about the talent and the direction of the team. I think this move will be weighed in that sort of broader sense than just how well we do in the month of September." —Sandy Alderson [New York Daily News]
Time for the old eyez test
“I know that they don’t trust me yet but now I get my chance to show them." —Wilmer Flores regarding his switch to second base [New York Daily News]
Got to love Wright pushing himself and his teammates…
“This is what I do, I want to play. It’s against pretty much everything I believe in just to shut the season down and get ready for next year. There are 25 guys in that room battling right now. Obviously we’re in an uphill battle with some of the injuries and some of the trades, but I want to get back and help my teammates and finish strong. I don’t want the next time I take the field to be in spring training with the uncertainty of being able to finish the season strong and healthy." —David Wright [New York Daily News]
…wait, actually as painful as it is, I’m going to go ahead and agree with the Phillie and want Wright to pull back
“Michael Young was great. Roy (Halladay) talked to Matt (Harvey) the other day (about his elbow injury) and Michael came and found me. He had this thing and he tried to rush it back. And he said, in all your rehab stuff, you’re balanced. And once you get into a game, everything becomes kind of unbalanced. He said the first pitch that he took, he said he didn’t even swing, he stepped hard with it and his hamstring went." —David Wright [New York Daily News]
Wright’s looking at you Duda and Davis
“I’ve told individually, told guys as a team there are 100 different reasons to be motivated for these games. And look at the history of these teams that have gone from where we are at to competing each year, I think of the Orioles. They finished the year strong and that kind of carried over to the following year. From a team perspective it is important. And individually, for the majority of guys in there, there is no guarantee next year.” —David Wright [New York Daily News]
Enjoy it while it lasts Duda
“Any time you’re in the big leagues everything’s good. I’m glad to be here and be a part of the team.” —Lucas Duda [New York Daily News]