Garrett Richards - Tommy John surgery required

[bill hAll Star]

Torn UCL.

[pacopete4]

The Angels are in a bad place right now. They have nothing in their farm system to write home about and a bunch of flat out crap surrounding Trout. They should trade him and begin to rebuild themselves.

[bill hAll Star]

I had proposed this: Either early this year since both teams are cooked or after the season: Trout for the Yankees top 10 prospects. Maybe throw in PooHoles as a salary dump. Who says no?

 

The Yankees farm system is only so-so, but it would replenish the Angels' from non-existent to so-so. The Yankees don't have a great roster but are shedding about $80 million this year and a few more contracts over the next few. They have an OK supporting cast that they could probably succeed with Trout and can make a few more signings over the next few years instead of being completely at ground zero like the Angels.

 

Somebody else of course could top the Yankees offer given a better farm system, but I'm not sure if any of those teams will see a fit. Maybe Boston.

[reillymcshane]

Andrew Heaney has UCL damage as well. They are hoping he can just rehab and avoid surgery, but he may go under the knife down the road. Wow, talk about getting devastated. That team wasn't very good anyhow.

[Boomer5]

Thinking outside the box, I wonder if it is time to look at the piggy back rotation at the major league level?

 

I heard on NPR when Passan's book came out that 1/4th of all major league pitchers had undergone TJ surgery at some point????

 

What about a program to do nothing but develop knuckleball pitchers?

[jerichoholicninja]

Thinking outside the box, I wonder if it is time to look at the piggy back rotation at the major league level?

 

I heard on NPR when Passan's book came out that 1/4th of all major league pitchers had undergone TJ surgery at some point????

 

What about a program to do nothing but develop knuckleball pitchers?

 

I've been a huge fan of piggy backing or something like it in the majors for a while. I still can't believe no one has tried it yet.

 

This is another reason I'm not really concerned about the Brewers developing pitching. The actual development is a crapshoot and then when you throw in injuries, it's totally unpredictable.

[Boomer5]

Thinking outside the box, I wonder if it is time to look at the piggy back rotation at the major league level?

 

I heard on NPR when Passan's book came out that 1/4th of all major league pitchers had undergone TJ surgery at some point????

 

What about a program to do nothing but develop knuckleball pitchers?

 

I've been a huge fan of piggy backing or something like it in the majors for a while. I still can't believe no one has tried it yet.

 

This is another reason I'm not really concerned about the Brewers developing pitching. The actual development is a crapshoot and then when you throw in injuries, it's totally unpredictable.

 

Thats what the Cubs did. They invested in hitting galore then traded for or signed their pitching.

 

Think about how valuable one quality knuckleballer would be to the team? Even if he doesnt have it, he can still go 9 anytime and save the pen.

[bill hAll Star]

Thats what the Cubs did. They invested in hitting galore then traded for or signed their pitching.

 

I don't disagree with this idea in some circumstances, but remember that the Brewers somewhat did this a decade ago and ended up with Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, Shaun Marcum, Kyle Lohse, and Matt Garza. They did trade for Sabathia but couldn't afford to keep him.

 

The Cubs can afford Jon Lester and to overpay Lackey...maybe can even afford the historic contract that Arrieta will get. The Brewers barely can do any of this.

[Boomer5]

Thats what the Cubs did. They invested in hitting galore then traded for or signed their pitching.

 

I don't disagree with this idea in some circumstances, but remember that the Brewers somewhat did this a decade ago and ended up with Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, Shaun Marcum, Kyle Lohse, and Matt Garza. They did trade for Sabathia but couldn't afford to keep him.

 

The Cubs can afford Jon Lester and to overpay Lackey...maybe can even afford the historic contract that Arrieta will get. The Brewers barely can do any of this.

 

I didn't say it would be easy but if the plan is to home grow an elite group of hitters and pitchers get ready for a long dry spell

[TigerUppercut]

Thats what the Cubs did. They invested in hitting galore then traded for or signed their pitching.

 

I don't disagree with this idea in some circumstances, but remember that the Brewers somewhat did this a decade ago and ended up with Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, Shaun Marcum, Kyle Lohse, and Matt Garza. They did trade for Sabathia but couldn't afford to keep him.

 

The Cubs can afford Jon Lester and to overpay Lackey...maybe can even afford the historic contract that Arrieta will get. The Brewers barely can do any of this.

 

I didn't say it would be easy but if the plan is to home grow an elite group of hitters and pitchers get ready for a long dry spell

 

This. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

I love reading things from many of the posters here but when I've seen these lengthy posts on "organization building" and winning championships from some of the long time posters here, they just assume that lightning is capable of striking on both the hitting and pitching fronts. When has that ever been the case in the big money era of baseball for a small market? Before you say Kansas City, please show me all the home grown pitching talent they had starting last year and the year before.

 

In 2011, one long time poster here said he hated that season because of how that team was constructed to make a run at it in one year and one year only. For a small market team, objectively speaking, has there been another way in this era???

[paul253]

We did try the develop elite hitters but no pitchers strategy a little while a go. It got us 2 playoff appearances and one division title over a six or seven season period, and only then because in both years we traded for a Cy Young caliber pitcher. I know it's tough but in order for the Brewers to have sustained success they HAVE to obtain, either through the draft or trade, young talented pitching. An all offense no pitching team is not going to win year in year out and we cannot afford to sign multiple elite free agent pitchers like the Cubs can. Our best bet, I think, is to develop a group of average to above average position players with an all star sprinkled in there, team them with a solid group of young pitchers and then break the bank for one top of the rotation free agent starter. Then you have to recycle the talent. You can't hang on to them for too long and have them lose all their value.

[SRB]

Saw a story today that the Angels were working out Kyle Lohse.

 

I'm so sorry, Anaheim...

[MadThinker88]

If only Matt Garza was healthy.... Not necessarily pitching well, just healthy and pitching regularly...

There might actually be a taker for his services...

[AdvantageSchneider]

 

What about a program to do nothing but develop knuckleball pitchers?

 

Did you see the documentary abou the knuckleball? Harder to throw than you think. In the last 100 years there have been like 11 knuckleball pitchers in the bigs.

 

I also wonder if the fact that hitters rarely see one helps with it's effectiveness. It's like some kind of homeostasis. If someone was able to develop knuckleball pitchers at a more rapid rate, I wonder if hitters would adjust to seeing that pitch more often.

[Ennder]

Thats what the Cubs did. They invested in hitting galore then traded for or signed their pitching.

 

I don't disagree with this idea in some circumstances, but remember that the Brewers somewhat did this a decade ago and ended up with Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, Shaun Marcum, Kyle Lohse, and Matt Garza. They did trade for Sabathia but couldn't afford to keep him.

 

The Cubs can afford Jon Lester and to overpay Lackey...maybe can even afford the historic contract that Arrieta will get. The Brewers barely can do any of this.

 

The Cubs basically got really lucky getting a cheap ace who always had potential but just never showed it. Same way the Pirates got lucky that Liriano suddenly found his stuff again. Sometimes risks like those pay off big. It isn't a very high percentage play though.

[bill hAll Star]

 

I didn't say it would be easy but if the plan is to home grow an elite group of hitters and pitchers get ready for a long dry spell

 

This. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

I love reading things from many of the posters here but when I've seen these lengthy posts on "organization building" and winning championships from some of the long time posters here, they just assume that lightning is capable of striking on both the hitting and pitching fronts. When has that ever been the case in the big money era of baseball for a small market? Before you say Kansas City, please show me all the home grown pitching talent they had starting last year and the year before.

 

In 2011, one long time poster here said he hated that season because of how that team was constructed to make a run at it in one year and one year only. For a small market team, objectively speaking, has there been another way in this era???

 

In 5-10 years, we'll look back on the Pirates as an example of "home grown pitching and position players" and anyone who knows baseball will see that they did this (but it will be somewhat shielded by the fact that they had minimal postseason success). Cole, Taillon, Glasnow will all probably be good pitchers for an extended period of time coupled with McCutchen, Walker, Polanco, Marte, Alvarez (somewhat valuable for a while) in this period.

 

Unfortunately, I honestly don't know if they'll ever see much more than a playoff series or two beyond today with the Cubs and Cards in this division for the next 3-4 years, at which point, their window may finally be closing. Who knows, though, as they seem to have some smart management that can maybe prolong it.

 

Add the Cards as a team that has won with home-grown pitching and position players. I'd say the Rays and Giants as well, but both of those teams mostly just grew pitching and had Posey/Longoria and the rest of their "home grown" talent was generally defense-heavy...until now of course, where the Giants have gone to big $ FAs for pitching and have a solid core of Royals-caliber hitters/defense.