Pitching Updates

I guess Yabu's not going to be a starter with the A's:

As has often been the case this spring, the first inning was particularly rough for the 36-year-old Japanese import. He allowed a leadoff home run, followed by a double, a walk, another double and a sacrifice fly.

Well at least I'll see him in the bullpen. I still believe he still having troubles adjusting to the little things about American baseball. Things like (as I've mentioned this before) the size of a MLB regulation baseball, which is sightly larger than a Japanese baseball.

Yabu looks too much like a prototypical Billy Beane-style pitcher for him to be a bust. Look at his most recent Japanese stats, 2004, Hanshin Tigers (stats courtesy of japanesebaseball.com):

W L IP Sv H HR BB K ERA
6 9 116.1 0 108 8 36 75 3.02
(If this is a bit confusing, I'm sorry, my HTML table-making skills still blow.)

Low-ERA, about a 2:1 K/BB ratio about a 1.22 WHIP. But these are Japanese stats. Yabu's best pitch, the split-finger isn't working too well right now but it can also be explained with ball size. Sooner or later, he's going to make that adjustment and he will prove the naysayers wrong whether's he starting or coming in from the 'pen. He's probably going to be coming from the 'pen so well...

Also, this is not exactly news but Dotel says he's OK, despite the fact that his velocity is still down and is still having a pretty bad spring. Of course he's going to say he's OK, no athlete in their right mind would admit any pain to the media when they're listed as "healthy." As to the issue of the elbow, I guess we'll find out when the season begins. I don't have much fears if his velocity and stuff is not to snuff, the bullpen is stacked this year.

DIVA ALERT!

Actually, only women can be divas, men can't, so the correct term is divo.

DIVO ALERT!

After today's win against the Angels (OAK 6, LAA 2), Seth Etherton had a few words to share with the media.

"I'm not a reliever. I'm a starter," Etherton said. "So I'm kind of confused. They say they want to stretch me out, but now I'm backtracking a little bit. It's frustrating."

Etherton spoke for several minutes, using the words "frustrating" and "confused" several times, and it was clear that he was upset that Kiko Calero entered the game before he did. Etherton was under the impression that he'd pitch after Saarloos.

"I thought I was going to go four, possibly five innings," Etherton said. "Instead I get three. That's the part I'm having difficulties with. I can't prepare as a starter coming out of the 'pen."

Divo-ness can be tolerated if you are among the best in the game. Look at Barry Bonds, however Etherton is not at the top of the game. Etherton is a once-hot prospect who has career ERA of 5.98 in the bigs. I don't go around and have fits whenever I perform because it's not professional, and I'm not good enough for people to put up with that crap. The reason I'm asked back is because I'm reasonably talented and I'm a nice guy who does as he's told. That's how it works when you're at the bottom of the totem pole, no matter if you're a baseball player, actor or an opera singer.

I sure hope that this was just him blowing off steam and not a sample of his bad attitude. Billy Beane knows to trade away those who would adversly affect team chemistry. Here are two examples.