What was Jeff Torborg thinking?
Given a chance to manage a team with some of the best young pitchers in the game, Torborg somehow overlooked the fact that the Florida Marlins weren’t going anywhere this year. It served no purpose to push the arms he had been entrusted with, yet Torborg nevertheless allowed A.J. Burnett to throw 120-plus pitches 10 times.
To put 10 starts of 120-plus pitches into perspective, Detroit and San Francisco are the only teams that have had 10-plus such starts this year. Livan Hernandez is the only other pitcher who has had as many as eight 120-pitch starts. Randy Johnson, baseball’s biggest workhorse, has had only seven. Curt Schilling? He’s had one.
Boston’s Grady Little and Pittsburgh’s Lloyd McClendon haven’t allowed their starters to have even one 120-pitch start this year.
While Burnett’s flown under the radar in Florida, few, if any, major-league pitchers have had electric stuff as often this season. He threw his fifth shutout last Sunday, raising his record to 12-9 with a 3.25 earned-run average. He’s held opponents to a .208 batting average, which ranks behind only Pedro Martinez (.192), Derek Lowe (.194) and Damian Moss (.200).
“This kid is one step away from greatness, and he might be closer than that,” Torborg said recently. “It might be half a step.”
Assuming he recovers.
Burnett, 25, woke up Monday morning with a swollen elbow. He couldn’t touch his right shoulder with his right hand. Tests revealed an acute bone bruise, which trainer Sean Cunningham said had to do with one pitch, not the cumulative effort of throwing 3,007 over 27 starts.
Cunningham said two bones inside the elbow “just bumped very subtly,” irritating synovial tissue. He said an MRI did not show damage to ligaments or any loose bodies, but the Marlins will proceed cautiously.
Torborg defended Burnett’s high pitch counts. “We’re always asking him, `Are you all right? Are you all right?'” Torborg said. “Of course, he’s one of those guys who might not tell you [if he’s hurting].”
Torborg has pushed other pitchers. He was there for Bobby Thigpen’s record 57 saves in 1990. He allowed a 25-year-old Jack McDowell to work 252 innings with the 1991 White Sox. David Cone threw 166 pitches for him one night at Shea Stadium.
As was pointed out after Cubs manager Bruce Kimm allowed Mark Prior to throw 135 pitches, it’s one thing to extend a young pitcher when something is on the line and craziness to do it when the game means little. The Marlins were 16 games out of first July 27 when Torborg allowed Burnett to throw 132 pitches.
For his part, Burnett has no complaints.
“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve thrown a lot of innings and a lot of pitches, but I’ve also done all that and been fine.”
Let’s hope.
Grasping straws: Rangers castoff Jonathan Johnson became San Diego’s 33rd pitcher of the season. That breaks the major-league mark of 32 used by Cleveland in 2000.
Injuries to Kevin Jarvis, Brian Tollberg and Bobby Jones and a lack of performance has turned the season into an ongoing audition. The Padres have tried 13 different starters, with Mike Bynum the latest.
“I guess some people might argue it’s not such a good thing,” Bynum said. “With so much movement it’s hard to build a team around us young guys. I guess it’s a good thing for us, but it’s probably hard for the team to build unity.”
Padres manager Bruce Bochy figured only a strike will stop the constant influx of candidates. “Forty’s easy,” Bochy deadpanned. “Give me a challenge.”
Daily doubles: So who’s got the hottest combos? Guess again.
In terms of records since the All-Star break, Houston’s Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller (14-1, 2.18 ERA) have been better than Arizona’s Johnson and Schilling (13-2, 2.29) as well as Boston’s Martinez and Lowe (10-2, 1.43).
Others worth noting are Atlanta’s Tom Glavine-Kevin Millwood (12-3, 2.92), Anaheim’s Jarrod Washburn-Kevin Appier (11-4, 3.02) and Oakland’s Mark Mulder-Barry Zito (12-4, 2.54).
On second thought: In a recent bit of commentary on the NL Central race, we referred to Chuck Finley as having been “underwhelming” since he was added by the Cardinals in a trade with Cleveland. That was based largely on his 4.71 ERA, but alert reader Tom Hetlage pointed out it was due almost entirely to his having allowed seven earned runs in 2 2/3 innings in one start.
Otherwise, reasoned Hetlage, Finley has been “pretty ‘whelming.” He gets bonus points for eliciting laughter with his criticism, and it is needed while following the exploits of Donald Fehr and Bud Selig.
Finley won Wednesday, holding Pittsburgh to one run in eight innings while striking out 10. He’s only 8-14 overall this year but six quality starts out of seven for St. Louis. That gives manager Tony La Russa a second strong starter to go with Matt Morris.
‘Whelming, indeed.
Floor to stand on: Chuck Knoblauch figures his future with the Royals might depend on the result of these labor talks. He was hitting only .215 but believes he could help in 2003. It’s hard to see how he could fit in GM Allard Baird’s plans, especially if owner David Glass orders Baird to trim the payroll from its current $50 million.
No one knows how low such a cut could go.
Knoblauch says it would be nice if there was a minimum payroll, such as the one owners offered–and players rejected–in the labor talks.
“A minimum payroll of $45 million would probably help this team out,” Knoblauch said. “I don’t know what they want to cut it down to, but it’s probably below $45 million. So a lot of things have to work out. I don’t have a feeling yet.”
Helping hand: The Casper (Wyo.) Rockies have announced plans to hold a canned food drive Friday, designed to benefit big-leaguers in the event of a strike.
According to the press release, should this be an extended strike all canned goods collected would be distributed to major-league teams to be sent on to their ballplayers.
Casper Rockies officials and local economists are working on a formula to determine if small-market teams should receive a higher percentage of the canned goods or if donations should be split equally among all 30 clubs.
“The Rockies realize that the average major-league salary is over $2 million a year, but the stock market has taken a downturn in recent months and bank interest rates really aren’t where they should be,” stated Casper President and GM Brent Boznanski.
“A work stoppage, in our opinion, could cause additional hardship. As brethren in baseball, we would like to do our part to reduce any suffering that may result from a strike.”
The team said it also is completing plans for a bottle-and-can recycling night.
Proceeds from that event will be passed along to Commissioner Selig for distribution to major-league owners.
Popups: Manager Bobby Valentine’s team is dead, but not his career. He’ll be back with the Mets next year, which makes you wonder if general manager Steve Phillips will be the fall guy. … Can the Cubs really afford to take Mark Bellhorn and Fred McGriff out of their lineup next year? . . . The world champs are proof that set lineups are overrated. Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly used 123 different ones last year and 110 in the first 126 games this year. . . . No Cardinal has led the majors in both RBIs and runs scored since Stan Musial in 1948. Albert Pujols has a chance. He’s becoming a strong National League MVP candidate. . . . The Marlins would rank third in attendance in the Pacific Coast League, behind Sacramento and Memphis. . . . . Alfonso Soriano is the first right-handed-hitting Yankee to collect at least 43 doubles since Joe DiMaggio. . . . Journeyman right-hander Joe Roa is 16-1 this year between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (14-0) and Philadelphia.
The last word: “[Players] do what Donald Fehr tells them to do. They’d be running the bases backward from now on if Donald Fehr asked them to.” –Padres owner John Moores.
