You're preaching to the choir here, but you're also missing my point. What I'm sayins is that - even on the off chance he doesn't improve - the team is good enough that he doesn't "need to pitch better. Period." He can pitch just how he's been pitching and the Yanks will still win plenty of games. Well something is going on, that's for sure. Because Vazquez doesn't typically throw fastballs at 88-90. He normally throws 93-94. So whether it's mechanical or arm strength or injury or whatever... there's something tangible happening here.
Yeah. But he attributes it to still needing some more work to build strength, and that he'll get up to 93 with the occasional 94. It's April. I'll worry if he hasn't gained his speed back in a couple more starts. And like you said, pitching how he has, they'll still win a lot. Hell, they'll still win a lot for him. This team is going to average a lot of runs per game. Once Tex, ARod, and Swish get in gear, this offense is going to be running 30 minute innings. Joe West is going to be pissed.
Right, but he hasn't had that problem in years past. Not even close. Check out his velocity chart. So like I said, there's something going on that isn't explained by needing to build up arm strength. Unless he's just more out of shape this year than in years past. The explanation I heard was poor mechanics. I hope that's the case.
If your not hitting your spots it doesn't matter how hard your throwing the ball. I'd rather win games because of him, as opposed to winning games in spite of him. Vazquez had two poor outings to start the season and pitched a mediocre game last night. It would be nice to be able to go towards postseason without having to rely on a 3 man pitching rotation that includes a 38 year old pitcher who thrown 3000+ innings when October rolls around. But as has already been stated, it is still very early in the season. I'm not saying he is a bad pitcher or he is going to have a terrible year. You just expect a certain level of performance from him, given his body of work. And as of this point, he has not played up to that level. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he was not injured last offseason. So if his arm strength isn not up to par, wouldn't that fall into the "lack of preparation" category?
Of course he hasn't. Again, I'm just saying we should have a little perspective. He's the fourth-best pitcher on the team (some might say fifth best). He'll eat up a good chunk of innings, and I expect he'll get better, not worse. BUT (and this is the gist of what I was saying) even if he doesn't, for whatever reason, it's not the end of the world. They'll still be able to win a good number of his starts if he pitches the way he did last night... what you call "mediocre" is good enough for a team like the Yankees. Or it's just a mechanical issue he's trying to correct. Or he's hiding an injury.
I understood your point the first time you posted it, so excuse me if I didn't come off clearly and specifically address it. We shall see how he progresses (or digresses) from this point Cappy.
Yes, we shall. Really, though, the only thing I'm worried about is some kind of injury. If it's mechanical - or even just a dead arm, although why it would be that escapes me - it shouldn't stick around all season.
Bad news. Tomorrow is an afternoon game so if they wait this shit out it will ruin the damn road trip.
