Mack Ade - The Bobby Parnell Era

I’m writing this on the morning of the last day of the trading deadline and, with a little luck, I’ll have it up before Bobby is possibly traded today. That’s right, traded. Today just might be the last time Robert wears a Mets uniform wihich just might make most of the fans, and him, very happy.

First of all, he never even got out of the box with his first name. Parnell prefers ‘Robert’, but someone tagged him ‘Bobby’ and the legend was born.

You can’t have a closer with a name like Bobby. Gus, Bruno, Godzilla, anything but Bobby.
Like most relievers, Parnell was a starter first. He was drafted in 2005 (9^th round) by the Mets, working his way up the chain until his promotion to Queens in 2008 (lifetime: 10-17, 4.14, 1.50, 230.2-IP, 218-K, 94-BB). He’s basically a one pitch guy (4-seam fastball that sits 97, 101), but he also dabbled with a two-seam and curve and his ‘set-up’ pitch is a changeup.

No one ever questioned his velocity, but a 1.50 WHIP just doesn’t hack it for any major league pitcher, especially a closer. It also wouldn’t hurt if you had more strikeouts than innings pitched.

His lifetime /9 stats are gloomy at best:  9.8 H/9, 3.7 H/9. I break out the stats for the minor league starters every day. Imagine what kind of outing you would think one of these guys just had if the stat line started with: 9.0-IP, 10-H, 4-BB?

But, none of these things are the primary problem here. It’s always been about what is inside Robert’s head and how it translates on the field. I don’t care how fast he throws. He never makes a batter feel like he’s dominating him. The approach is all wrong and the dance between pitches borderlines on wussy. You just know you can hit this guy, because you just know nothing is coming down that pipe but the four-seamer.

The scouts used to line up for the good seats behind home plate. He was the talk of the organization, not particularly as a starter, but just as a fireballer. Every team wanted this guy as part of a trade, but Omar said ‘no way’. Now, frankly, you’d have a hard time building a trade around him. There is that much lack of confidence in his future game.

Rick Waits, ex-NY Mets minor league pitching coach told me once, “there is no ceiling for Parnell… the game is in his hands…”.

Parnell turns 28 later on this year. He is being paid only $504,000 in 2012, which makes him very attractive to small market teams. IMO, he desperately needs a fresh start here, clear his head of all the Mets bullshit, and get back on the mound like the winner he was always projected to be.

I’m posting this up now.

Hopefully, it will be a funny read by the end of the day.