Boy, that David Wright fella was great, right?
Until he broke down. Crumbled in a heap of mortality.
Everybody rooted for him to heal up, to return to greatness, commiserated with his aches and pains, cried at his retirement.
Jacob deGrom?
Well, Jake has the same stats as any of us readers and writers after July 7, 2021...
0 innings, 0 batters faced, 0 strikeouts, 0 wins.
Where has he gone?
From hero to zero.
While the rest of us went "from zero to zero".
Can deGrom do anything to avoid being the next David Wright? Or even the next Jed Lowrie, who after a 2 year paid absence in 2019 and 2020 played a lot in Oakland last year, especially early on , but (when I wrote this a few weeks back) had just 20 ABs through April 25 this year?
Jake looks young at first glance, but he is "baseball aging."
After all, he turns 34 on June 19, and he may not start again before then. So his next outing may be at age 34.
Which is...
"Baseball Old." "Peanut Brittle Time."
Sandy Koufax?
He went all out, and his last game was at age 30, 276 days.
Guys pitch until they can't.
Is there a solution for Jake?
My guess (and Yogi's, too) - there is a solution, if he sees the fork in the road and takes it.
He needs perhaps to model his game after - I dunno - a middling righthander like Greg Maddux.
Everyone says that all of Jake's pitches are superior.
Said the same about Greg.
So why not throttle down the velo and mimic Maddux, while still throwing harder than Greg the Hall of Fame ever did?
Don't like the Maddux comparison? (I do, but that's just me).
Seems Jake's new Cy Young teammate Max Scherzer has adapted to aging and is thriving - not quite the same high octane, adaptively more crafty, still high enough octane.
Hall of Fame types adapt.
Tom Seaver?
Adapted in his 30s, too, and stayed good and healthy.
RA Dickey adapted amazingly, didn't he?
My take? Jake must adapt, or keep spending time on the IL.
(Of course, let's first hope he gets off the IL - he didn't in 2021).
My take? He will return to action - and adapt.
Because his market value will shrink only somewhat if he is "potentially the best" but not "actually the best", because "actually" requires "healthy", not extended vacations on the IL.
His market value will shrink a lot if he can't pitch any more.
Trying to be "actually the best" when he returns could perpetuate his IL stays.
And he needs to feed his family, especially in a time of Bidenflation, so he will adapt.
Your take?
Update:
At least, he's cleared to start soft-tossing.
If he once again starts throwing gas, I hope he sends some my way.
8 comments:
My thoughts this morning
1. Make plans for Jake not to play this season
Anything else would be a bonus.
2. I will gladly take a split in this series.
3. Play Patrick.
4. Keep Holderman
5. Bring back Nogo.
Mack I agree on all 5 but also Smith goes down and bring up Palka or Plummer to replace him. I would also start JD at third to see if he can start hitting because we can't go much longer with EE JD and Smith not hitting a lick.
Really don't want to see JD playing third.
Escobar and Smith are finding out there is a gremlin loose at Citifield that steals base hits before they're born.
Last year, we had Almora, Maybin and Lee having gremlin problems.
I agree
Escobar 's defense outweighs his current soft.bat
I just hope Escobar is not caught in the age vortex. Jim Fregosi, for example, started into decline at age 29, 4 years younger than Eduardo.
But at 28, Fregosi was an All Star and 12th in the MVP voting.
It almost seems to me to be VERY likely that any offensive player at age 33 is apt to find himself (without PEDs) to be in decline. The are some who are exceptions to the rule. But that list is much shorter.
Bidenflation? What an uneducated comment.
Thanks for reading our columns, Mr. President.
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