Meche-ing with Sasquatch
Posted: July 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Baseball | 30 Comments »
It’s unbecoming to just re-run an old blog post … but really I cannot add much to this. You may have heard (but probably not) that Kansas City Royals starter Gil Meche will have shoulder surgery and is out for the season.
Meche had been rumored to be involved in potentially the most tragic baseball trade in the history of the world, a trade that might have involved Ollie Perez, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth. You should have to get a special dispensation from the Pope before making a trade involving all those guys.
Now, obviously, that won’t happen. Meche is gone for the year and while approaching 32 with another year at $12 million left on his $55 million contract … well, there’s no telling where this will go. He has not been himself since the middle of last year. You usually cannot pinpoint disasters to one specific moment in time, but in this case you can pretty much pinpoint Meche’s moment to the time he threw 132 pitches in a shutout against Arizona. Right after that game, Meche’s arm began to feel dead. He insisted — INSISTED — that the 132 pitches had nothing to do with the deadness of his arm. But, he had two dreadful starts, then took a couple of extra days off to deal with it. Tendinitis? Muscle fatigue? He then returned to pitch against Minnesota in a game where everyone said he would be watched closely and kept on a conservative pitch count.
What followed was epic. Well, here’s the material stuff from the blog post I wrote on July 2nd, one day after that start. The post was called “Stupid Is …”
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All of which takes us back to Wednesday. Gil Meche was pitching, and you may or may not know that Meche has been battling with a balky back and a dead arm this year. Even so, he has made 17 starts — he leads the American League in starts — because he has become what baseball people like to call a warrior.
Unfortunately, the warrior had been terrible his previous two outings — terrible, in fact, ever since (then Royals manager) Trey Hillman left him in to throw 132 pitches in a shutout against Arizona. I want to make clear here that this is NOT about pitch counts. Bill James and I wrote some about pitch counts already, and we both said that we are skeptical about the way teams use pitch counts now and we’re open to Nolan Ryan’s plan to extend pitchers. You could argue — pretty persuasively, I imagine — that having a pitcher who has been dealing with a stiff back throw 132 pitch might not be the wisest move ever. But hey, Meche is a grown-up, he insisted on staying in there, he finished the job, I would not second guess it.
BUT then that familiar pattern emerged one more time. Meche struggled badly his next start. And he struggled badly again his next time out. His velocity was down. He felt lousy on the mound. The Royals said he had a bit of “dead arm,” which I’m pretty sure is not a modern medical term. To be blunt, that sounds like something John McGraw would have said. You had to wonder if the Royals planned to treat the “dead arm” with leeches and by drowning a witch.
But OK, hey, dead arm, and Meche (who also downplayed things — guy’s a WARRIOR) said that maybe there was a little “built up tendinitis” and some “fatigue.” He decided to take a couple of days off — not even pick up a baseball. Sounded like a wise thing to do. At first, there was some doubt if he would even make his Wednesday start, and frankly I have NO IDEA why the Royals would even let him make his Wednesday start. Skip a start, make sure he’s OK, I mean it’s not like the Royals are in the heat of a pennant race here.
But OK, Meche said he felt good after his two days off. And as Hillman said: “He’ll know with his experience.” Meche said he wanted to go Wednesday … OK, let him go. “No reservations,” Trey Hillman said. Pitching coach Bob McClure, a sensible soul, was a bit more cautious.
“I would say we’ll probably monitor how many pitches we’re going to let him throw,” McClure said.
Well, sure. Of course. I mean, you wouldn’t let a guy with a dead arm and bad back throw a lot of pitches. That’s OBVIOUS, no? Meche went out and, good to see, his stuff looked pretty good. He was throwing in the low-to-mid 90s again. His curveball looked pretty sharp. He did walk five guys in five innings, and he did labor, and he did throw 99 pitches in those five innings which I think is probably a few more than you would want him to throw. But hey, he only allowed one earned run and the Royals were in the game and Meche seemed to be back on track … Mission accomplished.
Only then … Gil Meche walked out the mound to start the sixth inning.
I wanted to rub my eyes, you know, the way they do in the movies when they see a ghost or really beautiful woman. I looked back at my computer — yep, he’d thrown 99 pitches. I retraced my steps: Yes, Meche did say he had a dead arm, yes there was some stiff back issues, yes everyone said the Royals were going to be cautious, yes, check … and then I looked back on the screen and there was Meche, or at least some guy with Meche’s name on his jersey, on the mound. What? Gil Meche has two-and-a-half years left on his $55 million contract. Gil Meche was the Royals opening day starter. Gil Meche is absolutely one of the critical players if the Royals are EVER going to dig out of this hole …
It couldn’t be. Nobody would send Gil Meche out there. Nobody would do that. Nobody would do that. Nobody would do …
On the second pitch of the inning (101st pitch overall) Carlos Gomez cracked a vicious double down the left-field line. Well, in a way, that was good. Carlos Gomez does not hit many vicious doubles … surely now Hillman would come and take Meche out and end this preposterous …
No. Meche stayed out there. He struck out Nick Punto. He got Denard Span to fly out on the first pitch of an at-bat (yay Denard!). So Meche had 105 pitches and might get out of this without it being a total disaster.
No sir. Matt Tolbert then worked Meche for an eight-pitch at-bat which led to a walk. Meche was now up to 113 pitches with two of the best lefty hitters in the American League — Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau — coming up. Well, yes, that was a disaster, but at least now Meche would get taken out of the game and …
No. Meche stayed in to face Joe Mauer. It leads to one of the great questions of philosophy: At what point does idiotic become criminal? Jamie Quirk, who was color commentator on television, talked about how Meche wanted to stay out there. Well OF COURSE Meche wanted to stay out there, but that’s why you have a MANAGER, someone who MANAGES to walk out to the mound and say, “Great effort Gil, but you know, I had to be insane to let you pitch the sixth inning in the first place, I have to get you out of here now.”
But Meche stayed out there. He got ahead of Mauer 0-2, then threw a ball, then Mauer singled, scoring a run. Meche was up to 117 pitches now. Hillman finally went to the mound. We had driven past the lunacy exit about four miles back … we were now in lawsuit territory. Could there be any explanation — ANY explanation — for pitching your wounded Opening Day starter 117 pitches?
Wait for it.
No, wait for it.
Hillman walked back to the dugout and left Meche in the game to face Morneau.
I don’t know. Maybe at some point, when you’re SO FAR down the wrong road, you just go: “What the hell, might as well keep going and hope we run into something good.” Maybe it would have been more damaging to have Meche throw 117 pitches and then pull him before the inning was done. I don’t know. I really don’t know. We are in such la-la land here, there can be no logical questions … these are like “How would you wash a unicorn?” questions. I do know that Meche threw four more pitches and did get Morneau to fly out to right.
And the final tally: Gil Meche, who four days earlier was not sure he was going to start, who three days earlier was going to be watched closely, who one day earlier was talking about how he hoped he had his velocity back … threw 121 pitches. The explanation afterward seemed to be that Meche wanted to … and his stuff was good. Or something.
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Postscript: Since that day, Gil Meche is 2-6, 7.18 ERA, 51 walks, 49 strikeouts, 17 home runs and one season-ending shoulder surgery. Trey Hillman has been fired. And the Royals … well, there’s just not a whole lot to add, is there?
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circle me grady little.
The time for thinking with brains is over! It’s now time to think with guts! The Royals are leading the league in gut-thinking.
“Meche had been rumored to be involved in potentially the most tragic baseball trade in the history of the world, a trade that might have involved Ollie Perez, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth.”
Wow, that does sound like some of unholy alliance of physically talented, brain dead talent. Talk about garbage in, garbage out.
I always wanted Hillman out, but I think we may have to drown a witch to get out of this funk!?!?!?
“How do you wash a unicorn?”
Very carefully.
I would wash a unicorn with my rainbow colored platypus-hide car wash mitt. It’s soft enough not to scratch my car and surely gentle enough to make a unicorn smile.
But Jason Kendall caught his 2,000th game last night! With high praise from Ned Yost!
Whatever the Royals management may be, they have just conned the Giants into getting Scott Podsednik. Quite unfortunate.
If I ever own a major league team, I’m going to install one of those special button-activated chutes underneath the manager’s seat. If he gets dropped mid-game, all the coaches take one step to the side and continue on.
What’s the take on Podsednik?
Call me crazy, but maybe Trey Hillman knew that blowing out Meche’s shoulder would sooner or later prevent the Royals from partaking in a tragic trade. I give props to Hillman for having such keen foresight.
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14: ReluctantTribeFan said at 5:27 pm on May 7th, 2010:
Also, Lebron will choke, and then leave, winning many championships with his new team. Razor blades will be distributed in mass quantities. “At least we’re not Detroit” will no longer comfort the dying city’s populace. Poop.
Can we find a way to include Dontrelle Willis in aforementioned trade?
To Paraphrase The Way of The Gun –
Ned Yost: So, you the brains of this outfit, or is David Glass?
Dayton Moore: Tell ya the truth, I don’t think this is a brains kind of operation.
The baseball gods are punishing Dayton Moore for his horrible track record signing free agents by smiting the Royals with injuries at the deadline. The only reason Jason Kendall is being spared is because they don’t want to trade him. It’s b.s.
After 37 seasons of Royals fandom, I can customarily absorb large doses of Royals futility before giving up on a season, unleashing vitriol, or hanging my head in shame. Despite repeated emotional floggings delivered at approximately 7:10 PM all summer long, I remain resolute in my allegiance to the Powder Blues and hold out semi-irrational hope that they can attain some ethereal measure of success long after the more sentient part of me realizes it’s futile. You’re an intelligent reader, so I’m sure you’ve foreshadowed the vitriol to follow …
Whether intentional or not, Ned Yost sabotaged this team a fortnight ago. The Royals hit an astounding high-water mark of just *7* games under .500, and gool ol’ Neddy torpedoed the vessel and sounded the 2010 death knell. He told the team they had a chance.
I believe that Yost (correctly) sensed the team was at a crossroads, and that it was the right time to challenge the players to take the next step – a gambit ostensibly intended to infuse them with energy, but in reality, as an effort to ascertain the true character of the group. If they take up the torch and make a run, he’s a genius for saying the right thing at the right time. If they fall on their faces, they were destined to do so anyway.
As fans, we obviously knew what would happen. The utter lack of character and intensity in that clubhouse left only one possible outcome … the current, ludicrous 15-game freefall. There they were, climbing in the standings, looking down on Cleveland, but as soon as the “light” came on – they made like the rats they are and scurried for the Central Division basement – out of sight as fast as they could go.
Since Yost’s unfortunate Declaration of Competetiveness, the Royals are 3-12, and have been outscored [incredibly] 130-52. They’ve been outscored by more than 5 runs PER GAME over this stretch … essentially, a blowout loss EVERY time they take the field.
The Royals simply cannot win with THESE players (yeah, the whole damn lot of them). There doesn’t appear to be a single player on the roster who is capable of responding positively under pressure. Yost told them they had a chance, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the players knew they were now EXPECTED to perform … and climbed aboard the SS Minnow.
I certainly can’t blame Yost. Every manager has to know what tools he has in his shed. If they’re rusty and unusable, you either hire outside help for the job or go buy all new tools. He was tasked with captaining a patchwork dirigible, and when it came time to prove its airworthiness, it plummeted to the ground in a massive conflagration.
I’m to the point that I could care less about .300 averages, .400 OBPs, <1 WHIPs or any of the crap. Regardless of their stats or their supposed "upside," I can't get overly excited about Moose or Hoz or Crow or Lamb, because I don't yet know that any of those guys have the FIRE to win.
The Royals will not have a chance to win again until some player decides he's had enough losing and starts sliding hard into second … until some player decides he's had enough losing and knocks down an opposing batter … until some player decides he's had enough losing and launches into a tirade in the clubhouse, then goes out a hits .500 for a month while telling his teammates, "Get on board or get the **** out!"
None of those attributes can be resolved through any existing multi-year "process." Perhaps a new process should be initiated throughout the organization to seek out players not necessarily based upon numbers – but though a combination of talent and an absolute unwillingness to accept losing. There ARE no winners currently wearing powder blue – period.
@10 Zachary Young:
I don’t doubt that George Steinbrenner seriously considered installing one.
@17 BillP: “Despite repeated emotional floggings delivered at approximately 7:10 PM all summer long….”
-See if you held off on those emotional floggings for one minute longer you’d have that sweet 7-11 sponsorship that the White Sox have…it’s all about revenue streams!
/hangs head over his team whoring out the start time of their games.
ESPN ran a bit about lose-lose trades yesterday. Would a Meche/Guillen/Farnsworth for Perez/Francoeur trade have been the biggest lose-lose trade of all time? I say yes.
sad as it is, kc is still better than baltimore…
Just have to share 2 money quotes from the ABQ Journal on the Royals signing undrafted former Lobo pitcher Edwin Carl.
“The perennial doormat of the American League offered the former University of New Mexico right-handed pitcher a contract last weekend.”
“I want to congratulate him, but considering it’s the Kansas City Royals I’m not sure if I should apologize instead,” Birmingham (Head Coach of UNM Lobos Baseball) joked.
Even a laughing stock in NM…..
“Meche had been rumored to be involved in potentially the most tragic baseball trade in the history of the world, a trade that might have involved Ollie Perez, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth.”
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I’m guessing Yuni was the sticking point on the trade…
This is terrible news. Meche is a warrior you can count on for quality innings. He’s always firing darts and blowing guys away. Everybody wants him in their foxhole with them. I would too. He’s one of the top FA signings DMGM has ever made
@Bill P #17 –
Sounds like about what the Mets needed after 1966. They found that guy, and went from 61 wins in ’67, to 73 in ’68, to 100 and WS Champs in ’69.
Trouble is, there are not a lot of Tom Seavers out there, either in talent or attitude — and he had both.
Just sad really.
What does Bob McClure know about pitch counts anyways? It was a big deal if he threw 10 pitches in an appearance.
I did laugh when I heard that the Royals “liked” Francoeur. Yeah, that’s what they need to revitalize things.
I think what the Royals need right now is for the current team to be moved elsewhere, and a new franchise to come in and call themselves the Royals.
Really, that’s the only way to go about things right now, as they’re just way too far gone.
Trey Hillman should be banned from baseball! Reinstate Pete Rose and ban Hillman!
Circle me, Tommy John!
This really should have happened last year, but I’m glad they are finally taking care of this. It was pretty obvious early on that it wasn’t going to heal itself.
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