mulder & zito salvage, inc.

by lboros on Jun 28, 2005 8:09 AM PDT

good morning, athleticals. i'm SB Nation's cardinal blogger; have a post up today about mulder's prospects for regaining his lost mojo anytime soon (like, before this october). the info applies equally to zito, who guest stars in the post. here's the link if you're interested --- if anyone knows of any similar cases, add 'em to the list

l boros

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mulder

for Cards fans:

make sure you read "Aces", by Mychael Urban, if you haven't already--it gives some insight into Mulder.

As for Zito, I actually like how he's pitched this year, and think he's been the best of the former "Big Three". He's been victimized by poor run support, and a lot of times I think gives up runs late because he's trying to be too "perfect". I've watched most of Mulders starts, and he just doesn't seem to be pitching well at all.

"Let's see, for breakfast Rickey will have bacon and eggs, and grits if I can get 'em." --Rickey Henderson (I LOVE Rickey!)

by Alien @ Athletics Nation on Jun 28, 2005 9:18 AM PDT reply actions

you are right

about mulder --- even when his line looks good, the pitches don't. some nights he gets hitters to chase, induces lots of groundballs, and appears to be pitching effectively. but he can no longer get swings and misses on pitches inside the strike zone. a disciplined lineup eats him for lunch.

he's too talented to keep pitching at this level, but i think it's gonna take time; he needs a makeover. haven't read "aces" but appreciate the reccomendation

by lboros on Jun 28, 2005 9:39 AM PDT reply actions

speaking of

post-dispatch article here:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/3EA684B07295A4438625702E00193EE7 ?OpenDocument

"Let's see, for breakfast Rickey will have bacon and eggs, and grits if I can get 'em." --Rickey Henderson (I LOVE Rickey!)

by Alien @ Athletics Nation on Jun 28, 2005 9:41 AM PDT reply actions

Good post

Thanks for the article sir, twas a good read. I love that trade more every day. Ahhhhhhhh........

by AlwaysSweatin on Jun 28, 2005 10:13 AM PDT up reply actions

I Hate Mulder

that is all

A's Fan in Philly

by Duby on Jun 28, 2005 10:01 AM PDT reply actions

Gammons

On SC last night Gammons did a quick evaluation of the Mulder trade, stating that not only is Haren pitching better than Mulder, but Calero is getting turned around and will be good in the pen and Daric Barton is one of the best hitting prospects in the minors and will be in the majors next year. Pretty bold statement, but he clearly thinks highly of Barton and the trade overall. I remember reading a quote from Kendall right after the trade, and he said he'd faced Haren and his stuff was electric, and we're all seeing that now.

by sslinger on Jun 28, 2005 10:05 AM PDT reply actions

gammons is always

the last to know. at the time of the trade he called it a "masterstroke" by jocketty, while commending beane for taking the necessary steps to rebuild. whereas better-informed commentators (and a good many card'l fans) perceived it as a huge risk for stl --- ie, they might have traded away not only the cheaper pitcher but also the better one.

anyway, peter's late but on the money

by lboros on Jun 28, 2005 10:20 AM PDT up reply actions

He did say

At the time it was a trade the Cards had to make for the potential post-season rotation it gives them, and that may still come to pass if Mulder can straighten it out. If he does, there's nothing like those 1:53 minute games he can throw.

by sslinger on Jun 28, 2005 10:32 AM PDT up reply actions

Those sub-2 hour games

Were the REAL reason Mulder was traded. Thousands of dollars in lost revenue at home games because fans didn't have enough time to drink their quota of alcohol.

When you pitch in a stadium named after a brewing company, you'd better not breeze through a game in an hour forty five!

by almostreggie on Jun 28, 2005 10:42 AM PDT up reply actions

lol

Too true. Have to learn to get there for BP.

by sslinger on Jun 28, 2005 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions

that's why they signed

eckstein. all those fouloffs, 12-pitch at-bats, etc.

by lboros on Jun 28, 2005 10:58 AM PDT up reply actions

Remember

Bret Saberhagen? I don't have time to look up the stats, but he had an amazing run of odd-even year flip flops.

by sslinger on Jun 28, 2005 10:40 AM PDT reply actions

here's a link

to sabes' line. and you're absolutely right, bret was on-off a lot --- look at 1985 thru 1989. but he was injury prone, which puts him in a diff'nt category from mulder/zito. there's no surgical procedure that can make the pitcher whole again; only dicey fixes to mechanics, grips and landing zones and arm angles, etc. you cross you fingers and hope they work . . . .

by lboros on Jun 28, 2005 10:57 AM PDT reply actions

mechanics...

the dispatch article makes it sounds like mulder hasn't been following thru w/ some of duncan's suggestions to fix his mechanics. i think this is one of the issues w/ mulder's decline (led to bad starts, which led to confidence issues, which led to bad starts, etc.). maybe mark's fallen into some bad pitching habits, and hasn't bothered fixing them. if he listens to duncan, i bet he'll be okay. for his sake, i hope he does; no reason for him not to be a dominant pitcher. besides, the trade will work out great for us anyway, so no need to wish ill on mulder.

by guy incognito on Jun 28, 2005 10:59 AM PDT reply actions

mulder and zito

Mulder was never a high-strikeout guy, he's been around 6-7 K/9 IP throughout his career, but he always had great control, which meant few walks, few homers, and lots and lots of ground balls. Sometime in the middle of last year something just changed dramatically. I remember going to a game when he was starting to struggle last year - it might have been the August 29 where he walked 6 people - and wondering what the hell had happened. He was walking guys on four pitches to lead off the inning, which was just so out of character. A pitcher with a 100 MPH fastball or a slider with tons of movement can afford to be a little wild, but when a pitcher like Mulder loses location, he's in trouble, because he'll not only be walking people, but allowing more line drives as well. I haven't seen Mulder pitch this year for St. Louis, but I gather he's been more like the pitcher we saw late last year than like the one we knew before that.

I don't think Zito has had such a drastic change at any point. He struggles with consistency at times, hitters have learned to lay off the curve, and some of 2002's success was (in retrospect) pretty lucky, but for the most part he's the same pitcher he's always been. At this point I'd much rather have Zito than Mulder; a year ago, there's no way I would have said that.

Wasted? What about our staring contests? And the way we always knew what football coaches should have done? - Homer

by andeux on Jun 28, 2005 12:47 PM PDT reply actions