In his column Rumblings and Grumblings, Jayson Stark of ESPN raises the specter that Frankie Rodriguez might be concealing an injury.
K-Rod not A-OK? Meanwhile, opposing scouts and executives have been buzzing that it wouldn’t shock them if Francisco Rodriguez added to the Mets’ DL total. Clearly, something is up with K-Rod. His first-pitch strike percentage (just 49.4 percent, according to fangraphs.com) is the lowest of any closer in baseball. And it’s been on a steady decline for two months.
“Fastball command has been an issue for him for a while,” Ricco said. “But there’s nothing, to my knowledge, that’s physically wrong. If there is something wrong, it’s not something I’m aware of.”
I’m sure many of you have already thought about it, I know I have. He hasn’t been fooling batters ever since the Luis Castillo dropped popup that led to his first blown save of the season.
Since then, the numbers have been brutal. Here are his first and second half splits:
Add K-Rod to the list of question marks going into the 2010 season.
I knew we should have kept Billy Wagner.
Sure we should have. Paid him 9 million to pitch every 3 days.
Man, i just stop counting the injuries on the Mets.
In response to an ESPN report that he may be hurting, K-Rod said, “I’m 100 percent healthy.”
at this point, I’d have everyone checked out for injuries. I was saying back in April that David Wright had a shoulder problem (hell, maybe he does/did and he’s too embarassed to say something about it). give ‘em the works. make it a monthly thing. every week, 1/4 of the active players gets a full checkup with full body MRIs, X-rays, stress tests and blood work.
He has been walking the first guy every time he pitches. But the save opportunities are way off. So he is dealing with fewer opportunities to stay sharp. He is also dealing with the typical closer mentality issue: if there is nothing at stake, they can’t get up to perform properly. Billy was bad in past years in non-save opportunities. Putz said he could not get focused in non save opportunites. So he has a double whammy against him: no work and no chances for saves. One diminishes his capability, the other messes with his mind. After all, Ollie is completely nuts, so why can’t KRod be half nuts? After all this situation must be depressing and he’s probably thinking about all the other places he could be, including sunning himself on a Caribbean beach.
When will it stop. Soon, insurance companies are gonna stop insuring Met players (too risky..).
Wow, I was just typing a post on this board and I sprained my finger. The Mets really are cursed.
[...] Read the original: Is K-Rod Next? Some Scouts Think So… | Mets Merized Online [...]
[...] hears from scouts around the league that Francisco Rodriguez could be the latest Met hiding an injury. The same article also displays some frighteningly awful numbers from K-Rod since the All-Star [...]
Well there is something wrong with him, either physical or mental, I am thinking physical and was following Johan’s lead in keeping mum. Maybe now that the truth is out with the Ace, K-Rod will tell us the truth. At least Santana was still pitching well through the injury. K-rod is has been a nightmare.