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.
