The following two topics have literally nothing to do with each other, but I want to discuss them further than I did yesterday.
First, as you all know, Arodys Vizcaino was called up to the Majors and pitched for the Braves last night. What does this have to do with the Yankees? As you know, he was the biggest piece the Yankees gave up in the second trade. Are you shaking with awful memories of 2010 Javy Vazquez? Yeah that was rough, wasn’t it?
Anyway, I have a bad feeling–and I saw a bit of it last night–that every time A-Viz comes in for the rest of the year, we’re going to hear Yankee fans doing the “OH NOEZ!” song and dance. And it’s going to get really tired really quickly. The trade didn’t work out. It happens. Even if I wasn’t too excited for it at the time, the trade was still a good trade at the time, but it just didn’t go the way we wanted to.
At the time, I thought the trade was a bit short sighted. Giving up Vizcaino hurt and acquiring Vazquez meant that wasn’t going to start in 2010. But, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Vazquez was a virtual lock for 200 innings and around 200 strikeouts, A-Viz had yet to pitch in a full season league, and was about to get really expensive. The trade ended up being a perfect example of (mostly) good process and just the worst possible results. Too bad. Get over it. Please, Yankee fans, don’t moan and groan every time Vizcaino takes the mound just because Javy Vazquez’s fastball disappeared in 2010.
Speaking of much despised Yankee pitchers, I’ll move to . Yesterday, I hinted that he could be sent to the bullpen, though I don’t think it’ll happen. Also yesterday, I asked people on Twitter to give me evidence that Mr. Burnett was mentally weak. I had a good conversation with , but I’m still a bit unconvinced. A lot of the things we consider signs of “mental weakness” definitely have physical roots. A.J. Burnett is mentally weak because he hung a pitch to ? Well if hanging a pitch to a crappy hitter is a sign of mental weakness, then every pitcher ever is mentally weak. He has mechanical flaws, no? So does everyone at some point. I don’t think that’s a sign of mental weakness.
From what we know, A.J. Burnett is a good teammate. He stands in front of his locker and takes questions when he doesn’t pitch well. He knows what he did right, he knows what he did wrong, and he usually holds himself pretty accountable. Those are not the traits of a “mentally weak” pitcher.
No, A.J. Burnett is not pitching well right now. He’s been pretty bad for the last year and a few months. But, his struggles seem mostly physical. Bad control, sketchy mechanics, and the like are not evidence of A.J. Burnett being weak minded. Their signs of him being an inconsistent pitcher. If you’re thinking that Burnett is anything different at this point, well, I don’t know what to tell you.
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8 Responses to On Arodys and A.J.
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I think what hurts about seeing Arodys in the big leagues right now is just how quick it happened. When the trade was made, we were told it was okay to trade a top prospect because he was so far away and hadn’t even pitched full-season yet. Then last year he got hurt, if I remember correctly, so it didn’t seem so awful when Javy imploded. But here we are, less than two years from the trade, and Vizcaino is in the Show. Man, that smarts.
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August 11th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
“I think what hurts about seeing Arodys in the big leagues right now is just how quick it happened…But here we are, less than two years from the trade, and Vizcaino is in the Show. Man, that smarts.”
Agreed, but I think there are two things at play here:
1) Atlanta is generally more aggressive about promoting their prospects; and
2) They’re bringing in an arm for the bullpen in order to cap his innings for the year. If you look at his usage in pro ball, Vizcaino has still never topped 97 innings in a season before 2011. He’ll probably get to around 110-120 this year (my guess) and will return to Triple-A next year to continue his development as a starting pitcher. I imagine he won’t be an MLB regular until 2013.
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As to Burnett, I agree he’s not “mentally weak.” Rather, he lacks focus/concentration. It’s clear from watching him pitch time and time again, his main problem is his inability to repeat his delivery. Either his arm slot differs or his leg drive isn’t there. This also seems to be the concensus when listening to announcers for opposing teams, such as Jim Palmer and Buck Martinez, both of whom I’d say know a little about pitching, who agree AJ has the talent, just not the focus. Hell, even Mitch Williams on the MLB Network, has broken down AJ’s delivery several times, most recently yesterday, and essentially said the same thing.
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August 11th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I agree but I don’t think an inability to repeat mechanics is a focus or concentration problem. The inability to repeat mechanics is a physical problem in that no matter how much you concentrate, sometimes you still make physical mistakes.
Separately, no matter how much Jim Palmer, Buck Martinez or any other ex-jock might know about their former profession, I don’t put any stock in those words. How does Jim Palmer know that AJ Burnett lacks focus? Has he worked with Burnett? Has he spoken to him? Or is he just assuming that Burnett lacks focus because that’s (1) a popular narrative that explains the inexplicable or (2) Palmer’s self-diagnosis from when he struggled during his playing days (ie if Palmer had a few starts where he’d lose focus, all other pitchers must similarly attribute failure to a lack of focus).
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Do you all recall only a few weeks back when some on this website, one writer named Larry S. in particular wanted to trade the three best prospects and Nova as a throw in for Ubaldo Jimenez and he became agitated with many when readers objected to trading all three big prospects and Nova, he added that Nova was merely a throw in. How quick things change. I wonder how he feels about that trade right now. Probably the same way I felt when we traded for Javier Vazquez. I didn’t want to trade Vizcaino and felt it may have been a mistake by Cashman and a desperation move and at the time many applauded the trade. Well Javy 2.0 was much like Javy 1.0 and Arodys is in majors. Hold onto young arms cause you never know!
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August 11th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
There’s a point at which “hold[ing] onto your arms” becomes self-defeating. You can always hold your prospects back for that mythical pefect trade of the future but sometimes those trades never come around.
That isn’t to say that all prospects must always be traded but it’s also absurd to treat prospects like a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T206_Honus_Wagner). If the Yankees view their minor league system as another means of acquiring talent through trades then we can’t bemoan the loss of Vizcaino on one hand and then expect the Yankees make the playoffs every single year on the other.
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AJ Burnett: Good teammate, crappy barber.
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