A Little Thanks to Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers has yet to determine whether he's now a retiree, or a potential comeback player of the year candidate for 2009.  From what I saw of him last year, I do not believe he has anything left in the tank.  There's a limit to reliance on getting people to swing at junk out of the strike zone, and I think Kenny's beyond it.  I'm sure he was more than a little frustrated with the strike zone this past season--I could see it in his face at times--but, I still think he's done.  I wouldn't mind getting proven wrong, but it would be a great risk.

Having said all that, I was just thinking of how much I enjoyed watching Kenny field his position, even through his last appearance of the season.  I mean, it's really something to watch, in stark contrast to the pitchers who fall so far off the mound they can do nothing in the way of fielding, and those who can only duck or stick out a glove like a shield when a ball comes their way.  I appreciated watching him help himself out every game, whether it was making a slick fielding move, or picking runners off--hello, all time pickoff leader!   (I know, this stat has only been tracked since 1974.)

You can watch the double play he turned on August 30 in the Tigers' top plays archive.

Of course, there is his incredible 2006 post-season play (marred slightly by the pine tar incident, but not much, in my opinion).  I was at ALDS game 3, and as I was keeping score, I couldn't believe the strikeouts he was racking up--eight to be exact--for a pitcher who was no longer known as a strikeout threat.  It was great to see him pitch so inspired in the playoffs, despite never really having done so before.  I'm glad he did it with us.

I wanted to put all this out there before he makes his final decision.  If he wants to, I'm sure he'll have a nice career coaching.  The young pitchers could often be seen conversing with him during games.  Sure, they could've been talking about Big League Chew for all I know, but I think he made a great advisor.  If he walks away from the game for good, we'll savor some nice memories of him wearing the Old English D.

Where in the World is Freddy Garcia?

Jason Beck's blog reports that Freddy Garcia is not yet pitching in winter ball in Venezuela, but hopes to be by early November.  Wowee.  This is a bit of a set-back.  I hadn't realized the neck/shoulder injury from the Chicago make-up game was as serious as all this.  It makes it harder to evaluate him in my view, even though Beck thought clubs wouldn't be too put off by it, if it's a short delay.

It just goes to show how tenuous a pitcher's career is.  Not to over-react, but it seems a common problem that pitchers come back too quickly from injury, only to re-aggravate the existing injury, or cause an entirely new one due to compensating, favoring, tweaking mechanics to deal with the original injury, coming back before full arm strength is there, pitching too long too early on, etc.  I feel badly for those whose arms are burnt up before their time-- careers being cut short all tragically.  At the same time, there seems to be such a cowboy mentality out there.  Why in tarnation did Bonderman not disclose his injury earlier?  He was getting roasted alive for his nauseating performances, yet says nothing?  Come on! (Side note, Bonderman's a head case anyway, so maybe this was just more of the same bewildering psychological drama for him--like giving up three runs every first inning.)

Then we hear from Leyland about how everyone has been re-educated to report injuries immediately--to no apparent effect.   We've got Zumaya out there all jacked up, Kenny Rogers battling hip trouble, but not admitting to it, Garcia going out there trying to be a hero, laudably in some ways, trying to show his worth for next year, trying to stick it to the Sox, but ends up jeopardizing everything instead.

People, could we please not destroy our bodies and our ballclubs by reporting injuries early on, so you can maybe spend one short stint on the stinking DL instead of half the season or worse?  I mean, do you see the logic, ballplayers?  Or am I just such a non-athlete that I don't get some code of stoic, stubborn, misplaced pride?  Perhaps they fear being labeled not-durable, weak, injury-prone, but to me, if you're out there getting hammered every night anyway, it's so beyond not worth it.