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I don’t know about TJ but I fully expect Skenes to take the Gerrit Cole career path, which is to stay with the low budget Pirates for a few years then be traded to a large market team as he starts getting expensive in arbitration. Ironically Cole is currently out due to TJ.
Speaking of Skenes……how long do you think it will be before he needs Tommy John surgery?
You might be right.
While throwing a four-seam fastball, in itself, doesn’t directly cause a Tommy John surgery (UCL reconstruction), the repetitive motion and high velocity associated with it can increase the risk of UCL injury, which can lead to the need for surgery.
Hopefully Skenes is healthy for many years as he is good for the sport. Skenes is interesting though in that he makes 100 MPH look so effortless and he mechanics are really good.
If anyone can avoid serious arm injury it might be Skenes. He is a big dude and seems to have great mechanics as ATM said. I think the Pirates are using him right as well, not over extending him. Course they have not played in any big games lately. Last year I saw a game in Pittsburgh and it was Skenes and Lynn matched up. Skenes outpitched Lynn, but Lynn got outs when we needed and we got away with a 2-1 win. Siani tripled in the ninth and Burly singled him in – Helsley saved it abs we handed Skenes his second loss.
How long will it be before he hangs 20 W’s up on the board? My guess would be, not too long. I’d also guess that if he’s allowed to do what he was obviously designed and built for, which is to take his turn every 5th day and work deep into baseball games, his arm will hold up just fine as did the legions of big, strong RHP’ers that came before him that seemed to work 200+ innings season after season. I sometimes think that the primary reason that these guys seemingly have less than zero endurance is because they’re handled as if they were delicate, dainty cupcakes that are so incredibly infirm that they’ll swoon and collapse at the mere thought of working past 100 pitches. Let these guys do what their maker intended for them to do which is to tkae command of the hill and let it loose!
I know pitch count is a (relatively) new stat but the data was likely kept well before the TV guys decided to throw it up on the screen.
I wonder what the average pitch count for SPers in the 60s, 70s, and 80s was – I’d bet the average decreased each decade.
It seems like the 80s was when the bullpen usage evolved into more or less what we have today but still trending towards shorter starts each following decade – although that is just a gut feeling…
I think you’re right, ZTR, but I also recall a time in the not too distant past when it seemed like the pitcher was allowed much more input into the final decision regarding whether or not he remained in the game. In other words, there was no magic number that dictated when it was time to sit him down. If a pitcher was still working effectively, a pitch count was normally a secondary consideration. A manager would pay a visit to the mound simply to ask his pitcher if he felt like he still had enough steam to continue and many times would base his decision on the pitcher’s answer. I rarely see that happen anymore. The decision seems to be entirely predetermined by the aforementioned magic number. Every arm is a bit different on any given day. That all encompassing 100 pitch count for all SP’ers is not at all unlike insisting that blondes and redheads share identical preferences in the selection of undergarments…Haha!
So far our pitching staff is reminding me of our 2023 team. Ugh….. It is hard to win when you know you need to score 7 or 8 runs each night.
How much longer are they going to keep running Mikolas out there?
And if the bad start continues how safe is Marmol’s job? Memorial Day, perhaps?
And if the bad start continues how safe is Marmol’s job? Memorial Day, perhaps?
How many times have we said that over the last couple of years? Marmol is the Teflon Don.
I’ll have to miss most if not all of this one tonight. I’ll be down at the Snitz restaurant in Jasper dining with 3-4 other retirees. Not sure what’s on the menu for din-din tonight. Perhaps a chopped sirloin, german fries, green beans, some brown gravy.
I’ll be back in time to tune in to the Reds and Giants from Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Me and Whitey Herdog will be on the couch with a cigar or two for this one.
I am calling tonight’s Redbirds/Pirates game 7-4 in favor of the St. Louisans. I look for Burleson to get off the schneid with his first long dong of the year.
r/DCP
As of now I can’t see what any of this has to do with Oli. This is what he has been given to work with. If they fail miserably it’s all on the upper management.
Now I usually say this but it’s early. Remember last season we got off to a terrible start being 9 games under .500. The team had a great May and June and had a hold of a playoff spot. However it appears the pitching was much better. This year the Jury is out. Not looking great so far.
As of now I can’t see what any of this has to do with Oli.
Liberatore recovered from a horrendous beginning to pitch us back into the game. Take him out after the sixth, and you have a good confidence builder for him. I did not like putting him back out there in the 7th, even though Roycroft was the one to stink up the joint.
Baseball is only part talent. There is also the mental aspect. I wasn’t a huge Schlidt fan, but he took a bunch of average players and got above average results.
I’m getting more than a little long in the tooth and my memory often fails me, however I have no recollection at all of the ’24 edition of the Cardinals ever being anywhere near to being in genuine contention for any sort of post-season baseball. As for the ’25 edition, it’s my view this seasons variety of the entire pitching staff is infinitely more suspect than it was in ’24. It could get really gruesome before the flowers bloom in early May. The term carnage may apply…
I knew it was bad in the early going, but I hadn’t realized that no other pitching staff in either league has surrendered as many ER’s as the Cardinals. And what’s worse is that 3 of the 4 teams that they’ve given up all those runs to are teams that possess the sort of offense that could be termed as feeble.
Birds vs. Bucs pic.twitter.com/MB8BqTrLef
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 8, 2025
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