tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7094682562158691055.post430944794057464901..comments2012-03-24T14:14:04.490-04:00Comments on Productive Outs and Crackerjack: Now We're Worrying About Innings Pitched Caps?Jack Flynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16809904649660393420noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7094682562158691055.post-30257530858360085812008-08-27T10:02:00.000-04:002008-08-27T10:02:00.000-04:00Pitch counts, schmitz counts. Or is that Schlitz ...Pitch counts, schmitz counts. Or is that Schlitz counts... do they even MAKE Schlitz beer anymore?<BR/><BR/>But anyway, back to the subject at, uh, hand, so to speak. I think it's good to let a young, strong guy like Pelfrey pitch as much as he can pitch. May as well toughen these kids up earlier, because old habits die hard, as those of us of a (ahem) "certain age" know all too well.<BR/><BR/>And after many years of watching the game, I have to wonder if the cautionary tactics teams take with pitchers these days don't actually contribute to the amount of injuries we see.Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14926167077492487461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7094682562158691055.post-77546111272235467672008-08-26T16:29:00.000-04:002008-08-26T16:29:00.000-04:00I've been trying to find articles about this very ...I've been trying to find articles about this very subject and, for the most part, I find articles that simply question the notion of strict pitch counts. (Like <A HREF="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/what-pitch-counts-hath-wrought/" REL="nofollow">here</A>.)<BR/><BR/>The implication, of course, being that pitch counts are pretty much thought of as the end all be all of everything by many people without any empirical studies and it's up to all the doubters to offer up the data. A bit ass backward, don't you think? The evidence for is anecdotal, numbers are arbitrary (why 100? because it's nice and round, that's why, I mean, what if we counted in base 8 or something?) and, the most annoying thing to me, one size fits all applications are made, as if all pitchers are identical Chryslers. It's argument by assertion, plain and simple. I mean, Christ, where'd this 30 inning thing come from? Why 30? Why not 28 or 33? At 31 innings his arm falls off? Does the number of appearances matter? The weather? Overall days off? Spring training? Simulated games? Throwing in the bullpen? Batting practice swings? Pickoff throws? The <I>type</I> of pitches? There are so many damned vaiables that to boil everything down to one magic number is just wishful thinking for ballclubs who are so damn afraid of making a "mistake." To do a proper study would take the analyzation of data from hundreds or thousands of <I>careers</I>, not just the cherrypicking of Nolan Ryan or Fernando Valenzuela. <BR/><BR/>As it stands, pitch counts are a useful, but small piece of information.<BR/><BR/>And, oh yeah, Ken Davidoff is being a bit of a douchebag by implying that the Mets are hurting Pelfrey by letting him potentially go past the 30 inning magic threshold, a notion he has apparently swallowed uncritically. And his use of the word "Fuhgeddaboutit" to describe the Mets attitude is the height of smug douchebaggery.James Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03964207789326645793noreply@blogger.com