Bronson Arroyo scheduled for Tommy John surgery

 

So thankfully uh you know uh........no more guitar.

Jason Varitek

 

On this date in 2012, Jason Varitek announces his retirement.

"That's ridiculous. I'm not that smart to come up with such a clever line in the heat of battle. I know Arroyo didn't hit him on purpose, and I told him to get along to first base." - when asked if he told Alex Rodriguez, "We don't throw at .260 hitters" during the July 24, 2004 altercation 

Hair shouldn't be painful!

Bronson Arroyo

Born on today's date, Bronson Arroyo.

Well, Bronson certainly values a well protected head.

"Can't you just lose a game?"

Dusty Baker in response to the endless whining, complaining and conspiracy theories coming from Tony LaRussa, John Smoltz and Dave Duncan on the Bronson Arroyo pine tar incident.

Priceless!

Bronson Arroyo's pine tar

In follow up to the last post, Computer Boy has pointed out to me that the photo from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article clearly shows what is probably pine tar on the underbill of Arroyo's cap. In my haste, I missed this (fairly obvious) detail in the picture.*

No offense to the very observant Computer Boy but this really doesn't change the point articulated in the last post.

I would still put up that message for Duncan at the next game if I was the Reds.

*Computer Boy serves as an editor for this site. I can give anybody his email address if you have any complaints.

What do you do with a guy like this?

In follow up to my post of yesterday, the Cardinals just won't let this Bronson Arroyo "rubbed balls" (not that kind of site here) thing go.

Now Cardinals, pitching coach, Dave Duncan said the reason Bronson Arroyo was so successful in throwing "unrubbed balls" a couple nights ago when John Smoltz had so much trouble is because Bronson Arroyo was cheating. He flat out says that Arroyo was cheating.

Per Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Duncan said, "I'm sure he had pine tar on his cap. He didn't have any problem getting a grip. Balls like that can generate a lot more movement than a slick ball that hasn't been rubbed up." (Pretty common knowledge)

When asked if he had seen Arroyo go to his cap, Duncan said, "Just every pitch." (Every single one)

Then Duncan said, "That's not the point. The point is that a pitcher should never be able to have control over how a ball is rubbed up, whether it's more or less. And since the umpires don't rub the balls up and their clubhouse guys do, I'm sure he had some control over it." (He is sure)

When asked why he didn't go to the umpires with his concerns, he responded, "It's gamesmanship." (Didn't work that night)

My first impression is that it is only one game and the Cardinals are in the playoffs and the Reds are not and the Cardinals need to get over this and soon.

Beyond that though, it is my understanding that the use of pine tar by pitchers to help them grip the ball, especially in cold weather, while against the rules, is pretty commonplace and tacitly accepted in baseball circles. I have heard more than one retired pitcher say this. I think this is also the reason why Tony LaRussa did not make a major issue of Kenny Rogers' blatant pine tar use (he had it smeared all over his hand) in the 2006 World Series. LaRussa's pitchers do it and LaRussa didn't argue much as he did not want his own pitchers scrutinized, then or in the future. He only approached the umpires when it was pointed out on the national broadcast of the game at which time he had to say something and all he said was "Well make him take it off." It's kind of like the phantom tag of second base by a middle infielder. It's almost never called and nobody much cares that it's not.

Instead of approaching Reds manager, Dusty Baker after the game and asking him to knock off the pine tar use and the Cardinals would do the same, Duncan goes to the media and calls Arroyo a cheater. This is really douchey behavior which in baseball would normally trigger some type of retaliation.

The only problem is that you can't throw at Duncan because he is 60 some years old, not on the active roster and doesn't hit. You do have to do something though as again this douchey conduct requires a response.

I suppose at the next game at Cincinnati between these two teams, you could post on the big screen in huge letters that Dave Duncan is the father of failed major leaguers Chris Duncan and Shelley Duncan and while that might be humiliating, that just might not be enough.

Frankly, I am kind of out of ideas here.

How do you get back at a pitching coach who won't shut up?

Give it a rest, Mr. Hall of Famer!

Cardinals pitcher, John Smoltz gave up six runs, six hits and walked five in four innings of work in the Cardinals 6-1 loss to the Reds yesterday.

He was not happy with the baseballs which were presented to him throughout the game by the umpires; balls that are supposed to be rubbed with special mud before each game by the home team's (in this case, the Reds) clubhouse crew.

Per AP: "I've been pitching a long time," Smoltz said. "It's the worst baseballs I've ever pitched with in my life. The other guy was pitching with them too. He did a nice job. It was part of the battle. I went out and battled. I had no feel for the baseball. That's about the worst thing you can have as a pitcher. They were brand new. They were absolutely not rubbed up. You can blame it on the weather but the balls were not rubbed up."

Responded Bronson Arroyo who was the "other guy": "They were fine for me. They don't mud them up as much here as they do at other places. It was a cool night, and it's hard to hold on sometimes."

In other words, "Quit your complaining, Mr. Hall of Famer. You lost!"

"Oh and by the way, the minimum wage employee who rubs the balls was not in today. His dog was sick but thanks for letting us know that you do not like the balls that way. Let's see how much mud will be on the balls the next time you pitch here. Don't blame us. Maybe the mud truck will break down on the way to the park that day. Those things happen, you know. "

Bronson, why so dumb?

A few days ago, Bronson Arroyo of the Cincinnati Reds said the following:

"I have a lot of guys in the locker room who think I'm out of my mind because I'm taking a lot of things not on the (MLB-approved) list. I take 10 to 12 different things a day, and on the days I pitch, there's four more things. There's a caffeine drink I take from a company that Curt Shilling introduced me to in '05. I take some Korean ginseng and a few other proteins out there that are not certified. But I haven't failed any tests, so I figured I'm good."

He also talked about taking androstenedione and amphetemines before they were banned by MLB in 2004 and 2006 respectively.

Computer Boy saw this on ESPN and said, "How dumb! What do you think MLB will do?"

I told him I thought they would bring him in a for a little talk and immediately test him.

Sure enough per Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, Major League Baseball plans to schedule a meeting with Arroyo to discuss his supplement use. "We just want to chat with him." MLB vice president Rich Levin said.

Real smart, Bronson!

Arroyo has kind of a reputation as a stoner and I do not know how long cannabis, mushrooms or psychedelic drugs stay in your system but I think that there is a decent chance that any testing of Arroyo likely will be positive for some of those things in addition to whatever is in these exotic supplements that he admits to taking.

Frankly it should not make a difference as any recreational drugs are no doubt "performance-detracting" (maybe Dock Ellis would disagree) rather than "performance-enhancing" but many people might not be able to make that distinction and will be up in arms.

Real smart, Bronson!

Apropos of nothing really but I am not digging on that girly hairstyle.* That stringy Rachel Ray/Mary Tyler Moore thing is just not doing it for me. He needs a stylist or just a good old-fashioned barber.

*I know he has the "rock star" thing going on but it is my understanding that he typically plays in coffee houses before like 50 people so I would not quit my day job or alter my appearance for that.

Why this interest in Bronson Arroyo by teams at the trade deadline?

It is noted that the AP story of last night's Reds/Padres game indicates that there were scouts from 5 different teams at the game watching Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo as their teams may have some interest in him before the trade deadline. Some very quick additional research indicates that the Yankees, Angels and Rockies may be teams that have some interest in Arroyo.

I find this is kind of strange.

Bronson Arroyo has 5.17 ERA and 1.48 WHIP this year. I could look up his career stats but I feel very confident in saying that he has had his share of bad years and his "good" years are probably better classified as just "ok". I do know that when he pitched for the Red Sox, when I would hear that he was pitching against the Tigers at Comerica Park, one thought that would usually come to mind is whether there were any tickets available as the game was probably going to be a slugfest. To top it all off, he makes $9.5 million this year and is scheduled to make $11 million next year.

Why would any team be interested in adding him now? I know Wang just went down again for the Yankees but this is Bronson Arroyo who we are talking about here as a replacement. Think about it. If any other team would be willing to assume all of Arroyo's salary, I bet the Reds would let him go for a bag of balls and a year's supply of lineup cards. Well, they should anyway but then again they did hire Dusty Baker so who knows.

This reminds me of a little anecdot. I won a signed Bronson Arroyo card off of ebay some time ago. It is a replica of the card above.* I am not a Bronson Arroyo fan but I thought the card was colorful and nicely framed and accentuated his high leg kick. I am not home when the mail comes and I have an agreement with Computer Boy that he can open up envelopes with cards in them if he can be careful and he always is. Anyway, he opened up this envelope with the Bronson Arroyo card and he was ready for me when I got home.

"Why did you buy a Bronson Arroyo card?" he said waiving the offending card.

"Well it is colorful, framed nicely, blah blah blah"

"Yea, so. It is Bronson Arroyo."

Who am I to argue?

*I try to refrain from posting ebay scans of cards and I think I have only done it once before. In this case, I am not near my scanner now to scan the actual card and I cannot find the card through a search engine so I (shamefully) have posted an ebay photo of the card here. I an not ashamed though to say that I got my card for less than 15% of the "buy it now" price for this card.