Alex Rodriguez is trying to embrace a possible move to first base this offseason, if only he could find the right glove.
Rodriguez, 39, went through drills at first base with Mark Teixeira and spring training invitee Kyle Roller on Friday, but did so with his third baseman’s glove, according to the New York Times.
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Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (Getty Images)
When asked what the hardest part was of playing a new position, Rodriguez replied, “Finding my first-base mitt,” adding that he hasn’t had a chance to break it in.
Luckily, a clubhouse attendant found the mitt on top of a locker in the trainer’s room. The larger problem, however, might be Rodriguez’s uninspired performance during drills. He reportedly left tosses behind pitchers covering first base and bounced a throw wide of third base in another drill. The New York Times referred to Rodriguez as a “third wheel” during the drills.
“I think he’s paying attention and trying to learn. He’s never taken balls over there,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s never seen what a bunt defense looks like over there. I think he’s trying to take it all in, and that’s going to take some time.”
Girardi has said Rodriguez will see time at first base during spring training to see where he is physically after missing all of last season due to suspension. He’s expected to be the team’s primary designated hitter, but will also serve as a backup to Chase Headley at third base.
Newly-acquired Garrett Jones will be second on the depth chart at first base behind Teixeira, a former Gold Glove winner, but Girardi also said he might look for a right-handed bat to spell Teixeira in the lineup from time to time. Enter A-Rod.
"Anybody can play first base, but not anybody can play it well,” Teixeira said. “It’s not the ground balls; it’s not the throwing. It’s where to be.”
Rodriguez admitted that he’s afraid of being embarrassed if he plays the position poorly.
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “Any time I’m on a baseball field, I’m close to getting embarrassed.”
You
will not find a better collection of bizarre team names than the teams
that compete in Minor League Baseball. But with so many teams making up
the Triple-A, Double-A, Single-A and Short-Season ranks, figuring out
which one is the best is a difficult task.
That's why we reached
out to Sporting News contributor TIm Hagerty, who not only serves as the
radio play-by-play broadcaster for the El Paso Chihuahuas, but also is
the author of " Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball's Most
Off-the-Wall Team Names ." MORE: Best MiLB states | Best MiLB teams on Twitter | Odd MiLB trades
The first round is in the books with 16 teams advancing and 16 teams going home. North Region:
No.
1 Hillsboro Hops def. No. 16 Omaha Storm Chasers; No. 8 Akron
RubberDucks def. No 9 Beloit Snappers; No. 13 Toledo Mud Hens def. No. 4
Vermont Lake Monsters; No. 5 Modesto Nuts def. No. 12 Batavia Muckdogs;
No. 3 Great Falls Voyagers def. No. 14 Frederick Keys; No. 6 Lansing
Lugnuts def. No. 11 Tri-City Dust Devils; No. 2 Fort Wayne TinCaps def.
No. 15 Altoona Curve; No. 10 Quad Citites River Bandits def. No. 7 Erie
SeaWolves South Region:
No.
1 Chattanooga
Lookouts def. No. 16 Lakeland Flying Tigers; No. 9 Biloxi Shuckers def.
No. 8 Fort Myers Miracle; No. 4 Montgomery Biscuits def. No. 13
Kannapolis Intimidators; No. 5 Albuquerque Isotopes; No. 3 Carolina
Mudcats def. No. 14 Nashville Sounds; No. 6 Midland RockHounds def. No.
13 Arkansas Travelers; No.7 Richmond Flying Squirrels def. No. 10
Daytona Tortugas; No. 2 El Paso Chihuahuas def. No. 15 Bowling Green Hot
Rods.
The second round will run from 11:30 a.m ET on Wednesday, Jan. 14 until 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 15.
The explanation for Tim's rankings can be viewed below the poll.
North Region Rankings:
1. Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks’ affiliate, Short-Season Northwest League)
The
Hops’ name brews Oregon’s craft beer industry with a bouncing baseball
phrase. There weren’t any bad hops last year in Hillsboro; the Hops won
the 2014 Northwest League championship. 2. Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres’ affiliate, Single-A Midwest League)
The
TinCaps name was planted in Johnny Appleseed’s memory. Appleseed, who
wore a cooking pot on his head during his travels, is buried in Fort
Wayne. The city holds an annual Johnny Appleseed Festival. 3. Great Falls Voyagers (White Sox’ affiliate, Rookie-level Pioneer League)
The
Voyagers are the only team styled after a UFO sighting. Great Falls
named its club “Voyagers” in 2008, decades after Nick Mariana videotaped
flying saucers hovering over the ballpark in Great Falls. His recording
is still cited as the “Mariana UFO Incident.” 4. Vermont Lake Monsters (Athletics’ affiliate, Short-Season New York-Penn League)
For
generations, Vermonters have mythologized a Loch Ness Monster-like
creature living in the depths of Lake Champlain. There have been dozens
of reported sightings over the years. The Lake Monsters’ name honors
this piece of Vermont folklore. 5. Modesto Nuts (Rockies’ affiliate, Single-A California League)
When
Modesto announced its new team name in 2005, baseball fans thought it
was nuts. Since then, the Nuts have grown to be one of the most
recognized brands in the minors. The Modesto area is known for almond
and walnut production. 6. Lansing Lugnuts (Blue Jays’ affiliate, Single-A Midwest League)
The
Lugnuts were named after Michigan’s automotive industry. Their ballpark
stays consistent with the car theme when fans chant the official team
slogan “Go Nuts” in seating sections like “Gasoline Alley.” 7. Erie SeaWolves (Tigers’ affiliate, Double-A Eastern League)
A
seawolf is not an animal; it’s a slang term for “pirate.” The SeaWolves
chose their swashbuckling name because their original parent club was
the Pirates. 8. Akron RubberDucks (Indians’ affiliate, Double-A Eastern League)
The
RubberDucks name splashes Akron’s standing as “The Rubber Capital of
the World.” The city has a long history of tire production and
Goodyear’s headquarters are still there. 9. Beloit Snappers (Athletics’ affiliate, Single-A Midwest League)
The
Snappers join the Daytona Tortugas as turtle-themed competitors in our
minor league showdown. Beloit used to be called “Turtle Village” and its
bordering town is Turtle, Wisconsin. 10. Quad Cities River Bandits (Astros’ affiliate, Single-A Midwest League)
Any
fan glancing beyond the River Bandits’ outfield fence will learn the
meaning of this team’s name. The stadium is set on the Mississippi River
and the Centennial Bridge provides a stunning right field backdrop.
Their ballpark features a Ferris wheel behind the left field fence. 11. Tri-City Dust Devils (Padres’ affiliate, Short-Season Northwest League)
When
professional baseball came to eastern Washington in 2001, the community
wanted the name “Rattlers.” But when the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
cited copyright infringement, Tri-City moved to a catchy backup brand –
Dust Devils. A dust devil is a small twister of wind. 12. Batavia Muckdogs (Marlins’ affiliate, Short-Season New York-Penn League)
There
is no such thing as a muckdog. This name digs up a noted part of
Batavia – its soil. Muck soil is known for being very fertile. Ricky
Williams played for the Muckdogs in 1998, the same year he won the
Heisman Trophy. 13. Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers’ affiliate, Triple-A International League)
The
Mud Hens deserve extra points for tradition. Their team name dates back
to 1896, when Toledo’s ballpark was surrounded by marshland and mud hen
birds. Toledoan Jamie Farr joked about the Mud Hens on the TV show
M*A*S*H. 14. Frederick Keys (Orioles’ affiliate, Single-A Carolina League)
The
Keys take their name from famous poet and former Frederick County
resident Francis Scott Key, who wrote the Star Spangled Banner. Key is
buried right near the Keys’ ballpark. Fans sometimes jingle their car
keys in unison at Keys games. 15. Altoona Curve (Pirates’ affiliate, Double-A Eastern League)
The
Curve’s moniker has nothing to do with a breaking ball. The club is
named after Horseshoe Curve, a distinguished railroad loop near the
Allegheny Mountains. The Curve’s ballpark has a unique name too –
Peoples Natural Gas Field. 16. Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals’ affiliate, Triple-A Pacific Coast League)
The
Storm Chasers’ name hails Nebraska’s extreme weather. Their official
mascots are “Stormy” and “Vortex.” Omaha’s first home game as the Storm
Chasers was postponed because of, you guessed it, stormy weather.
South Region Rankings:
1. Chattanooga Lookouts (Twins’ affiliate, Double-A Southern League)
The
Lookouts play a few miles from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, the site
of a Civil War battle. Their name has been on alert since 1885 and the
“Lookout Eyes” logo has been a famous minor league mark for decades. 2. El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres’ affiliate, Triple-A Pacific Coast League)
El
Paso is surrounded by the Chihuahuan Desert, which is part of how the
Chihuahuas got their name. Team management also felt the feisty dogs
represented the scrappy personality of the city. The Chihuahuas live
their brand with seating sections titled “Big Dog House” and “Woof Top
Deck.” 3. Carolina Mudcats (Braves’ affiliate, Single-A Carolina League)
The
North Carolina-based franchise swam from Columbus, Georgia in 1991 and
brought the name “Mudcats” with them. The Columbus Mudcats’ name fit
because their ballpark was next to the catfish-filled Chattahoochee
River. 4. Montgomery Biscuits (Rays’ affiliate, Double-A Southern League)
The
Biscuits brought their brand out of the oven in 2003 as a tribute to
southern cooking. Their official team slogan is “history in the baking”
and their team colors are “butter and blue.” 5. Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies’ affiliate, Triple-A Pacific Coast League)
The
Isotopes’ name has a cartoonish history. In an episode of The Simpsons,
the fictitious Springfield Isotopes baseball team plots a move to
Albuquerque. A few years after the episode aired, Albuquerque got
Triple-A baseball and named the team “Isotopes.” 6. Midland RockHounds (Athletics’ affiliate, Double-A Texas League)
A
rockhound is not a type of dog. The RockHounds are named after
geology’s “rock hounds,” a term for people hunting for minerals. The
Permian Basin of Texas is a popular place to search for stones. 7. Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants’ affiliate, Double-A Eastern League)
There
are actual flying squirrels in Richmond, but the region isn’t
necessarily known for them. Team management admitted they picked “Flying
Squirrels” mostly because of the potential for fun ideas like their
nightly “Mixed Nut Race.” The Flying Squirrels have five mascots
including a rally pig. 8. Fort Myers Miracle (Twins’ affiliate, Single-A Florida State League)
The
name “Miracle” dates back to 1989 when the franchise played in Miami.
Team owner Stuart Revo told reporters “it would take a miracle” for the
Single-A team to survive in Miami. He was right. They played at a
college stadium, finished in last place and moved to Fort Myers a few
years later. 9. Biloxi Shuckers (Brewers’ affiliate, Double-A Southern League)
The
Huntsville Stars’ 2015 move to Biloxi gave Minor League Baseball a
nickname upgrade. The Shuckers’ name cracks open a reference to the
area’s oyster history. Biloxi was once known as “The Seafood Capital of
the World.” 10. Daytona Tortugas (Reds’ affiliate, Single-A Florida State League)
The
Tortugas’ name was hatched in early December. Tortugas is Spanish for
“turtles.” Sea turtles are common in the Daytona Beach area. The
Tortugas’ mascot is named “Shelldon.” 11. Arkansas Travelers (Angels’ affiliate, Double-A Texas League)
Little
Rock’s professional baseball team has been known as “Travelers” since
1901. The club is named after the Arkansas Traveler, a singer who roamed
the Ozark Mountain region and stopped in towns to perform. 12. Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox’ affiliate, Single-A Carolina League)
Winston-Salem’s
jerseys contained a dash for decades but the club didn’t become the
Dash until 2008. In the press release announcing the switch from
Warthogs to Dash, team president Kevin Terry said the new name “brings
Winston-Salem together.” 13. Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox’ affiliate, Single-A South Atlantic League)
NASCAR
Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt was born in Kannapolis, NC, and was part
of the team’s original ownership group. The Intimidators and their late
owner share a nickname. 14. Nashville Sounds (Athletics’ affiliate, Triple-A Pacific Coast League)
The
Sounds’ team name strikes a chord with Nashville’s country music
history. When the Sounds debuted in 1978, country music stars Larry
Gatlin, Jerry Reed and Conway Twitty were minority owners. Nashville’s
new ballpark opens this year with a guitar-shaped scoreboard. 15. Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays’ affiliate, Single-A Midwest League)
The
Hot Rods’ name was sparked by Bowling Green’s car industry. The city is
home to the National Corvette Museum and all recent Corvettes are made
at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant. 16. Lakeland Flying Tigers (Tigers’ affiliate, Single-A Florida State League)
You
won’t see any tigers with wings fluttering around Florida. The Flying
Tigers name jets back to the famous Lakeland School of Aeronautics,
where 8,000 pilots trained in the 1940s.
Mark Teixeira, left, with Alex Rodriguez, who misplaced his first baseman’s glove Friday. Credit Chris O'Meara/Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — The ’ grand experiment of spring training, teaching to play first base, began with a rudimentary lesson: Don’t forget your glove.
The new first baseman’s glove that Rodriguez had to procure vanished Friday morning, leaving Rodriguez to do drills at the position with his third baseman’s glove.
Rodriguez spent a little more than 10 minutes rotating in with and a nonroster invitee, , working on fielding bunts and soft grounders to the right side of the infield. The first basemen were required to make throws to third base and toss to the pitchers covering first.
The hardest part?
“Finding my first-base mitt,” Rodriguez said.
Asked if it was broken in yet, Rodriguez said, “I’ve got to find it first.”
The mystery was solved when Rodriguez wrapped up a four-minute session with the news media and prepared to leave. A clubhouse attendant pointed to the glove atop a locker and told him it had been found in the trainer’s room.
What was most striking about Rodriguez’s first workout at first base was how disengaged he appeared to be. While other Yankees did the drills at close to game speed, pitchers pouncing off the mound and fielders focusing on their footwork, Rodriguez went about his work with a degree of nonchalance.
He casually flipped a ball to a pitcher covering first, leaving it behind his target, and he looped an off-balance throw to third base that bounced wide of its mark.
Teixeira, a former Gold Glove first baseman who made the transition from third base early in his career, carried on a dialogue after each grounder with Roller about the finer points of footwork, balance and taking proper angles to the ball. Rodriguez, as if he were a third wheel, did not participate in the discussion.
Asked about Rodriguez’s perceived indifference, Manager said: “I think he’s paying attention and trying to learn. He’s never taken balls over there. He’s never seen what a bunt defense looks like over there. I think he’s trying to take it all in, and that’s going to take some time.”
Girardi said he planned to play Rodriguez at first base at some point during spring training because he needed to assess whether Rodriguez, returning from a yearlong suspension by Major League Baseball, could play there in the regular season. Rodriguez, 39, will also be asked to back up Chase Headley at third base, where he also worked out Friday.
Teixeira has not been healthy enough to play more than 123 games in any of the last three seasons, and when he struggled last year in his return from wrist surgery, the Yankees discovered how hard it was to plug someone in.
Headley and Kelly Johnson, both new to first base, were far from comfortable there. Catcher Brian McCann also played first last year.
Now the Yankees have the left-handed-hitting Garrett Jones, acquired from Miami, to serve as Teixeira’s primary backup. But Girardi said Jones might also be needed in right field to spell Carlos Beltran. Girardi may also be looking for a right-handed hitter to step in for Teixeira at times, so Rodriguez could be an option at first base.
“Anybody can play first base, but not anybody can play it well,” Teixeira said. “It’s not the ground balls; it’s not the throwing. It’s where to be.”
Rodriguez said that the session was too brief for him to have learned much, and that he would be out early Saturday to work with the infield coach Joe Espada more at first base. He repeated his mantras of the last week: He is eager to learn and will do whatever Girardi wants him to do.
Asked if he was afraid of embarrassing himself, Rodriguez laughed. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “Any time I’m on a baseball field, I’m close to getting embarrassed.”
INSIDE PITCH
Shortstop Brendan Ryan, who is vying to back up Didi Gregorius, will be sidelined for about five days with a strained muscle behind his rib cage. Ryan said he injured himself last week doing biceps curls. ... Joe Girardi expected to know on Saturday who would be the starting pitchers next week for the first few games of the spring training season.
The Yankees’ Domingo German, above, running a defensive drill on Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
TAMPA, Fla. — It is a rite of spring, as much a part of the training camp atmosphere as the palm trees in Florida and the cactuses in Arizona. It is known colloquially as P.F.P., pitchers’ fielding practice, and it takes place almost daily on the back fields of the sprawling major league complexes.
For close to an hour, after pitchers have loosened up, they rotate among different stations and run through various drills: fielding comebackers and bunts, running pickoff plays, covering first base and starting or finishing double plays — almost any situation that requires a pitcher to become a fielder.
For nearly seven weeks, pitchers in all training camps will perform these rituals over and over and over. Then the season will start in early April, and they may not go through the drills again until next spring training.
Most days during the course of a major league season, batters take batting practice, fielders practice fielding and pitchers throw balls back and forth. But only on rare occasions do pitchers practice fielding.
Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, left, barehanding a ball. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
It is not as if this is suddenly unimportant. A pitcher’s ability to field his position — or not — has a way of determining October games.
The only sign of vulnerability San Francisco pitcher Madison Bumgarner has ever shown in the playoffs came when he threw away a bunt last year against Washington, a misplay that resulted in his only loss in last year’s postseason. The turning point in the Giants’ National League Championship Series win over St. Louis came when Cardinals pitcher Randy Choate threw a bunt away in the bottom of the 10th inning.
In the 2006 World Series, Detroit pitchers made fielding errors in the final three games — all losses to St. Louis.
“We’d laugh about it, but when a pitcher screwed up, all of a sudden the next day there was a bulletin: pitchers’ fielding practice,” said Jim Kaat, a broadcaster for MLB Network who won a record 16 consecutive Gold Gloves. “It was like punishment, which always baffled me. It wouldn’t take a lot of time to go through every other day, but most teams forget about it.”
Many college teams run the drills frequently, as do teams in Japan and in the minor leagues. There are myriad reasons coaches, managers and players cite for not practicing the drills more often during the regular season at the big league level: Spring training drills are sufficient, individual work is available when needed and pitchers shouldn’t tire out their arms doing drills. Some pitchers wondered: What was the point of spending time on something such as pickoff plays when they were hardly ever run?
“You don’t tell a leopard to go hunt for an impala, you just watch him do it,” said Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R. A. Dickey, a former Gold Glove winner. “It’s the same. Once you’ve done it for so long, it’s ingrained. As much as infielders take ground balls, and they do it every day, they still make errors.”
Philadelphia pitcher Cole Hamels said the Phillies ran pitchers’ fielding practice once every home stand last season under their rookie manager, Ryne Sandberg, which was far more often than he remembered running them any other season.
“It’s not 1,000 reps, but if they know we’re in the right place, then we can do it and get out of there,” Hamels said. “It’s just making sure you’re having the awareness and the effort. There’s hundreds of thousands of fans watching you, and if you throw a passed ball and you’re just standing on the mound, that’s not going to appease too many people.”
Some pitchers, like the Yankees veteran Chris Capuano, incorporate drills into their daily routines. Capuano will drop balls when he is playing catch to practice picking up bunts and making throws. Dickey said he always worked at being a good fielder because until he blossomed as a knuckleball pitcher, he thought it might help him survive as an average major league talent.
Joe Espada, the Yankees’ new infield coach, believes that pressure causes most of the mistakes. A fast runner, a late-game situation or a crucial game can prompt a pitcher to panic, holding onto the ball too long or not positioning himself properly.
“If you work on it in spring training and just rehearse it, you get reinforcement,” said Espada, who plans to run pitchers’ fielding practices once a homestand. “I think it becomes memory and you can get better at it.”
One of the more unusual drills in spring training involves pitchers throwing an imaginary pitch off a mound and then fielding a hard grounder or line drive hit back at them by a coach. But the coaches don’t hit major league baseballs — they hit spongy ones that are sometimes used for children’s T-ball leagues or lower levels of Little League, and referred to as rag balls.
But those balls are not easy to catch, often popping out of gloves. On a recent morning, three Yankees minor league pitchers in a row failed to catch a rag ball hit back at them.
“You can practice throws, you can practice bunts, but a ball hit back at you is a reaction play,” Yankees reliever Adam Warren said. “You just have to trust your reactions. The coaches wouldn’t want to start firing balls back at us at 100 miles per hour.”
This is probably true. But in Arizona and Florida, the coaches will continue to separate pitchers into groups each day, and continue to have them rotate from diamond to diamond. They will run, field, throw and catch, all within the confines of the infield’s green grass. The routine may feel like busy work, and tedium will begin to set in, but when the season starts in early April, the pitchers at least should be prepared for anything that comes their way.
Later in the season, when the games matter most, they should feel so lucky.
Alex Rodriguez drew plenty of attention as he emerged for the Yankees’ first full-squad workout of spring training on Thursday. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
By
TAMPA, Fla. — If you never knew about the lies and the lawsuits, never knew all the ways turned himself into one of baseball’s greatest con men, Thursday would have seemed normal.
At 9:15 in the morning, Rodriguez strode through the clubhouse to his corner locker at Steinbrenner Field. A couple of hours later, he stretched and jogged and played catch in the outfield as the began their first full-squad workout. He took grounders and flipped baseballs to kids and signed autographs and took batting practice.
He hit some balls to right, some balls to left, some up the middle. He hit three over the fence in 32 swings. A small crowd watched from the stands on a slightly chilly day. Rodriguez got a few more
“All routine,” General Manager Brian Cashman said. The Yankees hope that is what A. R. represents this season. But can they trust the repentant cheater not to disgrace himself again?
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Carlos Beltran, left, and Rodriguez shared a moment during warmups. Rodriguez's teammates have been publicly supportive of him. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
“One of the things we talk about is coming together as a club, and that involves trust,” Cashman said. “We trust all of our guys are going to put forth a good, honest day’s work on a daily basis and we’ll come together as the best team we possibly can. And Alex certainly is one of many, one of them all.”
Rodriguez will never be just one of the boys. That was never his fate, first in the 1993 draft. He was destined for fame, but chose infamy instead. He took steroids for a while, juiced again, and .
There is no way to rationalize those decisions, no matter how much a tried last week. Rodriguez had obstacles as a child, but so did many others without his talents. His decisions to repeatedly cheat defy reason.
“Alex is not a bad person,” first baseman Mark Teixeira said. “I’ll be the first one to tell you that. I’ve known Alex for a long time. But Alex has made bad decisions, and he’s owned up to them. Hopefully now we can kind of get past it.
“If he was still denying it and still coming in here trying to put on a different face,” Teixeira continued, without finishing the thought. “He told everyone he was sorry for what he did.”
Yes, he did. was better than a news conference on live television. He has been polite to the news media this week, taking questions after closed practices, and again on Thursday. But it is an exercise in futility, really. Rodriguez’s history of lying makes his words, whatever they are, sound hollow.
If you care, Rodriguez said that he felt like a rookie again on Thursday and that he would do whatever Manager Joe Girardi asked. He said he could not evaluate his swing until he faced real fastballs; the best pitching he has faced recently was from Freddy Garcia, a former teammate who threw to him during his exile.
Rodriguez's first workout of spring training with his Yankees teammates began with jogging and stretching exercises. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
Practicing with the Yankees again, Rodriguez said, felt like going to Disney World. He showed off a stiff, new Rawlings first baseman’s mitt. He cited, correctly, that Michael Jordan played all 82 games on the N.B.A. schedule at age 39. Rodriguez is 39 now.
“In this day and age, anything’s possible,” Rodriguez said.
Well, maybe not. Stretching the possibilities of human performance previously led Rodriguez to that notorious anti-aging clinic, Biogenesis, and Tony Bosch’s testosterone gummies. But the Yankees retain at least faint hope that the year away helped heal Rodriguez’s body and that he can somehow turn on fastballs again.
“We’ve prepared for the worst and we’re hoping for the best,” Cashman said. “So the ideal situation: middle-of-the-lineup bat. The worst-case scenario, we’ve got coverage because of a lot of the moves we’ve made this winter. Now it’s about, over time, getting a feel for what we’ve got on our hands.”
Cashman would not give a direct answer to the simple question of whether he was happy to have Rodriguez back on the team. The real answer, of course, is no — the only reason Rodriguez remains is because of the ludicrous in December 2007.
But Cashman seemed more weary than agitated by the question, just as Girardi was when asked the same thing.
“I don’t understand what kind of question that is, to be honest,” Girardi snapped. “He’s a player of ours; of course I want him back.”
The story is clearly compelling: One of the game’s statistical leaders is making a comeback after serving a record suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. And Rodriguez has such a long rap sheet that he is, in some ways, the new George Steinbrenner — an unpredictable newsmaker you cannot ignore.
It may be asking too much for Rodriguez to avoid the decisions that make us all cringe. A routine day like this was a good start, but you wonder how long it can last. Rodriguez has always craved the spotlight, and he never stays boring for long.
Matt Harvey warming up earlier this week before bullpen practice. He threw to batters Friday for the first time since he was hurt. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — With about a dozen cameras trained on his every move, Matt Harvey toed the rubber on the mound Friday and stared down a batter for the first time in about 18 months. It did not matter that it was February, that the batter was his teammate and that the teammate was not going to swing at a single pitch.
Welcome to Harvey hype, which is likely to continue for a while. In some ways, the Harvey coverage is a New York bookend to the news media swarm in Tampa chronicling every move made by Alex Rodriguez. But Harvey is coming back from an injury, and Rodriguez from a yearlong drug suspension. And Harvey, the hope, will probably be a huge presence in New York long after Rodriguez has moved on to retirement.
On Friday, Harvey threw about 40 pitches. Taking turns in the batter’s box were David Wright, Michael Cuddyer, Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy, or as Harvey called them, borrowing a phrase from the Yankees, the Mets’ Core Four. This early in camp, it would have been almost taboo for them to swing. But the occasion was still sort of momentous. It was the first time Harvey had faced “live” hitters in his long comeback from Tommy John surgery.
“I was kind of surprised about how well things felt,” Harvey said after he finished. “I felt like I picked up right where I left off.”
Looking for feedback, Harvey approached Wright when the session was over and asked if the ball was coming out of his hand the same as it had before he was injured in August 2013.
“He felt like it was very similar, if not better, than before,” Harvey said.
Wright said, “The biggest thing was that it looked like the ball was coming out free and easy.”
There were hints all day that Harvey was getting closer to truly returning, that anticipation was building. The crowds watching Jacob deGrom and Jon Niese throw were much smaller than those who watched Harvey. And Harvey threw everything in his repertoire, even his slider. Manager Terry Collins guessed that Harvey’s last pitch went about 94 to 95 miles per hour, which is regular-season speed.
“I was in compete mode,” Harvey said. “I wasn’t holding back.”
Harvey’s next small step might come next week, when he faces batters who actually swing. Then next Friday, Harvey will face an opponent for the first time, the Detroit Tigers. That game will be the Mets’ spring training home opener and the first televised on SNY.
It will be still one more moment in which Harvey will be front and center and everything else for the Mets.
Oakland’s Jarrod Parker first needed Tommy John surgery on his elbow when he was in Arizona’s minor league system. He recently had a second operation and is not expected to return until 2015. Credit Elaine Thompson/Associated Press
You don’t even feel it, this lightning bolt from the pitching gods, this great separator between ordinary and special, between a healthy arm and a vulnerable one. At least that is how it was for Jarrod Parker, as a teenager in Indiana, the first time he threw a baseball 98 miles an hour. He did not know then what he had done, or what it really meant.
It was the first start of his senior year in high school, Parker remembered, cold and rainy, and his coach held him to three innings. Scouts were there to watch. Parker came out of the game and looked at his father, to get a signal for how hard he had thrown on the scouts’ radar gun. His father held up eight fingers.
“And I’m like: ‘Eighty-eight? Well, it’s cold, whatever, it’s early,’ ” Parker said recently in the home clubhouse of the . “And he was like, ‘No — 98.’ It never feels that much different between throwing a pitch at 88 or 98. You can’t see it.”
The scouts saw it, though, and the fastball helped Parker become the ninth overall draft pick in 2007, by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He zipped along for two years in the minors, to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament. This past March, with the A’s, he had the operation again.
Many pitchers injure the ulnar collateral ligament in their throwing elbow. The elbow’s function can be restored by a procedure commonly called Tommy John surgery, in which a tendon harvested from the forearm or below the knee is woven in a figure-eight pattern through holes drilled in the ulna and humerus bones.
Right elbow
with ligaments
Ulnar collateral ligament
The Surgery
Borrowed tendon
Humerus
Drilled tunnel
Ulna
Sources: Luis Feigenbaum, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Miami School of Medicine; “Atlas of Human Anatomy”
Graham Roberts/The New York Times
So as the Athletics roll into the All-Star break with the major leagues’ best record, Parker — who started Game 1 of the playoffs for them in 2011 and earned their final playoff victory last October — is a spectator. Seven of his teammates will be All-Stars on Tuesday in Minnesota.
But success, and the health required to sustain it, can be fleeting, especially for pitchers. — Arizona’s Patrick Corbin, Miami’s Jose Fernandez, the Mets’ Matt Harvey and Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore — have since undergone Tommy John surgery and will not pitch again until 2015.
The pervasiveness of the operation, in which a torn ulnar collateral ligament is replaced by a tendon from another part of the body, was a major story line in the early part of this season. More recent patients have included Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters and the Arizona right-hander Bronson Arroyo. The Houston Astros’ negotiations with the No. 1 overall draft pick, the high school left-hander Brady Aiken, have been complicated by reported elbow issues.
And, of course, the Yankees’ ace, Masahiro Tanaka, is of his U.C.L. He will try platelet-rich plasma injections in a desperate attempt to ward off reconstructive surgery.
“The bottom line is, when it’s time for it to go, it’s going to go,” said Jordan Zimmermann, the Washington Nationals’ All-Star right-hander, who had the operation in 2009. “You don’t know when. It’s just the nature of the beast when you’re a pitcher. You have the surgery, you’re out a year, you come back and you’re fine.”
The Mets’ Matt Harvey is one of four pitchers from last year's All-Star game who have undergone Tommy John surgery and will not pitch again until 2015. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times
That is true, most of the time. The procedure, first performed on John by Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974, has prolonged countless careers at all levels of the game. Parker said he felt the same as Zimmermann after his first operation, relieved that he would never have to undergo it again.
Parker felt rusty in spring training this year but hoped it was just the residue of consecutive seasons with more than 200 innings, including the minors and the postseason. He went alone to his appointment with the orthopedic surgeon James Andrews and struggled to hold back tears when he received the bad news.
He called his girlfriend, his father, a lot of people. He returned to Oakland’s training camp in Phoenix, spoke with members of the news media and faced his teammates. That, he said, might have been the hardest part.
“I hugged 25 guys that day,” Parker said. “You don’t prepare yourself for that. That’s life. That’s not easy.”
In the 2009 operation, Andrews used a gracilis tendon, from Parker’s left hamstring, near his knee. In March, Andrews used the tendon from Parker’s right leg. Parker, naturally, has worked on his legs in his rehabilitation and said they felt strong. He hopes to start playing catch after the All-Star break, and in the meantime is working on areas that can be neglected during the grind of a typical season — back, posture, core stability and, of course, his shoulder.
The Yankees’ Brandon McCarthy, who played with Parker in Oakland, said that while elbows seemed to be breaking down regularly, teams had become increasingly diligent about protecting shoulders. Major shoulder injuries can be catastrophic, and teams want to limit their spread.
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Arizona’s Patrick Corbin had Tommy John surgery in March. Credit Gregory Bull/Associated Press
“Every team has their own shoulder program now, and they’re pretty dedicated to it from the day you sign all the way through,” said McCarthy, who signed his first professional contract in 2002. “It’s something they require of you — after you throw and before you throw and as part of your off-season program. It’s much, much more of a thing now than even when I got in, and you take the generation before that, it’s infinitely more.”
But while shoulder muscles can be strengthened, elbow ligaments cannot. They are fundamentally vulnerable to modern pitches like the cutter, which typically requires more torque on the forearm. The splitter — Tanaka’s out pitch — is considered the most hazardous of all (spread your second and third fingers far apart, and you will feel the tension). The hard fastball, though, is dangerous enough on its own. Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, laughs at the perception that pitchers of previous generations were more durable than those today. Pitchers throw significantly harder now, he believes.
“I get a kick out of these old-timers: ‘I threw all these innings,’ ” Cashman said. “Yeah, and you had a hump in your pitches. I’ve seen the film. I saw when you guys were playing in the ’50s and ’60s. It was ‘whit-woo.’ Now it’s ‘whoosh!’ ”
The first sound roughly approximated a slide whistle; the latter, a jet engine. Today’s pitchers, especially younger ones, are putting themselves increasingly at risk of elbow trouble by throwing so hard. Yet doing so is their ticket to the pros.
A Baseball America study counted 87 high school pitchers, taken in the top 100 picks of the 1999 to 2013 drafts, who touched 95 miles an hour before their selections. That came to an average of 5.8 such pitchers per season. This year’s class, the publication said, included an astonishing 26 high school pitchers who had reached 95 m.p.h.
“These kids are not just throwing year-round, they’re competing year-round, and they don’t have any time for recovery,” Andrews told MLB Network Radio this spring, adding later, “And of course, in showcases, where they’re pitching for scouts, they try to overpitch and they get hurt.”
Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore will not pitch again until 2015. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Dan Duquette, the Orioles’ executive vice president for baseball operations, said he noticed the trend toward specialization while running a youth sports academy in Massachusetts in the last decade. While children of a previous generation typically played multiple sports, Duquette said, they now tend to play only one because of pressure to make their high school team.
Duquette said his baseball mentor, Harry Dalton, liked to say, “You only have one good arm, so you need to take care of it early on.” Accordingly, Duquette said, his academy followed guidelines set forth by Andrews and strictly monitored pitchers’ workloads.
“But as these kids specialize, they’re trying to throw harder before they’re mature enough to throw hard, before their bodies can withstand the stress of it,” Duquette said. “They’re trying to throw breaking balls before they’re physically mature enough and their growth plates have frozen, for example. And they’re throwing on a year-round basis.
“So the one thing that is clear is that you need a rest and recovery time after the season’s over, and if you want to condition your arm for a long season, you should do a long-toss program before getting on the mound when the season starts. Those are some things that would help, and an efficient, mechanical delivery of the ball.”
Parker, 25, said he had not tried to retrace his road to the operating table. Dwelling on the negative, he knows, is counterproductive to a recovery process that demands optimism. Besides, Parker said, he did not start pitching until he was 15, and his coaches were careful. Maybe pitching in a cold-weather state had an impact, he said.
‘A Lot of Throwing’
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Miami’s Jose Fernandez, an All-Star last year, also had elbow surgery. Credit Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
“I was probably throwing a lot, but it didn’t seem like it,” Parker said. “Looking back now, it doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re trying to squeeze 80 innings into two months, it’s a lot of throwing.”
Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson, who has also had two operations, was hardly overused while growing up in New Hampshire. He said his second recovery was much harder than the first because of the physical healing and the patience required.
“One argument you hear is that it’s not up to you; it’s up to your body,” Wilson said. “But then again, your mind controls everything, and if you just will it, it’ll come back. That’s how mine was.”
If will is most important, Parker may have a good chance to make it back. He likes to work, McCarthy said, and is mentally stubborn enough to find a way.
Parker said he had not paid attention to stories of two-time Tommy John patients. There may not be enough examples to form reliable conclusions, and he sees no value in wondering why, say, Chris Capuano recovered, but John Farrell did not.
Every pitcher is different, Parker said repeatedly, and while he questioned his fate when he received his diagnosis, his duty now is clear.
“This is the path I’m on, and I have to do it,” Parker said. “You don’t say, Why? I’m doing it because this is who I am, and this is what I want to do.”
New Braves outfielder Nick Markakis had his sights set on finishing his career in Baltimore. And he said he would have, if not for ill-fated contract negotiations between the two sides over the summer that ultimately soured the relationship.
The Orioles balked at handing Markakis a long-term deal, in part because of concerns over a lingering neck injury, but they indicated that wasn't the primary issue. That led to a rather messy divorce with the former franchise cornerstone, who wound up signing a four-year, $44 million contract in Atlanta as a free agent.
"Don't believe a word they say," Markakis told USA Today on Wednesday. "It was all because of my neck. They can say what they want to make them look good. It's all B.S.''
UPDATE: Markakis apologized Thursday, per MASN.com, and tried to add context.
"What I said wasn't directed at any way to the Orioles organization or ownership. It's just one of those things where I kind of said sarcastically, 'B.S., I wouldn't believe everything you hear. Don't believe them,' " Markakis told MASN.com's Roch Kubatko. "I just want to put it behind me and I apologize for what I did, but there's a reason why it came out of my mouth. I'm just tired of people thinking they know what happened."
After signing with the Braves, an MRI revealed a bulging disk in Markakis' neck. He underwent surgery Dec. 17.
"We were concerned about the disk repair," Orioles president Dan Duquette told USA Today.
Braves outfielder Nick Markakis (Getty Images)
Duquette said in December that there were several offers made to Markakis' camp that were rebuffed, ostensibly because they were unwilling to add the extra year Markakis eventually received from the Braves.
"We got fairly close a couple times, but we couldn't close the deal," Duquette told reporters then. "We had a concern that made the term an issue for us and it was going to take us a little bit longer time to resolve that. I think the timing of the other offer, I think Nick felt compelled that he needed to move on that."
The Orioles also lost fellow outfielder Nelson Cruz as a free agent to the Mariners.
"I know what's going on, I know the truth," All-Star center fielder Adam Jones, who is close to Markakis, told MASN Sports on Wednesday. "It's a move he made for himself. I never fault him for it.
"Now you want to say it two months later. Let's say it when everybody's wanting to know right then and now. But it always comes out later. That's just how this game is."
UPDATE 2: Markakis said he exchanged text messages with Jones and Orioles manager Buck Showalter.
"I have good friendships over there. That's something more powerful than the game can be, and in the long run that's all that matters to me," he told Kubatko.
Chase Headley during a defensive drill Thursday. He won a Gold Glove award with San Diego. Credit Brett Carlsen for The New York Times
TAMPA, Fla. — As stood a few feet away and signed autographs for dozens of clamoring fans on Thursday, Chase Headley skipped down the steps of the dugout, deposited his bat and helmet, and grabbed a glove before heading to the outfield. He did so all but unnoticed.
This crossing of third basemen was, in a sense, a passing of the torch.
Everything that Rodriguez has been in recent years — a magnet for attention, a sometimes-feared anchor to the lineup, an increasingly immobile fielder — Headley is not. Since he was acquired before the trade deadline last July, Headley has provided several game-turning plays in the field and a reliable bat.
Words like leader, sincere and disciplined follow him. “A real grinder,” said General Manager Brian Cashman, who compared Headley to Scott Brosius, the third baseman who won three World Series with the Yankees.
For Headley, who signed a four-year, $52 million contract after becoming a free agent at the end of last season, the decision to rejoin the Yankees was not difficult. Coming to New York after spending his entire career in San Diego, with Petco Park’s cavernous dimensions, its sleepy atmosphere and the Padres’ limited payroll was a liberation.
And when the Yankees told him he would begin the season as their third baseman, with Rodriguez being shifted to designated hitter and backup corner infielder after a yearlong suspension, it was not much of a decision for Headley, who worked alongside Rodriguez during the team’s first full-squad workout.
“I felt like I fit in right from the beginning,” Headley said, praising the Yankees’ staff and their care for his family. “This is just a special place. When you look back at the history of talent, of expectations, of class — there’s a whole hodgepodge of things that, when you put on that jersey, you feel different. It’s something I haven’t felt in my career — that pride, that responsibility.”
When it was suggested that he sounded like a propagandist, Headley smiled. Growing up in Fountain, Colo., about 80 miles south of Denver, Headley despised the Yankees. He recalled a conversation with Jerry Hairston Jr., a former teammate in San Diego who had played for the Yankees.
“I said I hate the Yankees and he looked at me and said, ‘You’d love playing for them, though.’ ” Headley said. “And I was like, ‘I don’t know if I would or not.’ And then you get here and you see what he meant.”
Headley had a stirring introduction to New York. The Yankees completed a deal with San Diego in the afternoon on July 22, and Headley landed at La Guardia Airport less than an hour before the Yankees’ game against the Rangers. Headley was in the dugout by the second inning, entered the game in the eighth and .
Though the Yankees were interested in acquiring Headley in 2013 when Rodriguez was injured, his audition in New York cemented their desire to re-sign him.
“There wasn’t anything that didn’t turn us on about him,” Cashman said. “But until you get to see him and see him in New York, you don’t always know. Some players come here and the totality of New York can constrain somebody from being what they’re capable of being. He seemed like he’d been here a long time.”
The Yankees expect that Headley and the newly acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius will drastically upgrade the left side of their infield defense by replacing Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, whose range had declined in recent years.
How much the Yankees will get from Headley at the plate is more uncertain. He seemed poised to become a star in 2012 when he complemented a Gold Glove performance in the field with a breakout offensive season, hitting .286 with 31 home runs and 115 R.B.I., which helped him finish fifth in the National League’s Most Valuable Player voting.
But Headley regressed the last two seasons, something he attributed to a slip in mechanics that he is now trying to correct. What impressed the Yankees was that after they acquired him, the right-handed-hitting Headley managed to get on base and drive the ball, his .768 on-base plus slugging percentage leading all Yankees with at least 150 at-bats.
“Whether that was my career year, who knows?” Headley said of 2012. “I’m not going to say that’s a year that should happen every year, but driving in 75 runs and hitting 18 to 20 home runs should be a standard year. That’s the challenge — I haven’t been able to consistently do that.”
Somewhat counterintuitively, Headley said the Yankees’ environment was more conducive to relaxing at the plate than the Padres’ had been.
Not only is the park more hitter-friendly, but in a lineup including Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, Brett Gardner and Rodriguez — if they are healthy and reasonably productive — Headley can be just another cog. In San Diego, it was at times a burden to be the biggest bat in an often-anemic lineup.
“You try not to think like that, but you’re struggling as an offense and you’re a veteran guy, and you’ve had success in the past, you want to be the guy that helps, that gets the big hit,” Headley said. “Sometimes that gets in the way. Trying harder and wanting more is not always beneficial in our game.”
Mets third baseman David Wright heading to the field on Thursday. He hit .269 last season with eight home runs and 69 R.B.I. Credit Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The 2015 officially convened for the first time Thursday. Matt Harvey and David Wright were back and healthy. Bobby Parnell was on his way back. And optimism was in abundance, although it often is at the start of spring training, no matter how strong or weak a team might be.
For weeks, a number of Mets have spoken openly about making the playoffs. Manager echoed those thoughts last Saturday.
It may all seem a little bold in light of the futility that has surrounded the team for so long, but expectations have clearly shifted for a group that came close to a .500 record last season and has so many good starting pitchers.
While Collins has been among those upbeat voices, he chose to give a more measured speech in private Thursday to his team. As he said, it was nothing “rah-rah.”
In previous springs, he acknowledged, he felt that his opening speech had to sometimes fight the prevailing wisdom that the Mets would spend the spring and summer losing more games than they won.
This time he wanted to remind the players of the task at hand — to contend for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons, to be a team that will be relevant as July turns into August. In other words, no cheerleading necessary. Just a message that it is time to get to work.
“You got to have the mind-set that this is going to get done,” Collins told reporters.
With a number of veterans in the starting lineup — Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer and Wright — and with some younger Mets turning into veterans, Collins indicated that it was time to take a more no-nonsense approach.
NO SWINGS FOR DUDA First baseman Lucas Duda appeared to be the Mets’ only injured position player. He strained an intercostal muscle from swinging too much in the off-season and has not been swinging for a few weeks.
Collins said Duda — who led the Mets with 30 home runs and 92 R.B.I. last season — would not swing a bat for at least another week, although he did participate in defensive drills.
“He just overdid it, and now he’s got to back off,” Collins said. “I told him, ‘Listen, we’ve got a long way, a long time to get you ready.’ ”
Collins and Duda have not seemed too concerned about the injury. Duda missed time with a calf injury during spring training last year and had an oblique injury in 2013 that kept him out for several weeks.
PITCHING INTRIGUE Much of the hype surrounding the Mets this spring has focused on the depth of their starting pitching. So that added some intrigue to the early spring training pitching assignments.
Dillon Gee, whom the Mets have been seeking to trade, will pitch the spring training opener on March 4 against the Atlanta Braves.
Bartolo Colon will pitch the next day, and Matt Harvey will make his long-awaited return to the mound on March 6 against the Detroit Tigers.
The next day, the Mets will play a split-squad doubleheader. Jacob deGrom, the National League rookie of the year last season, will pitch, along with two top prospects, Rafael Montero and Steven Matz.
In Harvey’s game, which will be broadcast on SNY, Noah Syndergaard, another top prospect, is scheduled to pitch in relief.
Max Scherzer at spring training on Wednesday. He has a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Nationals. Credit David Goldman/Associated Press
VIERA, Fla. — On his way to the airport last month, after a news conference in Washington announcing the richest free-agent pitching contract in major league history, Max Scherzer had parting words for his agent, Scott Boras.
“Wait till you see my new cutter,” Scherzer said.
Boras, who negotiated Scherzer’s seven-year, $210 million deal with the Nationals, thought about that on his own flight home. Scherzer had just signed a landmark deal, a reward for becoming a star, and here he was, just as self-motivated and driven as he had been at the University of Missouri.
“When you have players who are never satisfied, and always trying to compete at the highest level, you love to represent them,” Boras said. “Because you know you’re always going to get excellence, and both sides are going to be happy.”
It is easy now, in his first Nationals spring training, to imagine the best for Scherzer and his new team. He is the shiny sports car still idling in the dealership lot. Never mind that lavish contracts for pitchers in their 30s are often losing bets.
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Shirts with Scherzer's name and number at the Nationals' team store in Florida. Scherzer chose No. 31 because Greg Maddux wore it. Credit David Goldman/Associated Press
But there are exceptions, and Scherzer wears a reminder on his back. He wore No. 37 for the , his team for the last five seasons. Stephen Strasburg wears No. 37 in Washington, but Scherzer did not want it anyway. He chose No. 31 — perhaps for Greg Maddux?
“Actually, you’re right,” Scherzer said on a recent morning, by his locker at Space Coast Stadium. “In Detroit, they gave me 37. I liked the number, but in college I was 31 — I really liked that number, and Greg Maddux was 31. I always looked up to him when I was a kid. It worked for me in college, and I’ve had it a couple of other times. So when I had a chance to pick a number, I wanted to be 31.”
Scherzer said he admired the consistent dominance of Maddux, a Hall of Famer whose 355 wins are the most of any pitcher alive. So many talented pitchers, Scherzer said, struggle to stay on top, year after year. In a game of constant adjustments, Maddux mastered the trick of staying one step ahead of the hitters.
He also aged well. Scherzer will be 30 for most of this season, as Maddux was in 1996. Maddux made every start in the first seven seasons of his 30s, going 123-59 with a 2.76 earned run average.
The Nationals — who deferred half of Scherzer’s contract and will pay him through 2028 — would be elated with similar production. General Manager Mike Rizzo, who drafted Scherzer for Arizona with the 11th overall pick in 2006, thinks he might get it.
“He’s a pitch-ability guy that has power stuff,” Rizzo said. “He misses bats, but he really does have an appreciation for the craft of pitching. You combine that with the stuff and the performance that he’s had and the durability and the makeup and the character he has, it was a good fit for us.”
Boras represented Maddux, too, and said Maddux was as hypercompetitive off the mound as on it. From bowling and golf to “Jeopardy!” and Scattergories, Maddux sought every edge, and usually found it. Scherzer, Boras said, is the same way — but with a better fastball.
The pitchers also took the same approach to free agency. Maddux was happy with the Chicago Cubs but told Boras he wanted to explore his market value in free agency, a path that led him to the Atlanta Braves. Scherzer, over dinner at Rocco’s Tacos in Orlando, Fla., last spring, told Boras the same thing: The Tigers’ six-year, $144 million offer did not represent the current market. He wanted to test free agency.
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Scherzer pitching for the Tigers in an American League division series last season. He turned down a six-year, $144 million offer from Detroit. Credit Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
“You really have to check your motivations,” Scherzer said. “It’s not easy turning down $144 million. The thing was, in my mind, I was not going to let that affect me. You have everybody talking about you, but for me, I could only have one singular goal, and that was to win with Detroit.”
He added: “It’s a very easy trap to fall into when you try to prove people wrong. You go into that mentality: ‘I can, I am worth it.’ But you can’t think that way, because you’re taking away from baseball. Every time I stepped foot in the clubhouse, it was 100 percent about baseball.”
Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers’ president, said he was surprised that Scherzer turned down the money because he risked getting injured and making less in free agency. But he was not surprised that Scherzer pitched so well: 18-5 with a 3.15 E.R.A. and 252 strikeouts. Scherzer is talented, Dombrowski said, and committed to his own evolution.
The Tigers acquired Scherzer in a three-team, seven-player deal with Arizona and the Yankees in December 2009. He pitched well enough for two seasons, getting by with his usual mix of fastballs, sliders and changeups, but felt limited against left-handed hitters. His slider tended to break into the barrels of their bats. When he tried to start the slider outside so that it caught the back corner, the pitch would not obey.
In the second half of the 2012 season, Scherzer worked with the pitching coach Jeff Jones on throwing his slider slower. Soon, the looping break was tumbling right to the back door, where the slider would not go. It was a curveball, and when Scherzer found a comfortable grip, he added it to his mix and quickly joined the league’s elite.
Scherzer used the curve to help win the American League Cy Young Award in 2013. In New York the next January, on the dais at the baseball writers’ dinner, he sat beside Sandy Koufax and quizzed him about the curveball, eager to learn more about its shape and spin, and the mentality behind it. As Koufax talked, Scherzer typed notes to himself on his iPhone, so he would not forget.
“My God,” Scherzer said, “could you imagine a better person in life to ever talk to about throwing a curveball?”
Now Scherzer is on to that cutter, refining a fifth pitch to unleash on the National League. He said his philosophy was simple: Nobody stays the same, so the choice is easy.
“That’s kind of my motto right now,” Scherzer said. “You either get better or you get worse. So for me, I’m focused, in every way, on getting better.”
The Pirates are upgrading PNC Park for the coming season to feature more public hangouts for general ticket holders.
The Pirates, playing in a facility many consider to be one of the best settings in Major League Baseball, have repurposed space to include two new outdoor bars open to all fans.
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The larger of the two bars is situated at the back of the upper deck behind home plate and it can accmmmodate up to 75 people. There is no view to the game but fans can stay connected by watching it on televisions behind the bar.
Downstairs in left field, at the bottom of the left-field rotunda, is a smaller bar designed as more of a standing-room space. Its focus is on serving local craft beers, said Pirates President Frank Coonelly.
Elsewhere in the park, the Pirates have redeveloped an area tied to 1,400 bleachers seats in left field that originally held an Outback Steakhouse when the stadium opened in 2001.
It's been re-themed over the past seven years as the Rivertowne Hall of Fame Club open to all fans. For this season, Populous, the Pirates' architect, closed a 10-foot gap that previously existed between the restaurant and the bleachers.
The rebuild of that space includes drink rails connecting those structures for a better fan experience, Coonnelly said.
The retrofits are in response to fan surveys and focus groups asking for more communal spaces at PNC Park, including the Budweiser Bowtie Bar built in right field three years ago, Coonelly said.
Populous, the ballpark's original architect, designed the improvements as part of the Pirates' long-term plan for stadium renovations.
"We want to ensure this ballpark, like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, is around for a long time," he said. "Its shelf life will be much longer than Three Rivers Stadium."
