It's finally official...hopefully Lidge can have some time to figure out what is wrong. We need him to get back to 2004 form. link
Good luck. Once you lose "it" for an extended period of time, it's virtually impossible to get "it" back. Just ask Mark Wohlers or Rick Ankiel.
Now I wish we had traded him because I get the feeling he'll never get straightened out here and his only chance is a fresh start. But if we trade him now that his vaule has taken another huge hit and we won't get crap for him. If we keep him, he's an expensive ass middle reliever.
Damn you STROS you should of traded that sorry MOtha F$@#^r for at least a 8th rounder in like 2010 and a bag of chips..
Those guys lost it on an entirely different level... Lidge would have never even sniffed 32/38 last year if he was the headcase those two were (they couldn't pitch a freaking 1/3rd of an inning, let alone multiple games). At first, I felt Lidge was suffering a combo of mental/physical fatigue, dating back to two long pennant races, and the WBC. Now, its clearly something else... hell, I wouldn't put it past the team to ask Brad to get his surgically repaired arm checked out. I remember when Wagner "lost it" at the start of 2000, and he witheld a nagging injury (that needed surgery) for half the year. It wasn't something detrimental that he couldn't throw a ball... but it definitely affected his control (which is what concerns me the most about Lidge).
Interesting comparison. Wagner still threw 97-100mph, but his fastball was completely flat for whatever reason and was hittable for no apparent reason. Since he had the velocity and claimed he had no pain, the team assumed he was healthy. Could very well be something similar for Lidge, though if he had any pain, you'd think he'd have gotten it looked at during the offseason.
I heard interviews with him this spring where he was saying it was strictly a mechanical issue and he was 100% sure he fixed it during the offseason. And, like you said, if it were a medical problem, surely it would have been addressed this offseason. It's only his career on the line. I just think hitters have figured him out and he knows it. The fact that he knows it is worse than the hitters figuring him out.
not much to figure out when the only pitch you can throw for strikes is your fastball. that's why i think it's more than that. because it hasn't always been that way. something has changed.
But my question is what exactly have they figured out? Even ignoring the slider, he could throw 3 97mph fastballs in a row to a batter in 2004 and most of '05 and get a strikeout. Now they whack it for a HR. What changed? It's not like 97mph fastballs are easy to hit even if you know they are coming. I suspect, like Wagner during his injury, his fastball has no movement right now, whereas it did a few years ago. Why? I have no idea - I'd guess something mechanical, because if there was an injury/pain, it would have been looked at somewhere in there.
What's changed is that he is pitching it over the plate in the strike zone when the hitters are sitting there waiting for it. I'm with Justice here: send him down to Round Rock and leave him there until he can place that fastball and if he can't then adios. I also agree that this move is a year too late.
it appears to me the fastball is the only pitch he can locate. if it's in the strike zone, it's a fastball. if they see it offspeed at all, they don't swing.
Wow...That took shorter than i thought...But being 1 - 5 isn't all Lidge's fault so far...He doesn't hit...
This should have happened before the season started. It was obvious during Spring Training that he was not throwing well, and then we just added more pressure on him putting him in that role.
