Is Lidge's trade value more valuable then demoting him permanately to a relief spot. Without the stress of the closer situations he seems to be himself and if he can prove his dominance over the rest of the season promote him back in the fall or at least that would increase his trade value. Plus we don't have to go find another relief guy to fill a hole once we promote one of our guys to Closer.
Stress has nothing to do with Lidge's problems. He came in to replace Dotel in 04 and destoryed everyone. His series against the cards in the NLCS was the most dominant he has ever been. And now the stress is getting to him? It's mechanics. Baseball is odd. Great players can have off years.
Stress has nothing to do with Lidge's problems. He came in to replace Dotel in 04 and destoryed everyone. His series against the cards in the NLCS was the most dominant he has ever been. And now the stress is getting to him? It's mechanics. Baseball is odd. Great players can have off years.
Give thoughts. Don't be definitive though. It's mechanics and nothing else? Have you spotted the mechanical problem? You don't know how his mind works.. you have no idea if you're purely basing it on the fact that "he did well before, therefore it's not mental"
I don't know the reason either but there have been a lot of relievers struggling lately, including Bobby Jenks
Lidge would be overpaid for middle relief. If his performance did not approve, he would then become disposable.
Why would it be steroids? His velocity is still there. Would steroids bring his walks down? Would steroids put more bite on his slider?
He needs to be gone,but who the hell is going to take his place and be as dominant as he once was...Just think of our record if he converted half of his blown save opps...
Early in the year (and late last year), his stuff looked good, but batters were laying off of his slider and sitting dead red on his fastball. His slider has always ended up in the dirt, he counted on fooling batters and them swinging at it. When he found out he was tipping his pitches, he changed up his delivery. Since then, he's been wild.
Because he's lost it so suddenly, like that Boone boy in Seattle. Overnight, he can't do anything and it's been that way since the latter portion of last season. They were off the juice at the beginning of the season last year. It took a few months to lose the "edge" that that stuff gives all users. And there's been plenty of rumors swirling about Lidge. Hate to see it, but I don't think he's coming back. He may go to the AL and light it up for a few months until everybody gets a look at him and starts sitting on his pitches, but I think he's history. Mazzone may be able to extend his career as a middle of the road middle reliever but if he was on the juice and is now off, and these are the results, I don't think he will ever approach his zenith again. Just my opinion. By the way, I happen to think that Bonds will not break Aaron's record either. I think he has fallen too far too fast and he is too old to get there, not to mention he might be sitting in jail. It wouldn't surprise me if he retires at the end of the season and then writes a book with a huge publicity tour on how he was forced out of baseball and blaming others because they did not want him to break the record.
but it's not because he's lost velocity. he's lost location. he's walking guys. he's still striking guys out at a high rate. that's why the steroids thing doesn't make sense to me.
If by suddenly you mean as soon as Pujols hit the hr, then you would be incorrect. If by suddenly you mean he was flat out dominating and then in a span of a game or two he lost it and clearly hasn't gotten it back, then that's not quite right either. Lidge started to struggle at the tail end of last season on into the playoffs and continued into this year. It wasn't a sudden thing...and looking back on it, it shouldn't be that surprising considering how overworked he was in the time leading up to his fall. Combine that with the fact that he hasn't lost his stuff he just doesn't have good location, his mechanics might be off, he might've been tipping his pitches and his confidence almost surely is shaken and it can be seen that steroids are far from being the culprit. To just aumotacially assume that he's struggling so it must be the 'roids is...well it just doesn't make sense.
But this isn't true. From early May to early July (between his two periods of implosion), he went 10-for-10 in saves, giving up a total of 0 runs, 2 hits and 0 walks in about 10 innings - that's as dominant as he's ever been. During that same stretch, though, he was terrible in non-save situations, giving up runs in 6 of 10 outings. The fact that he was closing games well indicates that it's not the pressure that was getting to him. It also doesn't seem to have been anything physical or mechanical or it would have affected all his games. So what is it? Who knows. But it doesn't make a lot of sense.
MLB GMs are beating a path to the Astros' doorstep to get closer Brad Lidge and his 5.74 ERA, before we demote him to midlle relief behind Springer. The race is on. 5.74 ERA? Those are Tim Reddingian numbers!!!
Was talking about his supposed steroid rumors. I don't understand the rush around here to trade Lidge when his value (barring injury) could not possibly be lower. He does have an (at least one) option year left, maybe AAA is the place for him for awhile.
