Dein erstes Forum » season to make a push for London. Bes

TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. This week, topics cover if and when the Blue Jays should start rebuilding, how good catchers handle a pitching staff and how best to develop young pitchers to best avoid arm problems. 1. Jim Bowden wrote on ESPN.com this week that the Jays should already be thinking of blowing the team up, deeming last years deals a failure and suggesting that waiting to tear it down would compound the problem. Agree or disagree with Bowdens assessment? Let me first say that I respect Jim Bowden for his knowledge and his experience. He has been around the game for quite a while and knows what he is talking about. That being said, I do not think it is time for the Jays to blow this team up. We are only in the first week of the season. It is far too early to consider demolition plans. The Jays have a ton of offensive talent. I agree with Bowden that on paper they are under-manned in the pitching department. But the game is not played on paper. It is played by people. RA Dickey could return to his Cy Young form of a couple of years ago. Mark Buerhle looked amazing in his first start and Brandon Morrow at one time, when healthy, was dominant. Drew Hutchison and Dustin McGowan have some upside. Of course, there is plenty that needs to go right but funnier things have happened. I didnt think the Pirates had enough pitching last season nor did I think the Orioles had enough pitching in 2012 to be a playoff team. But they both were. Fans need hope. The season begins with hope for all 30 major league teams. Why rob them of that feeling unnecessarily? I agree with Jim Bowden that it is unlikely that the Jays will make the playoffs. I picked them to finish fourth. So I get it. But I have been wrong before and so has Jim. The season is a marathon. There is plenty of time to disassemble if it is appropriate. Quite honestly, if they should do it now, they should have done it in the offseason when more teams could vie for the Jays talent and had money to spend. This may be the worst time to create a market for players as most teams are tapped out financially at the start of the season. They spent their money in the winter. Just ask Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew and Scott Boras how difficult it is to find GMs with money to spend. The trades of 2013 were a bust for the Jays but it doesnt necessarily mean that things cant work out this year. If and when it becomes clear that hope is lost for 2014, there will be time to tear things apart. But that wont mean that everything has to be done during the season. Take a deep breath and at least enjoy some hope. 2. The Jays players are already expressing admiration for new catcher Dioner Navarro and the way he handles the staff, in some ways taking not so veiled shots at former catcher JP Arencibias struggles behind the plate. What is your assessment of Navarro and can you explain the intimacies of "handling a staff" and what that really means? Many fans know and use the term, but few really understand the minute details or why it is so important. I am not surprised that Dionner Navarro is getting rave reviews for his ability to handle the pitching staff. Some part of that is about him and some part of that is about the deficiencies of JP Arencibia in the past. We often talk about a catcher "handling a pitching staff" and just assume that everyone knows what we mean. Let me see if I can explain it. It is imperative for a catcher to know his pitchers. He doesnt just have to know what pitches they throw but he has to know when they should be thrown, to whom they should be thrown, how hard to throw them and where to throw them. He has to understand how each individual pitchers arsenal of pitches can attack each hitter on the opposition. The catcher has to know how each pitcher handles pressure. He has to understand when they arent quite right on a given day and what to do to get them right. He has to know the keys for each pitchers delivery and when they are out of sync how to get them back on track. The catcher has to read body language. He has to communicate confidence and support with his own body language. Some players are smart. They can rationally think through situations and know what to do. Some players have instincts, which is defined as a "feel" for the game; an idea about what needs to be done in this time and space. Their natural reactions can lead them down the right path without tremendous thought. The best players have a combination of intelligence and instincts. Navarro has both and it can be seen in his work behind the plate. He has the feel and intelligence to evaluate the situation and what is needed to be successful. This will lead to improved preparation and execution over the course of the season. The Jays need to maximize the talents of their pitching staff as they are not as deep as other teams. Navarro is just the guy for the job. 3. Another season, another rash of pitching injuries, with the Mets Bobby Parnell the latest to possibly face Tommy John surgery. He would be the third Met to have TJS in under a year. GM Sandy Alderson told the NY Times its an "industry-wide problem." Pitch counts and innings limits for young pitchers dont appear to have made much of an impact. Do you acknowledge this as an industrywide problem - or is it more of a team/system problem as it does seem to hit some teams (including the Jays) more than others. What do you think is the best way to bring a pitcher along after draft day? And has your mind changed on that over time? Injuries for pitchers is a GMs worst nightmare. Just when you think you have enough pitching, injuries happen and you can find yourself shorthanded. The arm is not built to throw a baseball. Every time a pitcher throws the ball, there are fibers that tear in the shoulder, bicep, tricep and forearm. I have seen thermodynamic pictures of a pitchers arm before and after pitching. The amount of heat given off from the bleeding in the arm after pitching is profound. You can only imagine the toll that throwing a couple of hundred innings can take on a pitchers arm. In 2013, Justin Verlander threw 218 innings and 3692 pitches (most in majors). That doesnt include the 23 innings he tossed in the playoffs, nor does it count spring training innings and pitches. In addition to all of this game activity, Verlander had pitching practice between starts. The bottom line is that his arm took a ton of abuse. When I became general manager of the Mets in July of 1997, one of the first things I did was call a meeting with our top pitching coaches and team doctors. We were having a significant number of arm injuries and it was severely impacting the pitching depth in our organization. The outcome of that meeting was clear; pitchers can injure their arms in two ways: fatigue and poor mechanics. Too much throwing for any pitcher can lead to injury. It doesnt matter if he has perfect mechanics or the worst mechanics; too much throwing can break down any arm. There was an old school belief that the more pitchers throw the stronger they get. The science doesnt support that. Fatigue breaks down the arm. Mechanics for a pitcher is critical. He has to be able to repeat his delivery in order to throw consistent strikes. If a pitcher has poor mechanics in his delivery, he can put more pressure on his elbow or shoulder, making it more prone to injury. Pitchers can pitch with poor mechanics but they are much more prone to injury, especially if they are fatigued. Poor mechanics lead pitchers to tire more quickly and when tired, the poor mechanics make the pitcher more vulnerable. It is really that simple. After this meeting, we implemented very stringent pitch count limits in our minor league system and dramatically reduced the number of arm injuries. The arm only has so many bullets in it. They cant all be wasted in the minor leagues. We had to learn to be more efficient in our player development. I predicted Stephen Strasburgs arm problems a couple of years ago. He has poor mechanics, which put a significant amount of stress on his elbow and shoulder. You might wonder why they just dont try and correct his mechanics. Often times, cleaning up a pitchers poor mechanics can rob him of what makes him special: velocity, movement or deception. In Strasburgs case, his mechanics are his mechanics. It is how he is wired to throw a ball. I completely supported the Nats when they made the unpopular decision to shut Strasburg down even when they were going to the playoffs in 2012. If the Nats dont take dramatic steps to protect their big right-hander moving forward, he will break down again. 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Simona Halep of Romania claimed the fifth title of her career by beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the womens final. After trading sets, Gasquet trailed 4-3 in the decider but broke back to 4-4 in a game that went to seven deuces with Kukushkin constantly failing on his forehand shots. Ivan Provorov Jersey .C. -- The shot that would have beaten No.SHANGHAI - Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic avoided being the latest seed to lose at the upset-hit Shanghai Masters, rallying to defeat No. 85-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the third round Thursday.Roger Federer also advanced to the quarterfinals with a routine 6-4, 6-2 win over Roberto Bautista Agut, a night after he saved five match points and escaped with a three-set win in the second round.Djokovic extended his 27-match winning streak in China, but it wasnt easy against the speedy Kukushkin, who kept the top-ranked Serb running with powerful forehands that repeatedly caught the lines and impressive defence to extend lengthy rallies.Serving at 4-5 in the second set, a frustrated Djokovic even lashed out at the chair umpire after receiving a time violation as he caught his breath between serves.Did you not see the point before that we played? he asked. Youre sitting there enjoying your time, right?After dropping that service game to lose the set, the seven-time major winner got the early break in the third and held on for the win. It was the first set hes lost in seven matches this year in China, including five at last weeks China Open.He disguised his first serve very well. He disguised his forehands very well. Definitely was the toughest match I played so far in China, Djokovic said. When you play somebody who has nothing to lose, its important that I got the W.Kukushkin, a Russian-born Kazakh player who entered the match with a 1-15 record against top-10 players, had 35 winners to 27 for Djokovic.Federer avoided the dramatics of his opening match over Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, which he finally won 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7) after coming back from a 5-2 deficit in the third-set tiebreaker.Federer, who will overtake Rafael Nadal at No. 2 in the rankings next week, played a much cleaner match against Bautista Agut, hitting 33 winners to just 21 unforced errors. He had 57 unforced errors against Mayer.The biggest probleem after Wednesdays match was the recovery.dddddddddddd. The match ended at 12:30 a.m. local time and he didnt get to sleep until four hours later.I think thats the toughest part. Just maintaining a good concentration, not getting frustrated, taking chances, being inspired on the court. All those things can chip away once you go to bed so late, he said.Djokovic will next face David Ferrer, who boosted his chances of qualifying for the ATP finals with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Andy Murray.Both Murray and Ferrer are fighting to claim one of the remaining spots in the eight-man tournament next month in London. With the win, Ferrer will now pass Murray into ninth place in the standings, just behind Milos Raonic in eighth.Murray had played far more tennis than the fresher Ferrer in recent weeks, winning a title in Shenzhen and making the semifinals of the China Open. The Spaniard, meanwhile, was coming off two straight opening-round losses.He literally barely missed a ball for about a set and a half, Murray said. I couldnt find a way around him.Murray will now try to build on his momentum over the rest of the season to make a push for London. Besides last year when he was recovering from back surgery, Murray has played in the season-ending championships every year since 2008.Theres still obviously a few more weeks left in the season, Murray said. Ive played some pretty good tennis.Sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych also reached the quarterfinals, beating Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4.The Czech player is the only seed remaining on the bottom half of the draw after Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic and Ernests Gulbis were all knocked out. No. 13-seeded John Isner also lost Thursday to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 6-3, 6-4.Berdych will next face Gilles Simon of France in the quarterfinals, while Lopez takes on Russian Mikhail Youzhny.Federer plays French veteran Julien Benneteau, who defeated Jack Sock of the United States, 6-3, 6-4. ' ' '