Nothing wrong with the post above but...Originally Posted by Captain Hook
Stuff like this Brutus, is why some of us point out he is not likely to continue pitching this well. That, and the Maddux remarks. I only mention this since you inquired.
Nothing wrong with the post above but...
Stuff like this Brutus, is why some of us point out he is not likely to continue pitching this well. That, and the Maddux remarks. I only mention this since you inquired.
A few pages ago someone asked at what point do we believe this is the real Mike Leake. While I am sure that question can be read a ton of different ways, one of those ways certainly could be "When will people believe that Mike Leake is a sub 3.00 ERA pitcher for the long haul". That is why you get people saying that they don't believe he is.
That's a rather narrow translation of a pretty generic statement.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
Big Klu (07-01-2013)
Yet I am hardly the only person who seemed to read it that way...
unfortunately, he won't be facing one of the Reds while he's on their payroll.
I was at the game Saturday. Leake was outstanding. I don't believe his current success is indicative of what his career norms will be, but I've always said a player is who he is until he proves he isn't. Leake was a batting tee in years past, always had a high H/9. Now he isn't. So for now he isn't.
I'll say this. He had ample opportunities to melt down Saturday, and he didn't. He showed a lot of maturity. It's altered my perception of him a bit. Not completely mind you, but I cannot argue too much with his results.
Dubito Ergo Cogito Ergo Sum.
Leake isn't the most valuable player for the Reds this year.
But if he hadn't stepped up the way he has its hard to tell where the Reds would be.
hebroncougar (07-10-2013),remdog (07-10-2013)
I'm having a hard time figuring out who's been more valuable.
I have to think it is Votto due to the mass production day in and out.
But we expected that. Not so much with Leake.
Most valuable pitcher is probably Leake by a hair.
Latos has been incredible too.. not really his fault the pen has blown so many leads, but the games Leake has started have kept us in contention.
Again, not saying Leake is a better pitcher than Latos, just my definition of valuable.
Honestly, in hindsight, putting Chapman to the rotation and Leake to long relief or trade bait would've probably put us another 3-6 games behind in the standings. (Subtract Leake's good games, plus the back of the bullpen would be a disaster with Brox and Marshall out)
[Phil ] Castellini celebrated the team's farm system and noted the team had promising prospects who would one day be great Reds -- and then joke then they'd be ex-Reds, saying "of course we're going to lose them". #SellTheTeamBob
Nov. 13, 2007: One of the greatest days in Reds history: John Allen gets the boot!
Leake has been the one pitcher on the staff who has been reliable. Latos is brilliant at times, but lapses into really bad decisions. Arroyo is Arroyo. He's like a box of chocolative EX-Lax. You never know how it will come out. Same with Homer. And who is this man they call Cueto? It's hard to believe we're 11 over.
www.ris-news.com
"You only have to bat a thousand in two things; flying and heart transplants. Everything else you can go 4-for-5."
-Beano Cook
Welcome back guy. You've been missed.
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
I think it is pretty clear that Leake has rounded a corner mentally.
Physically, he's still the same pitcher he always was. But mentally, he is new man. Take his 7/24 start for instance. He had nothing going for him that day (12 hits, 2 walks, 2 K's in 6 IP) and his defense didn't do him any favors either (2 errors), but he kept battling and somehow managed to hold the Giants to one run. The 2012 version of Leake would have lost focus, started serving up mistake pitches in the middle of the strikezone, and the game would have got out of hand. The 2013 version buckled down and found a way to escape unscathed inning after inning after inning.
Leake is not the same jittery kid who used to lose focus and lets games get away from him. He's not throwing mistake pitches at the worst possible time anymore. That is the big difference in him this season. It has allowed him to become consistent and reliable, which is the difference between a BOR guy and a TOR/MOR guy. Let Leake serve as an object lesson in the silliness of theoretical 'ceilings'. Leake has shattered his ceiling.
That's a lot of assumptions to throw out there concerning the power of positive thought. Hopefully he can philosophize his way past the keeper of the gates to the pit of regression to the mean.
"This isn’t stats vs scouts - this is stats and scouts working together, building an organization that blends the best of both worlds. This is the blueprint for how a baseball organization should be run. And, whether the baseball men of the 20th century like it or not, this is where baseball is going."---Dave Cameron, U.S.S. Mariner
What if he does? And what if he does again next season? What if the lay of the land has changed?
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