Bailey's split decision has foes dazzled

[traderumor]

You can't say, "don't throw that, you may get hurt." Pitching in general isn't good for your arm. The injury rate is basically 100%. You gotta throw what gets guys out or you're not going to last anyway, so might as well go all out while you can and if you blow it out eventually, well, surgery works wonders nowadays.

Tell that to the guys who have had to scrap certain pitches in their career because they caused an injury.

[kaldaniels]

Is Bailey gripping his splitter the same as those before him who had shortened careers? The article mentions he slid his finger over one inch...is that inch going to ruin his arm? Granted, I'm not an orthopedist so I don't have a clue about this.

[membengal]

I think Bailey's at the point that if he wants to have any sort of career in the majors at all he has to do something. If this is it, fine. Better to have a good five years than none at all.

This is it in a nutshell.

Best of luck to Bailey. He's plenty old enough now to make a decision based on known risks and proceed forward.

[Benihana]

This is it in a nutshell.

Best of luck to Bailey. He's plenty old enough now to make a decision based on known risks and proceed forward.

Yep, even Bailey realizes it's now or never for him, and I don't think he wants to end up like Ty Howington- even if it means getting surgery 4-5 years from now.

[dougdirt]

Yep, even Bailey realizes it's now or never for him, and I don't think he wants to end up like Ty Howington- even if it means getting surgery 4-5 years from now.

Well he has already surpassed Howington and I don't really get the relation of the two. Howington never made it past AA and blew his arm up. Bailey has been to the majors and actually pitched well from time to time there (but overall, no). I also doubt that Bailey realizes its now or never, because well, its not. Bailey will be on someone's MLB roster next April short of his arm blowing up. The main question is, will it be the Reds or not.

[Kingspoint]

Well then let Bailey have 3 good years for us, ship him out for a nice package of talent, let someone else pay him and then let him be hurt for someone else. After all, baseball is a business and the goal is to win, not to see how much a player can do for you over 10 years, but how many titles and playoff appearances you go to. So give me 3 potentially good to great years with the splitty, instead of 10 below average to average without the splitter.

AKA, Dwight Gooden.