Homer's shoulder.

[REDREAD]

Take this with a huge grain of salt, but a guy called in to Paul Daughtery's post game show last night and reminded Paul about how he called last year to say that Homer had a shoulder injury and Paul blew him off. So he was calling back to rub it in. Supposedly this caller knew Homer's roommate.
The caller went on about how this was robbing Homer's velocity and gave Paul a big "I told you so".

Now, I realize this isn't the most reliable source, but it explains a lot of things, such as why Homer lost velocity and generally became ineffective.
Also explains why the Reds were shopping him hard last winter. I wonder if that phantom "groin" injury was really the shoulder injury..

[IslandRed]

Biggest grain of salt:

This guy is asking us to believe that the Reds know Bailey is hurt and didn't lift a finger to do anything about it while watching his recent Stuff-and-Trade-Value Death Spiral. And chose to send him back to Louisville to keep taking the mound, hurt, instead of sending him to the MRI machine.

Nah... just doesn't make sense.

[Joseph]

Sounds like someone who wants to be an insider so he threw something against the wall to try and see if it would stick. When Homer got shelled up here, he used it as a second chance to reaffirm his 'insider' status.

Much ado.

[M2]

Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if Bailey's got an undetected shoulder problem. It also wouldn't shock me if Bailey claims he's got an undetected shoulder problem whenever he starts pitching poorly.

[PuffyPig]

Originally Posted by REDREAD

Also explains why the Reds were shopping him hard last winter.

If they had indeed shopped him hard, he would no longer be with the team.

[dougdirt]

Yet his velocity in his last start in Louisville ranged from 93-97 MPH on his fastball and that guy probably has no clue what he was talking about.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by IslandRed

Biggest grain of salt:

This guy is asking us to believe that the Reds know Bailey is hurt and didn't lift a finger to do anything about it while watching his recent Stuff-and-Trade-Value Death Spiral. And chose to send him back to Louisville to keep taking the mound, hurt, instead of sending him to the MRI machine.

Nah... just doesn't make sense.

I wonder if this source looked anything like this:

[OnBaseMachine]

Hilarious stuff Chip. :ughmamoru

You trying to get another nasty PM?

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by IslandRed

Biggest grain of salt:

This guy is asking us to believe that the Reds know Bailey is hurt and didn't lift a finger to do anything about it while watching his recent Stuff-and-Trade-Value Death Spiral. And chose to send him back to Louisville to keep taking the mound, hurt, instead of sending him to the MRI machine.

Nah... just doesn't make sense.

Except there is a lot of precedence for the Reds running guys out there hurt.
Maj was hurt bad enough for Wayne to file a grievance, yet the Reds only gave him 2 weeks rest and sent him back to the mound in Louisville. Jr was brought back too early many times. Even now, they are saying Harriston was not as ready as they hoped.

I know this is cynical, but I think baseball teams view their players differently than fans. Fans think of a prospect like Homer as a long term asset. I think teams are more causal, and are more inclined to just throw the guy out there and hope to get something in the short term.

That doesn't prove the caller was right, but I don't think we can assume that the Reds (or any other team) always have the player's long term health in mind when they make decisions. I can also see why they'd want to hide a suspected shoulder injury -- that would torpedo his trade value even more.

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by PuffyPig

If they had indeed shopped him hard, he would no longer be with the team.

Not really. There was no urgency to give Homer away, he's not costing the team any money.

The hope was to get significant talent in return. If the Reds were only offered mediocrity, no point in trading Homer, they might as well take the risk that he'd rebound.

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Yet his velocity in his last start in Louisville ranged from 93-97 MPH on his fastball and that guy probably has no clue what he was talking about.

Not an expert, but isn't it possible to still throw hard with a shoulder injury for awhile?

Again, not saying this guy was right. He may have just made it up, but it would explain some things.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by REDREAD

Not an expert, but isn't it possible to still throw hard with a shoulder injury for awhile?

Again, not saying this guy was right. He may have just made it up, but it would explain some things.

Sure it is, but his rational was Homer's lost velocity was because of his shoulder injury that he apparently has according to this guy. Then Homer goes down to AAA and throws at the same velocity he was throwing before this 'shoulder injury' and he did it with control (71 strikes and just 18 balls thrown in 8 innings with no walks and 7 strikeouts).

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Sure it is, but his rational was Homer's lost velocity was because of his shoulder injury that he apparently has according to this guy. Then Homer goes down to AAA and throws at the same velocity he was throwing before this 'shoulder injury' and he did it with control (71 strikes and just 18 balls thrown in 8 innings with no walks and 7 strikeouts).

You make a good point.. I was kind of taking the caller's position just as a devil's advocate. I do agree with the rest of the crowd that there's probably less than a 10% chance that the caller was really an "insider" and is probably just blowing hot air..

Hopefully Homer can get back on track.

[reds44]

Was it keymastur?

[MikeS21]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Sure it is, but his rational was Homer's lost velocity was because of his shoulder injury that he apparently has according to this guy. Then Homer goes down to AAA and throws at the same velocity he was throwing before this 'shoulder injury' and he did it with control (71 strikes and just 18 balls thrown in 8 innings with no walks and 7 strikeouts).

I'm not sure if this is good or bad. All this does is re-enforce the perception that Homer can get minor league hitters out, but cannot get major leaguers out.

Or, maybe if they replace the radar gun at GAB with the radar gun from Louisville, Homer's velocity would increase.