Dusty Baker destroys another arm....

[Kingspoint]

From Rotoworld via San Diego Tribune w/ Rotoworld comments:

Aaron Harang has admitted that his infamous four-inning relief outing back in May of 2008 forced him to alter his mechanics due to fatigue and he's never been able to recapture them.

"What it did," said Harang, "is fatigue me beyond the point of recovery. I started to change my arm angle to compensate for the fatigue and that’s when my forearm started to bother me." Many have long suspected that manager Dusty Baker's nonchalant use of Harang has led to the right-hander's downfall. The stats don't lie, as Harang was coming off back-to-back 16-win, 200-strikeout seasons and held a 3.50 ERA before the relief appearance. If he's able to reclaim his mechanics in a more hospitable environment in San Diego and PETCO Park, we could see a big bounce-back year.

Now will all of the yahoo's who have supported Dusty Baker and despite of all the evidence to the contrary still thinks that he doesn't destroy pitchers arms look at this and see that Dusty Baker, among many other reasons, is not a good Major League Manager.

We won last year, IN SPITE OF, Dusty Baker.

We'll win again this year, IN SPITE OF, Dusty Baker, because we're loaded with talent.

If there's anyone who could destroy this mammoth amount of good young pitching that the REDS have, it's Dusty Baker. He already did his number on Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero last year by throwing them both out there more than any other pitchers in baseball.

Thank goodness Walt Jockety is making the decisions for Dusty and pulling players, such as Mike Leake, when they get to the point to where they need to be shut down. Baker's dangerous, really dangerous.

All of this could be moot, though, if the REDS put their pitchers on the same training regimens that the Atlanta Braves have had their pitchers on the last 20 years. Under those training conditions, their arms would be able to handle whatever Dusty Baker does with their arms.

In a way, you can't blame Dusty, as he's just a country hick who hasn't got an ounce of intelligence between his ears, and hasn't ever noticed that the game has changed since when he was 18 years old and pitchers could throw for 250-300 innings, no problem. It doesn't take much of an IQ to figure out that you shouldn't bat a .300 OBP player in leadoff every night.

Pray that these young pitchers are going to survive these years under Dusty Baker.

[mroby85]

Aaron Harang is an excuse maker, and i'm glad he's gone. Before his arm he always cried about run support, but if you watched him pitch if they would score 5 he gave up 6, and when they would score 2 he would give up 3, etc. He's a loser, just like Arroyo is a winner. I love how pitchers can go on 3 days rest in the playoffs all the time, but Harang is using it as an excuse for why he sucks 3 years later. I don't recall the exact numbers, but I seem to remember him getting torched in that same series before being brought back out of the bullpen. How many innings did he pitch the game he started, because im thinking he got knocked out fairly early unless im mistaken.

[Parliament]

Dusty Baker has turned this team into a winner

[Mutaman]

Aaron- Don't let the door hit you on the way out. At least his mechanics were good enough to keep cashing those big checks that he wasn't earning over the years.

[Mutaman]

Before his arm he always cried about run support, but if you watched him pitch if they would score 5 he gave up 6, and when they would score 2 he would give up 3, etc. He's a loser, just like Arroyo is a winner. .

Bingo! Right on the money.

[Quatitos]

Now will all of the yahoo's who have supported Dusty Baker and despite of all the evidence to the contrary still thinks that he doesn't destroy pitchers arms look at this and see that Dusty Baker, among many other reasons, is not a good Major League Manager.

The story doesn't add up. Sure you can use that for why Harang was bad the rest of that year, even though, in September that year he posted a 3.07 ERA in 6 starts, after he had gotten some rest on the DL. And What about the next 2 years? Was he still too tired to use his previous mechanics? Or maybe last year he was off balance without his appendix

I would put more blame on Aaron for this, since he could have said something about it and I'm sure they would have skipped him for a start or two. He has proven that he is willing to push himself. On May 25, 2009 when there was the two or three hour rain delay and Aaron decided to come back into the game for another inning. He probably threw atleast an extra 100 or so pitches keeping himself loose during the delay and it was him pushing Dusty to let him stay in to qualify for the win. If your going to do stupid stuff like that you don't get to blame other people because you aren't willing to admit you are too tired to take the ball.

[AintlifeGrande]

Bingo! Right on the money.

Nice reply.Harang was going downhill well before the bullpen game in San Diego.Dusty did a great job managing the SP last season.I wish we could put this Dusty arm killer myth to rest.Any player in that clubhouse would go to war for Dusty.This thread feels like it was started by a bitter Cubs fan,or just a Cards fan hating on Baker.

[757690]

Over 30 starting pitchers in the NL alone have made emergency relief appearances since Harang's in 2008, including some TOR guys. Most of them are fine. If Harang noticed his mechanics were messed up, he should have said something. He's had over two years to fix it, even if it was caused by that outing.

I rarely buy that one outing or even one stretch of games ruined a pitcher. It usually is a combination of reasons, the most obvious one... throwing a ball 90 MPH is an unnatural act that causes damage to every arm.

[Josh]

Never cared much for Harang (Beetlejuice what my wife calls him) I was so happy when he didnt resign I think our younger staff has alot more to offer of I at least hope so.

[Cuban_Missile]

I couldn't be happier with Harang leaving. He was never happy always blamed someone else until the bitter end. So I am just glad that we can all dust our hands of Harang and let him walk away.

[Jerry Narron]

Harang has done some classy things in the community, but I question why he would choose to bring this topic back to the front almost three years after it happened.

I'm looking forward to seeing how he'll do in a pitchers park like San Diego this year.

[5DOLLAR-BLEACHERBUM]

Sounds to me like he wants to give the fans in San Diego some false confidence about him returning to form. Serves them right, we all had that same feeling the last couple years, and just as we did they will learn the hard way.

[Kingspoint]

The story doesn't add up. Sure you can use that for why Harang was bad the rest of that year, even though, in September that year he posted a 3.07 ERA in 6 starts, after he had gotten some rest on the DL. And What about the next 2 years? Was he still too tired to use his previous mechanics? Or maybe last year he was off balance without his appendix

I would put more blame on Aaron for this, since he could have said something about it and I'm sure they would have skipped him for a start or two. He has proven that he is willing to push himself. On May 25, 2009 when there was the two or three hour rain delay and Aaron decided to come back into the game for another inning. He probably threw atleast an extra 100 or so pitches keeping himself loose during the delay and it was him pushing Dusty to let him stay in to qualify for the win. If your going to do stupid stuff like that you don't get to blame other people because you aren't willing to admit you are too tired to take the ball.

Personally, I believe Aaron's ego was too huge. He refused to not throw pitches that could be jacked for extra-base hits. He always thought that it was just luck or something.

[signalhome]

There's no denying that Dusty has a history of ruining arms. Mark Prior says hello.

[mroby85]

There's no denying that Dusty has a history of ruining arms. Mark Prior says hello.

Does Jim Riggleman? Strasburg says hello
Jerry Manuel? Johan Santana says hello
Joe Girardi? AJ Burnett says hello
Cecil Cooper? Roy Oswalt says hello
Tony Larussa? Chris Carpenter says hello
The list could go on and on with pitchers. The bottom line is pitchers are players that tend to have serious injuries at times. You couldn't possibly baby someone more than the Nationals did Strasburg and he still ended up needing TJ surgery. It's ridiculous in my opinion the amount of flack that Dusty gets. Prior and Wood are the reasons that he always gets the flack, but what about Zambrano? If I remember correctly Wood had already been injured before Dusty got there? What major injuries took place in San Francisco while he was there?