I don't know the answer to this question, myself, because the pitching was pretty solid last year. BUTTT, Find me a pitcher on the 2009 team that got better in 2010. With the exception of maybe Ben Alsup or maybe Austin Ross, the answer is probably no one. Everyone has stayed the same or maybe regressed a little. It's kind of the same thing as Gary Crowton with the hot start, then the screeching halt, but I always wondered why a guy would leave Michigan State as a HEAD COACH to become a pitching coach somewhere else. Maybe we're getting the answer now? Thoughts?
You know, there have been rumors for about a month now that he was mentioned for another HC job in Ohio (actually ohio st. I think), but that kinda died down, probably because there isn't a rabid following for ncaa baseball coaching rumors. On the one hand, i'm hesitant to lame blame on anyone for this season's pitching woes. A national championship, even at lsu where it is expected every year, buys you at least one season of a free pass (especially when said "down year" will still end up in the ncaa post season, i mean this isn't Smoke bad), but this very well could be on grewe. A bigger concern would be if grewe takes a new job, then we all fall into the trap of saying "Well Grewe checked out midseason, so it's all his fault" At some point more needs to be made of CPM's pitching decisions (specifically the multiple times a good outing for bertuccini was ended so that a damaged ott could come in a lose it) but that time is not now. btw, it's easy to figure out why grewe would give up a HC job up there for a asst job down here. Most of our assts. get paid an order of magnitude more than HC's up north.
Without an effective Ott, we are toast. Manieri needs to know what he can do and the only way to find out is to put him in there in crucial situations. Can't fault CPM here. As for Grewe, one has to wonder why no one stepped up. Not one reliever showed improvement from early in the season.
actually, you can fault cpm. while we need an effectiv ott, we needed to win games in the worst way. and the pitcher we had in (bert) was shutting em down. at some point you have to say we need to win these games first, then worry about our closer, because we are in such a hole. not to mention, possibly help the mental state of the rest of the team by finally getting a win. ott lost three games in two weekends. just winning one would have moved us up a spot in the sect and kept us from playing the number one seed the first round. not to mention what it would have done for the morale of the players. imo, at some point it should have been said "the kid doesnt have it right now, stay with the one that is getting the job done".
Nope. I disagree. Ott's mechanics are fine, he's not injured and he needs to "play through it". I think CPM did the right thing in throwing him out there. It may still pay dividends.
when letting him work out of it (and it not working) is possibly hurting the morale of the rest of the team, at what point do you put the entire team above one pitcher? putting him at middle reliever to work through it, just like with ross, or pulling ranaudo from starting is an alternate way to let him work through it. just not at starter. that appears to have f'ed with his head bad. if he is in as middle reliever just for an inning to work out of it,he doesnt have to change his throwing style or mentality from what it is as a closer. in the 8th/9th with no one warming, all its gonna do is cost the game if is isnt back. at middle reliever it still may but at least you have a chance to regroup with someone else. once he works out of it, back to closer. worked for ross as starter to move him till he worked his way back to where he could be.
costing us games almost kicked us out of the "long term" for this season. and if you mean long term as in his future career, that is why i said go to middle reliever till he gets a bit of confidence back then put him back as closer. because losing those three games may have shaken his confidence even worse too. at some point you have to say he also needs the pressure of closer taken off his shoulders till he can get a bit of confidence back. face it. ott losing 3 games in two weekends hurt the team as a whole a lot. they needed wins for the confidence, and giving up late inning leads like that and losing did not help the already mental breakdown. i dont think he should be benched entirely. but i think it is possible to help him get his head together without the pressure of closing, which is also not helping the team as a whole when he folds in that position right now. we can agree do disagree, but i think ott could have been moved to middle reliever to get his head back together.
