Hermanson is even worse than I thought. This is the Angels B team.

 

That's the last time we'll see him on the mound for a long time.

You know Kenny is seeing this. I expect he's working those phones this very moment.

In my pessimistic opinion, we're going to have to acquire another big league arm for our bullpen before the season starts.  Our starting pitching is too talented/expensive to waste because of a couple of glaring holes in the pen.

I couldn't agree more. What's the use of spending all that money on a starting rotation if the middle guys are going to cough it up. Hermanson not being healthy should not be a surprise.

Does anybody know how Hermanson has been doing this spring not including this outing?

Man, Hermanson is a gascan.  Leadoff double.

 

Ozzie comes out to pull him.  Singleton said either his back is f***ed up or he has a blister.

 

Hermanson looked like he had no flexibility in his back. Thus, he couldn't drive off the mound with his back leg, and lost some velocity because of that.

Does anybody know how Hermanson has been doing this spring not including this outing?

 

Bad

That's all it really is.  Dustin didn't forget how to pitch over the off-season.  His arm strength is not where it was last year.  He's got about 3 weeks to get it where it needs to be.  If it's not any better in 3 weeks,  I'll be worried.

He left with a trainer. The guy is hurt and has been hurt. He has as much chance of being at full strength in 3 weeks as Kerry Wood.

I couldn't agree more. What's the use of spending all that money on a starting rotation if the middle guys are going to cough it up. Hermanson not being healthy should not be a surprise.

 

Ask the Cubs last year what it's like to have a good starting staff, but shaky depth in the bullpen.

He left with a trainer. The guy is hurt and has been hurt. He has as much chance of being at full strength in 3 weeks as Kerry Wood.

 

I can see that he's hurt now. Before that, there were no physical problems that anybody could see.

Ask the Cubs last year what it's like to have a good starting staff, but shaky depth in the bullpen.

It all comes down to your closer IMO. Even if the guys before him are shaky, when you have a guy succeeding at closing games, everything looks better. The Cubs bullpen suddenly looked a ton better around May-June of last year when they finally made Dempster their closer. Even the young guys they stuck in seemed to work better.

I can see that he's hurt now.  Before that,  there were no physical problems that anybody could see.

 

Cooper mentioned they were worried about his back a couple of days ago. It certainly doesn't look good for him.

Does anybody know how Hermanson has been doing this spring not including this outing?

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Not including today's outing...

 

Dustin Hermanson (2006 Spring Training stats)

0-1 Record (3 games, 1 start)

9.00 ERA

3.0 IP

3 ER

8 Hits

2 HR

0 BB

1 SO

Cooper mentioned they were worried about his back a couple of days ago. It certainly doesn't look good for him.

 

You're always worried. I was just saying that before today, there was nothing that said Dustin was having physical problems. That's obviously not the case.

You're always worried.  I was just saying that before today,  there was nothing that said Dustin was having physical problems.  That's obviously not the case.

It appears my worrying is for a legitimate reason.

You're always worried.  I was just saying that before today,  there was nothing that said Dustin was having physical problems.  That's obviously not the case.

 

There was plenty of speculation about his health. You could tell he was even concerned about it.

Great baserunning by Iguchi.

It appears my worrying is for a legitimate reason.

 

How dare you be concerned about an older pitcher who lost his stuff at the end of last season due to a bad back injury, didn't have surgery, and then has failed to regain his stuff so far this year!!!! Let me guess....you're concerned about Kerry Wood's health also?

You can now put me in the Kenny needs to go out and get another reliever camp. I wasn't gonna really judge Dustin until the end of spring. I thought it was just simply a case of him building his arm strength back up. After today's performance, he's clearly not 100%. I'll will say this much, be prepared to overpay. Especially with the season just a few weeks away. Not too many teams out there have extra relief help to spare. And you can pretty much forget about any AL team dealing with us.

It appears my worrying is for a legitimate reason.

 

I meant in general. Not you.

There was plenty of speculation about his health.  You could tell he was even concerned about it.

 

Every quote I've read from Dustin stated that his back wasn't a problem.

Every quote I've read from Dustin stated that his back wasn't a problem.

 

What's he going to say in the press? "Yeah, my back is still sore, and I'm worried about my velocity"? It just seemed by some of the rationalizations I read that things weren't right with him.

Every quote I've read from Dustin stated that his back wasn't a problem.

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A guy who doesn't want to lose his job isn't going to always tell the truth about every ache and pain.

What's he going to say in the press?  "Yeah, my back is still sore, and I'm worried about my velocity"?  It just seemed by some of the rationalizations I read that things weren't right with him.

 

It's not like you can hide a back problem. If he's hurt, why lie about it?

Every quote I've read from Dustin stated that his back wasn't a problem.

I think he is being a little Cub-esque as far as his health is concerned. If he says his back is fine, he most likely isn't telling the whole truth. Hopefully it is just a question of building up arm strength, or strength in general. But it doesn't look like he's going to be ready to get major leaguers out for a while.

A guy who doesn't want to lose his job isn't going to always tell the truth about every ache and pain.

 

A back problem is different than simple aches and pain.