Comments on: More on Homer Bailey

By: RedBlooded

RedBlooded — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:22:11 +0000

Sorry, Steve, I did miss that you were being sarcastic. Sorry about that. I’m glad you clued me in. Pretty cute actually. I was really worried there for a moment that there was somebody who still wants to slam Bailey when he’s up. Yes, my comment above about admiring that was meant to be sarcastic.

By: Steve Price

Steve Price — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:34:04 +0000

I found it…

“smoke’em inside”

By: Steve Price

Steve Price — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:31:41 +0000

What was it that Jim Bouton wrote that Gary Bell used to always tell the Seattle Pilots pitchers in “Ball Four?”

I remember the manager always suggested they go “pound some Budweiser” after the game.

what was the Bell quote?

By: RiverCity Redleg

RiverCity Redleg — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:17:09 +0000

ANYBODY would be better than Dick Pole. Give me Ted Power, Mario Soto, UT’s coach, Lehr, Chad Dotson, Steve Price, Tom Browning, literally Anybody but Pole.

By: Steve Price

Steve Price — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:01:47 +0000

Redblooded…I hope you were being sarcastic in comment 16…for I was sarcastic in comment 14.

It would be hard to find a bigger Homer supporter on this blog than me…I’ve been slamming how Reds management has been handling him all year…

By: doktor

doktor — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:47:04 +0000

regarding the paragraph about firing all the pitching coaches, i would say not the ones in the minors. I can imagine they were following orders from high above about Homer, on what he can throw and how he throws it. So thats on the organization and whoever advises on the pitching. Regarding Dick Pole, not sure about him and his influence, did he help Masset/Burton emerge the last 2 years? yet on the other hand, Soto seems to be the contact for Edison/Cueto. As mentioned earlier, you dont read too many quotes from the Reds staff about Pole helping them get out of a rough stretch.

By: RedBlooded

RedBlooded — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:27:59 +0000

Every pitcher’s issue is mental. I don’t think Homer’s is any more mental or less mental than the average pitcher. The fact is you get to watch more of the learning curve with a high school draftee. Homer is getting better and better. If you don’t like watching the process, just don’t watch. You need patience with young pitchers. You lose patience with promising young pitchers at your peril. I’m glad to see that you have stayed consistent, Steve. You can slam Homer even when he is going well. I admire that.

By: GregD

GregD — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:35:06 +0000

Trade him for Jermaine Dye while he still has value! :p

By: Steve Price

Steve Price — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:30:31 +0000

I think time has run out on the Homer Bailey experiment. He will never be a good pitcher.

By: David

David — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:28:45 +0000

RedBlooded – You touch on something here that is of particular interest. Is Bailey’s problem mental? He got a new pitch that he throws on occassion and owns AAA. He goes to UT and “re-learns” velocity? He has dominated his last two starts. Is he learning to become a better pitcher or does he think he is a better pitcher after and so he pitches better?

By: Glenn

Glenn — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:21:39 +0000

My guess is that Mr. C and WJ have chalked this season’s failures up to injuries. With Dusty coming back, any coach that is not back next year will be because Dusty doesn’t want him back. It will be left up to Dusty to determine if a coach is doing a good job or not…Ugh!

By: JasonL

JasonL — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:42:20 +0000

“When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always twenty years behind the times.” -Mark Twain

By: RedBlooded

RedBlooded — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:39:06 +0000

Give me a break. Who knows exactly why Bailey is pitching better. It probably is a combination of a number of things. If the splitter was the answer, why isn’t he throwing it? This latest tweak from the UT pitching coach may or may not have been an answer. It could be the power of positive suggestion or something else. Bailey himself said it was so subtle that he didn’t even know what is was. What we do know is that Bailey has been pitching better lately. I think it was almost inevitable as he matures and learns more how to pitch hitters and I have been saying so consistently. Young pitchers are usually inconsistent. They get better as they get more consistent. If they can get more consistent. Bailey seems headed in that direction. Has Pole been no part of that? How do you really know? Bailey probably will still have some ups and downs. It was just a few short months ago that people on this blog were calling for the Reds to get rid of Bailey. Now they want to get rid of Pole.

I don’t know if Dick Pole is a good pitching coach or not. But this kind of evidence is not really compelling. I do know that Volquez was very good last year after a long period with other pitching coaches of being ineffective. Was that Pole’s doing. Maybe. But again it is only one piece of evidence.

I do know that I don’t trust Dusty or Jocketty to know whether Pole is doing a good job or not. And the way Dusty handles pitches does not help.

By: Travis G.

Travis G. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:37:31 +0000

Volquez already speaks English fluently.

But Bailey’s travails this season certainly don’t do much to recommend Pole coming back next year. I doubt Soto, UT’s pitching coach or Justin Lehr are the answer (and no chance does Dave Duncan leave St. Louis), but something obviously isn’t working with our current guy. Seems like all the pitchers have taken little jabs at him through the media.

By: GregD

GregD — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:30:46 +0000

Does this mean that Bailey is still more of a thrower than a pitcher? I’m not saying that is good or bad. At his age, he can be a thrower.

For years, it seems the Reds direction for Bailey in the minors has been to throw his other pitches. If he’s had a good games, it was sometimes portrayed negatively by the organization because he did it too much with his fastball.

This has been going on since before Pole arrived.