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September 20, 2006

Under The Knife

When Shuuto Met Gyro

by Will Carroll

There’s been a lot of interest in the gyroball this year. You might want to check out Jeff Passan’s great article on Yahoo, but generally speaking, more people now know what a gyroball is. Or I thought they did. This video recently surfaced on YouTube and people have begun e-mailing me questions. The problem is that Daisuke Matsuzaka doesn’t throw the gyro and it isn’t in here. Until March, I thought he did, but he doesn’t. He does have a mean 81 mph slider with late movement that could be mistaken for a gyro at times, and he has tried to work on his gyro, but he says he’s never thrown it in a game. I’m part of the confusion--in my initial article for Rob Neyer, I mistook the shuuto and the gyro. A shuuto is essentially a sinker, while a gyro is more like a slider. This month’s Esquire has a brief write-up on the pitch, and there’s plenty more to come. I have something set up in the near future where I'll get some solid pitchers to work with, to teach the pitch and see what happens. I'll keep you updated.

One other thing on Matsuzaka--when you see his pitch counts, you might worry, but it’s very hard to equate them to American pitch counts. You see, Matsuzaka normally works on six days’ rest. I have no idea how to translate that. It’s one more fact that teams will have to figure out before offering the huge money it’s going to take to sign the Japanese ace.

Powered by the return of Peter Gammons, on to the injuries:

• The Yankees activated Gary Sheffield, but did not have him in the lineup. Since the Yankees are planning to play him some at first base, his return coincides nicely with Jason Giambi's needing a couple days off to heal up his chronic wrist problem before the playoffs. Expect Sheffield to be at first after the Yankees clinch, with Aaron Guiel manning the position in the interim. This move doesn’t make much sense on the surface--Sheffield is better than Guiel, even when severely limited. It makes more sense when you know that players have an increased risk of injury at new positions. Sheffield can play the position for practice, pulling off any play that could be dangerous without any real consequence--in theory. Get the competitive juices flowing and I doubt it will work quite that way. Giambi’s wrist isn’t considered serious; at worst, a cortisone injection could be in the offing.
• There’s some uncertainty after Trevor Hoffman not only was part of one of the more memorable collapses in recent history, but when Hoffman’s statements didn’t match up with manager Bruce Bochy’s. After the game, Bochy said he removed Hoffman because he "knows [Hoffman] only has so many bullets in the gun." Hoffman said he had no physical limitations. There are ways to make these statements match up, but they’re all a bit of a stretch. Hoffman is an older pitcher, late in a season where he’s been used more than he has in a decade. It’s not a significant increase, but when you add in age and injuries in the interim, Bochy is smart to use him prudently. Keep your eye on his usage patterns as the Pads try to stay in the playoff picture.
• There’s still some confusion surrounding the future of Placido Polanco, but understanding the root of that confusion should get us somewhere. Polanco had soreness in the shoulder and had a cortisone injection to help reduce inflammation. Polanco had never had a cortisone injection, and didn’t understand that the relief wasn’t immediate, or that there would be soreness as it took effect. The pain he felt was similar to the pain he had initially had with the injury, and his confusion led to our confusion. It makes perfect sense that he would think that he had gone backwards and was headed for surgery. A few days later, the shoulder feels better and the Tigers are hopeful that he’ll get back in the lineup for the last week. Polanco’s return to function is a key for the Tigers' hopes in both that last week of action and October, because the team has struggled without him. This is partly a function of his value, and partly a function of being replaced by out machine Neifi Perez.

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