Ainsworth contemplating retirement

by Scott Christ on Mar 14, 2005 3:13 PM EST in News & Rumors

According to a story at the Sun, Kurt Ainsworth is really down in the dumps about his shoulder giving him problems.

"I'm going to go back and reassess everything, because this sure hasn't been a fun past couple of years," he said. "It's been pretty miserable, to tell you the truth, especially performing at a level you know that you're better than. It's not that much fun.

"If I feel like I can't get back to the same level I did before, then maybe I would consider doing something else. But I'm not even thinking about that right now. Hopefully, nothing is wrong."

...

The shoulder flared up two weeks into camp during a 15-minute bullpen session. Ainsworth blamed it on the usual spring training soreness, an optimistic view that no longer holds.

"I was just trying to get through it," he said. "It hurt to get loose. It hurts to throw. It affects my pitching. If I could just deal with the pain and throw like I have done in the past few years with everything else going on, that's different. But this is actually starting to affect my pitches now.

"I have nothing there. It's like I'm throwing the ball and it isn't even coming out. I'm lobbing it in there."

Man, Kurt Ainsworth seems like a good guy, and this is just awful news. If it was just a thing where the guy couldn't pitch anymore, that would be one thing. But having what was a promising career possibly flame out like this would be really too bad. Let's hope for the best in this case.

As a follow-up to Tony Saunders' big return to the mound, he's been sent down to Sarasota for the minor league camp. Jacobo Sequea was also optioned. Between the two of them, they played in one inning this spring.

Tweet Comment 0 comments | 0 recs |