Sam on Danny

by SC on Sep 30, 2006 6:50 AM EDT in News

Good story here with Sam on Danny. Some notable quotes:

"He's got a real good note to go home and he should be a good pitcher for us," Perlozzo said Friday. "We keep saying that, but I think he's getting closer and closer and, hopefully, next year's the year."

"I think it was perfect timing," Perlozzo said before Friday night's game against the Boston Red Sox. "He's had an up-and-down year and we've been trying to get him all the way around the corner and we still don't feel like he's all the way around.

"The fact that he can go into the winter with a game like he pitched, that's certainly something that's a real positive. You'd hate to see a guy go out there trying to get around the corner and then fall on his face and have to sleep on that all winter."

Perlozzo is in the process of meeting individually with all his players before the season ends Sunday in Boston. One of those he spoke with Friday was Cabrera.

"He's got a pretty good head on his shoulders," Perlozzo said. "One thing you don't have to worry about Daniel (is) he's willing to put the work in."

And you know what? F me if I don't have the same mindset toward Cabrera. I feel like at any moment, the light can switch on for Danny and he's one of the best pitchers on the planet. I bash Sam plenty, but it's good to see that the manager has faith in Cabrera.

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Agreed, but

I'd be surprised if he didn't have some faith in Danny, who has the highest upside of anyone on our staff.

In other words, who doesn't Perlozzo have faith in? His faith in Danny is cheapened a little by his faith in Ortiz, Chen and Lopez.

Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun
But mama, that's where the fun is...

by zknower on Sep 30, 2006 11:47 AM EDT 0 recs

Perlozzo...

had very similar comments about Bedard before Bedard's breakthrough earlier in the year.

by sportsman885 on Sep 30, 2006 1:34 PM EDT 0 recs

But

Like zknower said, he also had similar words about Rodrigo, Chen and Ortiz before each of their implosions this year.

by punkrawka on Sep 30, 2006 1:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ortiz

Could it really be said that Ortiz had an implosion with the Orioles? I'd say the Orioles got him post-implosion, and because the Orioles manangement is a collection of some of the stupider yes-men on the planet, actually thought he would get better. This, of course, is impossible. At least they're only paying him the minimum.

Stupid Leo Mazzone. You couldn't fix Jim Brower, and you couldn't fix Ortiz. And you seem to have ruined Bruce Chen (Chen sucked with Atlanta when he first came up, too). Not that Bruce Chen is some great shakes. But still.

Enough of this rambling.

by pipkin on Sep 30, 2006 2:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

Blame Leo!

Last time I checked the pitching coach isn't throwing in games. They're coaching. And you can't teach a pile of horse crap to be a horse. He did what he could, and made some progress with Cabrera, Loewen, Ray and Bedard. That's why he's here, to make the decent guys good and the good guys great.

My wife left me, my daughter has a driver's license, and keeping the cosmos from chaos lacks so much of the razzle dazzle."

by Dr Orpheus on Sep 30, 2006 2:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

Leo, redux

Yeah, but Leo convinced Flanagan (or whoever the hell is in charge in the warehouse) to grab Brower. He wanted him on the OD roster. He was the one who thought he could fix Ortiz.

He couldn't. Yet since Perlozzo and him are like best friends they kept his little projects around.

And yeah, he did a good job with Bedard. But despite the fact that Cabrera was boner-inducingly awesome in his last start, lets not forget that he had a pretty bad year, really. Lead the league in walks and wild pitches. He had real trouble with his control, as usual. Hopefully Leo will make progress with him going into next year, but I don't think he made a ton of progress this year.

Chris Ray, I'll give you. Loewen has been mediocre.

We have the highest paid pitching coach in history and one of the worst pitching staffs in the league. Not all Leo's fault. For example, he can't possibly have been the one to say "well, Hawkins and Todd Williams and a bunch of minor leaguers and retreads like Halama are a good major league bullpen."

I'm just hoping his program works next year.

by pipkin on Sep 30, 2006 11:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

Well

Yes, Russ's career imploded pre-Orioles. But Russ, Chen and Lopez all had a nonstop SERIES of implosions, and Sam would sing their praises before each one. That's more what I meant...

by punkrawka on Sep 30, 2006 2:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

Some choice Sammy quotes....

Chen:
"We're going to hope he can put it together soon," Perlozzo said. (April 24)

The Orioles are off Monday and won't need a fifth starter again until May 13. "We'd hate to lose Bruce and any confidence we have in him," Perlozzo said. "We certainly need him." (May 6)

Ortiz:
Russ Ortiz lasted only 4 1-3 innings, allowing three runs and nine hits. He struck out one, walked four and was pulled before qualifying for a win

Ortiz and Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo agreed the outing was not satisfactory but not disastrous, considering the right-hander had not pitched since June 11

"I thought he did OK for the first time out," Perlozzo said....
"I think he showed he's a battler and a competitor."(July 1)

Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo said things weren't necessarily as bad as they looked and expressed confidence that Ortiz will pitch better the next time out. (July 2)

Still, the O's are interested to see if Ortiz can provide any value while he's on the big-league roster.

"Leo and [bullpen coach] Larry McCall told me that his side work has been a lot better," said Perlozzo, who relayed that Ortiz has more life on his fastball and a more consistent breaking ball. "They see some signs that he's improving a little bit. Hopefully, he can take that into the game for us and give us a good start." (August 6)

Lopez:
Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo would like to protect Lopez from 20 losses.

"That's not something you'd like to see -- especially when he had such a good year last year and in the past," Perlozzo said on Friday. "I don't think anyone would like to see that kind of number. But I don't see that happening."...

..."I think Rodrigo has struggled a little bit with his fastball command this year," Perlozzo said. "He got off to a bad start, and I'm sure he's had his share of games where we didn't score many runs and he pitched pretty good. I think that just happens. Sometimes, it's your year to take it on the chin. It's not always your fault, but part of it is." (Sep 22)

---

Noticably missing are quotes where Perlozzo says, "Bruce Chen really shit the bed last night", or "Rodrigo needs to think about what the team needs more than what he needs."

You can debate all day long whether such candor would be good or bad for the players; but we'll never know, since Sam really doesn't criticize any players, ever. At least, not publicly.

Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun
But mama, that's where the fun is...

by zknower on Sep 30, 2006 3:05 PM EDT up 0 recs

Sammy

"You can debate all day long whether such candor would be good or bad for the players; but we'll never know, since Sam really doesn't criticize any players, ever. At least, not publicly."

Sam is too nice but I don't mind it. He could throw Chen, Roddy, Ortiz... everybody but Bedard, Benson, Ray and Britton under the bus but what's wrong with just being nice? Why kick a man while he's down? Ray Miller used to throw players under the bus and players hated playing for him. Same with Larry Bowa.

"She lifts her skirt up to her knees, walks through garden of roses with her bare feet laughing." Ray Lamontange.

by birdman on Sep 30, 2006 3:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ehh...

those quotes are pretty different from the quotes about Bedard and Cabrera. Those quotes basically were don to keep thier confidence high.

For Chen:

"we're going to HOPE he puts it together"

We need him, hate to lose any confidence, etc. are all confidence builders.

For Ortiz:

"I thought he did OK for a first time out"
"he showed he's a battler and competitor"

Not exactly a ringing endorsement

For Lopez:

Those quotes don't say anything about being ready to turn the corner, just what has gone wrong with him this year.

Contrast that with quotes about Bedard and Cabrera:

"he's about to turn the corner, just needs to put it together, has a special arm, etc"

Much different from the three you mention when given the context.

BTW, could you find those exact Bedard quotes? I know when he said them, but I just can't find the links. It was around June 12th, after a start against the Twins.

by sportsman885 on Sep 30, 2006 5:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

also...

I'm not really talking about the quotes SC mentioned above, but about the quotes he made of Cabrera before his last start, right after his start against the Twins.

by sportsman885 on Sep 30, 2006 5:31 PM EDT up 0 recs