Rotator Cuff Rules

Joba Chamberlin left in the 5th inning on Monday night doing the one thing you never want to see from a 22 year old flame thrower, clutching his arm.
Chamberlin, making just his 12th major league start was placed on the 15 day DL today and is diagnosed with rotator cuff tendanitis. No big deal right? Well....lets just say many of you may have wasted $70 on a pinstripe 62 jersey.
When it comes to rotator cuffs, if it isnt OK in two weeks, it never will be. Past pitchers have proven that if a pitcher has surgery on their rotator cuff, they are far less likely to come back the same than if they have Tommy John surgery, an elbow operation.
Pitchers such a Pedro Martinez and Alex Fernandez both tore rotator cuffs and had surgery.
Fernandez missed the entire 1998 season and came back winning 7 games in 24 starts,with an above average 3.38 era. Sadly in 2000, he started 8 games, reinjured his shoulder and his career was over.
Martinez in his first full season since surgery has just a 3-3 record and an era a sliver below 6, he's been on the DL twice since the start of the season and has needed extra days of rest for almost every start.

The moral of the story is that the Chamberlin phenominon that swept the nation with, "Joba Rules," T-shirts and 62 jerseys was rediculous. Jumping on the band wagon of a first year pitcher who never accomplished anything more than a blown playoff opportunity and a 6 inning shut out of the Pirates makes no sense.

Hopefully for Chamberlin's sake he has a future and his shoulder will be fine, but if it comes to surgery, Yanks fans might as well turn their Joba Rules t-shirts into hand towels.

Here is an article with more rotator info....
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070617&content_id=2032977&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Why Pirates Why?

The Pittsburgh Pirates are last place in the NL Central again. Since 1993, their combined record is a lowly 1139-1446, winning just 44% of games and missing the playoffs each year. 7 Different managers have attempted to turn around this trainwreck, but have been unsuccessful.

Pirates management continues to bring embarassment to a classic franchise. This is the same group whos biggest aquisition in the last few years is aquiring Matt Morris in 07....a move that cost them 16.5 million dollars for a 35 year old pitcher.

The front office in Pittsburgh cares about as much about winning as oscar the grouch does about dinner eticate. Their trades of Xavier Nady, Jason Bay and Damaso Marte send a loud clear message that they have no willingness to build themselves back into a winning franchise.

They had the beginnings of what could have been a solid lineup including all-star Nate McClough, but since Nady and Bay would have demanded more money for their outstanding performance, the Pirates decided to let them fly away to teams with a chance. They were a couple of pitchers away from at least trying to compete.

Heres a list of players the Pirates have rescently let walk who have gone on to do good things.

Esteban Loaiza
Jason Kendall
Jason Schmidt
Jose Guillen
Joe Randa
Aramis Ramirez
Brian Giles
Bronson Arroyo
Joe Beimel
Damaso Marte
Gary Matthews
Solomon Torres
Jason Bay
Oliver Perez
Jeff Suppan