caulfield12 Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Or will his arm rebound at some poin in the future? Should we shut him down for 2-3 weeks and hope he can bounce back? Will Nunez and Pena supplant him? Thankfully, with Contreras, MacDougal and Dotel coming off the books, this is really the only BAD contract KW now has to worry about...with Konerko really rebounding well this season from an injury-prone 2008 (wrist/hand, oblique pull) to have perhaps the most consistent offensive output of his career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFanForever Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 He really hasn't looked like the same pitcher he was early last year. I'm not sure if it is a need for rest or if he is just done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 Supposedly, his fastball is in the 91-94 MPH range still, right? I haven't seen him pitch live or on t.v. in at least two months, though. Has he thrown too many sliders or is he getting hit on the FB? Location? Arm/shoulder issue? Confidence/psychological? All of the above? On the surface, he looks like a decent reliever, strictly going by the numbers. But the reality is far different sometimes from the statistics...which is why baseball is such an interesting game to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCSox Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 (edited) Unless he's experiencing discomfort, I say that you have to keep running him out there and hope that he figures it out. (And try to avoid using him when we have small leads.) It's not like we have an excess of dominant arms in the pen right now. I don't like Linebrink's long-term prognosis. I don't know specifically what's wrong with his shoulder, but I imagine that if surgery could help it, they would've tried that this winter. Kenny's basically stuck with this guy, so all you can do is hope for the best at this point. Edited August 2, 2009 by WCSox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan1 Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 He hit 95 today, he's certainly not done. He just need to improve his control and get some confidence back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 03:25 PM) He hit 95 today, he's certainly not done. He just need to improve his control and get some confidence back. But is it an arrow-straight 95 like Aardsma, Embree and Koch? Movement, command/location and getting ahead in counts is always the key out of the pen, and having a second pitch with a 10+ MPH differential from the FB...unless you're Mo Rivera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan1 Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 04:29 PM) But is it an arrow-straight 95 like Aardsma, Embree and Koch? Movement, command/location and getting ahead in counts is always the key out of the pen, and having a second pitch with a 10+ MPH differential from the FB...unless you're Mo Rivera. It had solid tailing action. It wasn't breath-taking or anything, but he made Posada look stupid, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 I don't think he throws his curve enough. May throw his fastball too much as well. His off speed stuff is awesome and usually gets beat on his fastball it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeynach Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 04:20 PM) Supposedly, his fastball is in the 91-94 MPH range still, right? I haven't seen him pitch live or on t.v. in at least two months, though. Has he thrown too many sliders or is he getting hit on the FB? Location? Arm/shoulder issue? Confidence/psychological? All of the above? On the surface, he looks like a decent reliever, strictly going by the numbers. But the reality is far different sometimes from the statistics...which is why baseball is such an interesting game to follow. Guys hes not done, hes just getting a little predictable right now thats all. Kind of like what we went through with Cliff Politte. Linebrink's arm is not dead or anything its live as hell. He was throwing consistently 94-95 MPH and has been for most of the year. The problem has been two things. His 4 seam fastball is extremely flat and easy to hit, and his running fastball (runs inwards towards RH) is a meatball. This is evidence by two ways. The running fastball is what Derek Lee hit out earlier this year, he aims for the outside part of the plate the ball winds up running back over the middle to middle in part. Everyone knows to a RH power hitter thats gone. Second his 4 seam fastball is fine on velocity but extremely flat, see Jeter's hit in the 9th today. Linebrink's real problem has been his recent failure to throw his off speed stuff effectively and for strikes. Thats it man, its that simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jphat007 Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 He has had zero control as of late. Hopefully he can find it in the offseason. We're not gonna have a ton of money to use on relievers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I wish they'd DL Liney for a while. He does suck. Sorry to say I haven't been impressed much with Pena. I am not a Carrasco guy. The new lefty appears maybe better than Gobble, but doesn't thrill me. Just think if we got the good Dotel and the good Thornton every night out or 85 percent of the time. We'd have it made. Those 2 guys are ultimately the key with Liney sucking. Maybe Jhonny will be the answer. He looked OK in his one batter though he did go 3-2 on him. Not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeynach Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 10:33 PM) I wish they'd DL Liney for a while. He does suck. Sorry to say I haven't been impressed much with Pena. I am not a Carrasco guy. The new lefty appears maybe better than Gobble, but doesn't thrill me. Just think if we got the good Dotel and the good Thornton every night out or 85 percent of the time. We'd have it made. Those 2 guys are ultimately the key with Liney sucking. Maybe Jhonny will be the answer. He looked OK in his one batter though he did go 3-2 on him. Not good. Unfortunatly the sox bullpen is beginning to resemble parts of the clown car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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