The received wisdom seems to be that the connection is alarmingly high and it makes a ton of sense to ease the innings upwards year over year towards a full 190+ inning load.

I have no idea if any kind of archiving has crossed over to the new server. Doubt it.

In THIS context, it becomes newsworthy. Same thing applies to a guy like Steve Nash.

OK, Cot’s says the longest contract Maddux ever signed was for 5 years, though he signed two such deals with the Braves. Maybe there’s not much difference between 5 years and 6 years, in which, you’re right, its Maddux and Moose.

But in general, I was talking about MLB-wide (Hampton, Zito, Kevin Brown, etc.).

To be brief, Verducci found that pitchers under 25 who increased their number of innings pitched in a given year more than 30 over (either their previous high or the last year’s total, I forget which) tended to pitch worse the next year, or suffer a severe injury – or both. Joba’s highest total (minors and majors) is ~112 IP in ’07 (only 103 IP last year), so if he goes much over say 140 IP in ’09, he’s risking problems in 2010 and beyond. I wish the Yanks had had him start some in September, but I’ll trust they know best.

Cliff, you can call me the driver of the IPK bandwagon then. As crazy as this sounds, I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually seen IPK pitch on the tee-vee, so thanks for the news.

Sheesh, I miss his pre-wind-up bow already.

mattpatt, I think you’re right, especially about the under-appreciated part. I’m not saying this as a warning about Sabathia, but its fascinating that in 33 years of free agency, of all the pitchers who have signed long-term contracts (6+ years) as free agents (so not including guys like Santana, who were traded under contract and signed an extension or new deal), the only one who’s delivered anything close to value was Moose.

Anyone know the story of why Mussina and Michael Kay hated each other?

echoing the comments from the other thread…Moose going out like that is real cool. Happy retirement! am planning the same when I hit 40, take my $85 million and retreat to the solitude of a Thai beach…

Best wishes to you Mike Mussina. You’ll be missed.

Although, I think he reveals the reason he had such a good season, and it really talks to how a player”s state of mind can effect their performance.

Steve, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. At the risk of sounding like an elitist, I don’t think Mussina is any smarter than the average Bronx Banter reader, but a baseball clubhouse is a different demographic.

I’m not insinuating he’s not smart and i get that when it comes to baseball his education, and intellectual aura are a good unique story hook. i just get weary of it. and I don’t mean to pick on you or your writing.

Well, Economics is quite a bit more challenging than the myriad “Liberal Arts” degrees you see most college athletes getting, and Stanford is known as the Ivy League of the West Coast.

So, I would gibe him some educational props.

does a bach degree really mean that much?