Q.  Does the mainframe have an MRI machine in there anywhere?  You mean dead-arm as in "refractory posterior capsular contracture of the shoulder," or you mean "vaguely tired arm"?

A.  Simply the latter.  Pineda is obviously -- and very understandably -- fatigued.  There is no question about it.

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Q.  Obviously fatigued?

A.  He came out of the gate throwing as hard as he possibly could, leading the AL in velocity by a mile.  It's not that Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez can't rear back.  It's just that, at this point, they know how to pace themselves.

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Q.  Does it worry Dr. D that Pineda's velo was down to 91 in the first inning?

A.  No, what worries him is that (now) 6-day rests and 85-pitch outings are not helping him bounce back.

Pineda had 6 days' rest Thursday, coming off only 92 pitches last time out, and 85 the time before that.  And the ball was coming out of his hand flat?  It's time for the M's to acknowledge fatigue.

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Q.  Why do MLB franchises wait until they have a gun to their head, to give a guy two starts off (the 15-day DL)?

A.  It seems to be a cover-your-keister thing.  If the guy's throwing good, and you skip a turn ... wham, now if he comes back and struggles (heaven forbid hurts himself) everybody's second-guessing you.

So, instead, they wait until the guy is in real pain, they wait until he has thrown 25 innings WITH an inflamed shoulder, and then they go to the 15-day DL.

Look.  If a starting pitcher dropped from 96 to 92 within a given start, they'd yank his butt out of there right NOW.  So if he has dropped from 96 to 92 within a given season, why is that not cause for action?

Skip one start, maybe two, tell the press that you're just managing his innings ...maybe let him throw an inning in relief.  I'll give you 3:1 odds he's 98 again.

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Q.  They say some dead arms, pitchers simply pitch through.  Is that true?

A.  Been watching it, in spring training, for decades.   At its most benign, it's kind of like a marathoner hitting the wall.  Most the time, pitcher do push through it.  The human body does that.  Maybe Grumpy and G-Money can comment.

Doug Fister has just done that, right in front of your eyes.  Last year, he had inexplicable velocity drops.  He wasn't hurt.  He just needed some stretching and lifting and boom, he's better than ever.

Phil Hughes was examined 85 ways from Sunday and the docs couldn't find anything, and they started proposing all sorts of exotic stuff, rare circulatory stuff and so forth...Dr. D rolled his eyes.  Hughes got a month or so off and boom, he's throwing 95, feeling better than ever.

That "just pitch through it" shtick does work, very often, but it shouldn't blind them to the alternative solution of a little rest once in a while.

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Q.  What do you make of Wedge's public shtick?

A.  Wedge has been like, "c'mon, he's 90-98, maybe it's hot out there, it's just circumstances."

As Billy1 would say, I'm with him until I'm not with him.  When Pineda is down to 89, after six days' rest and 92 pitches, I'm not with him.

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