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STEVE CISHEK

Came into the Wednesday game and showed his 35+ save form.  With a double underline.

His slider was a real Nintendo pitch, 79-81 MPH from a weird arm slot ... actually it was pretty Jeff Nelson-ish.  Also, he threw it a lot, close to a 50-50 mix.  Don't cut your fingers on it.

His fastball was a good 90-92 MPH, which is excellent from a sidearmer, and he consistently painted with it.  Technically, he gets more drop on the pitch than Roach does, even.  IFF you get the above two pitches together, you've going to be Dan Quisenberry or Kent Tekulve or Brad Ziegler or... well, Steve Cishek.

....

Dr. D was skeptical whether Cishek's arm would bounce back into the zip necessary to command his fastball.  But!  "Skeptical" is not a word that means "Will debunk regardless of what information is presented," a la Wikipedia or skeptic.com.  To be rationally skeptical, one MUST allow for the very real possibility that the opposing view will surprise, and must WEIGH the evidence on both sides of the ledger.  To lock in on the left side of the yellow pad only, that's not skepticism.  It's advocacy.

Life IS baseball :- )

Dr. D was skeptical of Steve Cishek, skeptical in the classic sense of the word.  The early returns are coming in heavily in Cishek's favor.  So Dr. D slides his attitude on Cishek to "a little dubious."

Not sure where Cishek is going from here.  Sure was nice to see the 39-save Cishek on Wednesday.  If the M's get that from him, well, how fun will that be?  We've never had a closer of this type.  How do the Aussies pronounce it?  "SLASHa flick"

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JAMES PAXTON

There was a revealing exchange on Root TV.  Angie axed Krueger and Blowers what they thought of Paxton in the bullpen.  

First, polite, response:  "He's never been asked to get loose that quickly.  He's long, lots of moving parts, iss' kinda unfair to put him in that position."  (Paraphrased.)

Angie's smiling followup:  "What if Montgomery and Furbush can't go?"

Long pause.

Angie laughs.  Gotcha!

Blowers digs in.  "It's like I learned from Lou Piniella.  It doesn't do you any good to have a lefty reliever if he can't get lefties out."

*Ah.*

...

Root-O-Vision Translation:  a lot of people hate the visual of Paxton coming in and having a wild outing.  He feels unreliable.  ... um, like a shift used to?  ;- )

Dr. D can respect this.  He can.  Ballplayers' intuition didn't get there by birthright.  They go through a lot of shtick to develop baseball instincts.

But his response #1 is, there are a lot of baseball people who want nothing to do with a knuckleball pitcher, too.  It just feels too white-knuckle, even if the knuckleball pitcher's ERA is -1.00 below that of the conventional pitcher.  But!  Baseball is a game of percentages.  Isn't that really what you want to know, the pitcher's ERA at the end of the year?

Response #2:  are there any high-BB relievers in the majors?  :: mic drop ::

 Justin Grimm last year walked 5 per game out of the Cubs' bullpen, with a 1.99 ERA - because he strikes his way out of an inning.  Chasen Shreve is another 10K/5BB guy; he's not the closer, but then neither would Paxton be the closer.  You're talking about the #5 guy out of the pen, right?  Travis Wood and a dozen other guys.  Aroldis Chapman walks five guys per nine!

The truth is, there are lots and lots of (good) ML relievers who walk guys and strike guys out.  Lou Piniella hated them.  But that was Lou!

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And!  Not that James Paxton is even a high-BB pitcher, especially.  Tell him to come in and just throw 97 down the middle and I'll guarantee you he's got less chance of a 3-BB outing than Chasen Shreve.

And!  It's not like Mike Montgomery can't come in and walk guys, is it?  What guarantees are there with any of these pitchers?

...

But whatever.  SSI reports, you decide.  That's what seems to be the debate in Marinerville.  Can Paxton relieve?  ... well, can you stomach the idea of an occasional embarrassing outing, in return for a pitcher who is in fact much better than Dave Rollins?

My $0.02,

Dr D