Some situations are solved with a cuddle

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Q.  As Peter O'Toole said after one glance at John Goodman:  "Quick, Hobson, the good news!"

A.  Kinney has a real wipeout slider.  Its run value is ridiculous.  And he's not afraid to throw two sliders for every one fastball.

The slider comes from behind the whirl of beefy body parts, suddenly materializes from behind his ear and the brawny right arm snaps through like 97 MPH.  Then the ball pops a parachute and ... eyes slideways.  Heavy Jeff Nelson action here.Confusingly, he throws a variation on the 82 slider, the variation being a 77 "curve ball" that drops more down than out.  But except for a slightly different break, it's pretty much the slider.  Oddly, this slower version is less effective.

Money pitch?  Kinney's got the K's to show for it, 8 to 10 of 'em per nine innings, but he can be wild with the slider as well.  His career BB's are close to 4 and it wouldn't surprise me if it was more like 5 or 6 even in any particular year.  (So were Jeff Nelson's, though.)

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Q.  Can a RHP throw 60% sliders?

A.  Quite a few guys do these days.  Gregerson and Marmol do, to name a couple of the big names in relief.  

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Q.  Does that make him Luke Gregerson or Carlos Marmol?

A.  Well, no.  Dr. D didn't say that Josh Kinney is an instant star.  Gregerson has command; Marmol has a hot fastball.

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Q.  Does it make him a ROOGY, a right hand one out guy?

A.  Well, no.  His career SLG allowed is like .430 against righties, and only .330 against lefties.  Weird, huh.  ... actually, check me on that - the K/BB is much better against righties.  But, still, when he makes mistakes righties will hit them.  (Think Shawn Kelley.)

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Q.  But Zduriencik took him anyway...

A.  Remember his taking Luetge based on a weird arsenal, a terrific slider and not much else?  Jay-Z seems to indulge himself some outside-the-box thinking in the 'pen, doesn't he?  Remember last year's TWO made-for-TV stories pulled out of bars, and schools, hopefully not pulled out of anyplace within 500' of each other?

This also seems to be one of the few places at which Jay-Z and Sgt. Wedge agree to disagree:  overweight players.  Such as Prince Fielder.  Earlier this year, a Venezuelan reporter asked what the holdup is with Venezuelan cult hero Luis Jimenez (who has 57 RBI at Tacoma right now).  The terse, back-channel reply:  Eric Wedge likes his players to be in shape.

Kudos to Jay-Z for nabbing a pitcher who is more than just another retread.  This one is at least a lotto draw at something that could be worth the draw.

If he sticks around, I'll enjoy watching Josh Kinney.  Slider, slider, 0-2 count, it's good enough for me if not for the six guys with badges sitting together in the front row.  Keep the fatball out of the center of the plate though, kid.

Cheers,

Dr D