A Conversation With Trevor Crowe

Did he tell you what Acta’s new approach was? Maybe he should try it out during the regular season… (I want to believe in Acta, but I look at the improvement in the Nationals since he left).

I like Crowe. Really.

Sounds like about as good a time as you’re gonna have at a postponement.

USSChoo,

Thanks for the info. – I think it was interesting.

Yet another Indians’ pitcher who has lost a few MPH on his heater?! What is that, like the 4th or 5th pitcher in the last 2-3 years? I mean, seriously, are we the only organization, whose top prospects who keep losing MPH on their fastballs? I can think of Jensen Lewis, David Huff, Fausto Carmona, Chuck Lofgren, Kelvin De La Cruz (now, though his likely is due to coming back from injury, whereas I can’t say that for the others); now, we can add Rondon to the list as well. Perhaps the Indians’ working with Rondon on the offspeed pitch is affecting his fastball (i.e. he’s throwing too many offspeed pitches to work on those pitches and not using his fastball enough to maintain its velocity – not sure; just a thought).

Yes, I know velocity is not everything (check out the Jamie Moyer article on Yahoo Sports – you’ll see how velocity is much more important than it was around 20-25 years ago when Moyer was drafted when it comes to pitching prospects), but it certainly does not help when some of your best prospects keep losing their above-average or plus fastballs. What gives?

I too get the impression that Sizemore, despite his physical gifts, doesn’t seem to fit the leadership role, much like we’ve complained with Hafner, Peralta, and even toward Martinez to an extent (although his emotion and passion, combined with his physical skills, might have made him more of a leader than the others mentioned in my opinion).

I think it was discussed in another thread how Sizemore seems to be adjusting his swing. If he made a similar adjustment a year or two ago and it didn’t affect his production (although I don’t think Sizemore was as productive the past few seasons as compared to earlier seasons), then why is it affecting his production now? By now, he should be used to the swing, which is why I wonder whether Crowe’s assessment of Grady adjusting his swing the past season or two is correct or not. Personally, it seems to me that Grady has just made the adjustment now and is not comfortable with the new swing, which is a major reason why he is so inconsistent and disappears for games at a time.

As for Wedge, I don’t know if he was the most personable, especially with younger players (see Marte, Phillips, etc.). I don’t think he was the type that would give continuous support to younger players. Additionally, Wedge seemed to be comfortable with “his guys” (such as Blake), even though Wedge could never seem to settle on a set lineup for too long a period throughout much of his career here, which almost seems like a contradiction. Certainly, a change was needed at the managerial position (Wedge was there for 7 seasons, which is almost an eternity in baseball nowadays outside of large markets like Boston and New York, and we haven’t had the same success those two clubs have had over the same time period, though not the same revenue streams and resources either), and hopefully, Acta can employ positive changes that will benefit the Indians as more younger players come up to Cleveland in the coming seasons.

fun. thanks for sharing. boo shelly duncan for me.

I have an issue with tinkering a swing when you are already a really good hitter.

Crowe’s going to get stitches.

Crowe’s walk rate has really collapsed so far this season. I’d say he’s in real danger of being DFA’ed in a roster crunch.

How much less could your new found friend care about Crowe? Sorry, had to!

At tonight’s game Rondon was consistently hitting between 91-94 on the fastball. Could be much to do about nothing.

Also, in case anyone is interesting in browsing, here is the set of pictures I took at the game tonight. http://www.flickr.com/photos/49242784@N02/sets/72157623925998977/