I like JJ, but the one thing we do have a lot of is right handed reliever candidates. We need him for setup, but I believe we can do with Sarfate and Ray handing the ball off to Sherrill if Johnson needs to go to the DL.

The injuries may be testing your spring optimism, but do they rise to the level of testing Jim Hunter's spring optimism? For me, I am also concerned.

Why do todays pitchers seem to have more arm and shoulder problems when they pitch less than yester-years pitchers.
Some pitchers back in the 40's and 50's pitch 9, 10, even 15 innings and would come back on 4 days rest. Do you have any idea why today's players are more fragile when training and health issues have improved.

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Pete's reply: I think they are pampered more because teams have so much invested in them. The old-timers had to go out and pitch or they went home, so they wouldn't even tell the team about a sore arm. I don't have an answer for all the innings, unless it was just a matter of most pitchers in those days depending way more on the fastball and way less on pitches that are more likely to strain a shoulder or elbow.

What can I say but Pedro!

Is it just me, or have Oriole pitchers been dropping like flies tis spring? It seems hardly a day goes by without another arm injury being reported. Is there a problem with conditioning? Are they pushing them too hard? Not hard enough? Whats the story here? I can't believe this is normal. I've been following Orioles baseball for close to 40 years now and I never remember so many injuries, one after another for the whole spring.

Pete, who the heck is the o's conditioning coach. Year after year the o's have these issues. Last year it was the dreaded oblique injury. Now it is pitchers with arms falling off again. Some probably are just fate, but others seem to be proper conditioning. Koji for example. Hamstring injury are almost always lack of proper stretching and warm up.
With all the money tied up and futures on the line, how come conditioning coachs are not held accountable.
Thanks Doug

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Pete's reply: I wouldn't hang the conditioning coach out to dry for Koji. He has his own personal trainer and his own program.

Pete,

Would you take a day off from the Browns training camp?

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Pete's reply: I usually take most of the days off from Browns training camp.

Pitchers dropped like flies last spring training and they're doing the same this year. What 's the cause.... Conditioning?, Pitching Philosophy?, Bad Luck?, or do we just have a bunch of pansies?

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Pete's reply: There are a lot of pitchers here and sore arms are common everywhere. I don't know if the incidence here is higher, per capita, than anywhere else.

Pitchers dropped like flies last spring training and they're doing the same this year. What 's the cause.... Conditioning?, Pitching Philosophy?, Bad Luck?, or do we just have a bunch of pansies?

Pete,

Your concerned about Johnson! This is the least of our worries! The Five wonders who will get dubbed starters should be everyone's biggest concern. They can't get out of the first inning, they have NO history of success and we could have 7 aces in the bullpen, it won't matter if were down 5 runs before the 5th inning! Yeah Johnson is a nice set up piece but a minor concern in the grand picture!

I know many people were clammering for the O's to sign Tim Redding earlier this year..well don't look now..HE HAS just been shut down do to arm trouble too.

Okay Pete , I'm get to get something off my chest that may step on some toes . Let me preface my comment by saying I am a baseball fan , but....
Of the three major sports , baseball players (in my opinion) are the least well conditioned atheltes , in particular pitchers . Given the big salaries I think that many spend the off -season doing absolutely nothing . Let me take that back , nothing but an occassional round of golf or Playstation . Football by its nature requires a combination of strength and speed , basketball requires a high level of aerobic conditioning , baseball , well let's just say baseball is baseball . Much of it static . I'm not saying it doesn't require a high level of skill though .
To get back to my point , I think pitchers pamper themselves too much ( especially in the off-season ) leading to spring training injuries that are never given a chance to heal properly that are only aggreivated as the season goes on .
With proper off season training these injuries may not have happened in the first place , or may not have been so severe .
Sorry if that offended anyone , and sorry for being so long winded . Whew !!

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Pete's reply: I don't think you said anything that hasn't been said by a lot of baseball old timers. The fear is always that guys will throw too much, when the old guys say they threw a ton and were more durable.

Is just my imagination or are the O's snake bit when it comes pitcher injuries? I'm not just talking about this spring but for the last "umteen" years. Pitching prospect after pitching prospect has gone with seious injuries! And, it hasn't been much better at the major league level. Is it just rotten luck? Or, are the O's not handling their pitchers right?

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Pete's reply: Probably rotten luck, to some extent. But they brought in a lot of pitchers and some of them were known to be fragile at the outset.

Pete , did you just call me an "old-timer" ? (I guess maybe I am . (50) ) .

Dah , sorry Pete , I meant to further my comment above by saying that I didn't necessarily mean that pitchers should throw during the off-season as much as I meant they should weight train and do flexibilty exercises .
Have I used up my comment allotment yet ?
I might need to take a few days off anyway , my fingertips are sore .

The O's have has a history fo acquiring bum arms to begin with nobody will ever match Syd Thrifts ability on this. Then of course they always downplay injuries,this has been a standing joke for years. Johnson is just going to have to live with the pain because I doubt there's really a good surgery for this.No reason why Kam can't be int the bullpen later this year,the guy is a beast but just needs some polish.Hoey should be ok also but I'm not sold on McRory.Just look at Hill saying he's going to be ready for OD when he won't even face live hitters for another week.So much happy talk.

have you ever asked macphail, considering the lack of quality pitching in the majors, if there has been any consideration to pitch starters in the minors every 4th day? if not, can you?

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Pete'sr reply: We talk about that stuff all the time, but nobody is going to be the first to put Brian Matusz on a four-man rotation, because if he ends up having labrum surgery, you're the biggest idiot who ever lived.

Last year it was Baez, Albers, Guthrie, Hoey, J. Johnson, Penn, Sarfate, Sherrill, Spoone and Loewen who lost time due to arm injuries. This year we already have Hill, Parrish, Hennessey, Johnson again, Spoone relapse...

The Orioles pitching staff continues to resemble the Light Brigade after the Charge. I cannot believe that number of injuries is no worse than what other teams experience.