This is an unrealistic standard for me. Consequently, I had never heard of Pat Neshek when the Padres signed him after his release by the Minnesota Twins.
Last night Dan Hayes wrote an article about Neshek at The North County Times. It piqued my interest enough to dig deeper. I decided to ask the foremost authorities on the Minnesota Twins that I know of... and by "know"... I mean that we are acquainted through the internet. For our purposes, that's good enough.
These Twins fans (The Common Man and Bill) write an excellent blog called The Platoon Advantage where they are also featured at ESPN's Sweetspot along with Geoff Young of Ducksnorts.
I essentially asked via Twitter what we were in for with Neshek...
The Common Man replied through an enthusiastic email:
Hey there, AJM.
It's worth talking about Pat Neshek for a number of reasons. First and foremost, because he legitimately seems like a good guy. He's a baseball nerd's baseball nerd who happens to play ball. He's got his own website (http://www.eteamz.com/PatNeshek/) where he trades baseball cards and autographs, and a solid Twitter presence (which the Twins really hated): http://twitter.com/#!/PatNeshek. He's extremely fan friendly and smart. I'm told the ladies think he's handsome. Also, he's got a sick motion and is just fun to watch pitch.
He's also worth talking about because he's an example of how Tommy John surgery doesn't always work. As Bill mentioned, Neshek's stuff has been way down since the procedure, and he's at least a year-and-a-half out from it. But the Twins are probably more to blame for that than the failings of the surgery. Over his objections, they inexplicably wanted him to try and rehab the elbow rather than get Tommy John right away. He ended up wasting several months before the damage became catastrophic.
His delivery is wicked and deceptive, and probably still going to be tough on right-handed batters. However, his velocity has been down (85-86 MPH last year). If he can get it back up to around 89-90 MPH, he'll be back and San Diego is going to have an elite-caliber reliever. If not, he'll still be worth rooting for.
Bill also made the following endorsements of Neshek the man and as well as Neshek the pitcher (with an accompanying link to video).--The Common Man
A member of the PENitentairy is a presence on Twitter and has a blog? This is too good to be true!
Most importantly however, TCM notes that Neshek needs to get his velocity up to 90-ish. If you followed the previous link to video, it sounds like he may be approaching that mark. SO why did the Twins release him? I never asked this follow-up question out of fear I might not like the answer. I'm going to go ahead and pretend that there's a log-jam in the Twinkies 'pen and Pat Neshek was the odd man out.
What does this mean for the Padres in 2011? Another effective arm coming out of the pen, especially with Joe Thatcher ailing, could never hurt a team so dependent on its pitching so we'll cross our fingers and hope that Pat Neshek returns to his old funky form.
If Pat Neshek fails to impact the bullpen in 2011 it sounds as though the Padres are getting a good fella if nothing else. We wish him the best.
Thanks for the input guys.
Go read The Platoon Advantage. There's an article on MC Hammer there right now!
As to why they didn't sign him, the Twins definitely have needs in their pen, but grew disatisfied waiting for Neshek's velocity to come back. It's legitimate to wonder if it ever will, but I'd also point out, as I explain here (http://www.platoonadvantage.com/2011/03/trading-liriano-would-not-be-rational.html), that the Twins are a really illogical organization and have a history of moving players who they decide aren't "their guys" (like they're trying to do now with Kevin Slowey). Guys who are "too smart" and don't toe the line tend to get weeded out, and Neshek didn't do himself favors when he (probably legitimately) complained about the medical treatment the team was providing him.
ReplyDeleteTwins fan here - gonna really miss Neshek the man and the pitcher. I just got his jersey last year to support his comeback and now he's gone. Bummer. Velocity has never been the strongpoint for him, it's the deceptive delivery that throws batters off, even if they have seen him multiple times. There are HUGE issues with the Twins medical staff and while we grumble as fans there's no real media sources that go back and total up all the issues we have had. He had a finger issue last year and publicly called the medical staff out - which is probably why he is "out" now. Best of luck with the Padres!
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