Hate to say I told you so : Felix Hernandez is Hurt
Hernandez left after five batters on Wednesday night, complaining of tightness in his elbow. Not much is known at this time, but I would assume that he’ll miss at least one start for precautionary matters. Hopefully fantasy owners traded him this week, at the top of his market value after his duel with Dice-K. What’s going on in Seattle? Hell, less than a week ago I wrote:
Like everyone else, I think Felix Hernandez is good. But unlike everyone else, I’m starting to get worried as hell. I know it’s early, but the fact is he’s still a kid and his innings need to be curbed. In both of his 2007 starts, he has thrown 111 pitches. It’s tough to take a guy out when he’s dominating but this can’t continue or he may be in big DL trouble.
I figured this would be the fact but not this quickly. The Mariners need to come to a conclusion: A) We’re going to try for a playoff spot or B) It’s not going to happen this year, let’s get ready for a run in 2008 or 2009.
If the answer is B, don’t let Felix throw as many pitches. Idiots€¦
For every hate to say I told you so there are also a bunch of hate to say I was wrong’s. I don’t mean to be “that guy” I am just playing devil’s advocate and spicing up our lacklustre comment section.
What’s happening to your boy Kouzmanoff? You wrote:
“This guy’s gonna hit, there’s no doubt about that. The real question is what will Petco Park do to his power numbers, his swing, etc. A number of .300+ seasons are in his future.”
You also picked him as Rookie of the Year. Kouzmanoff has started only half of the last four games, ceding time to Russell Branyan, and in the ninth inning the other day Kouzmanoff was removed in the ninth inning so Geoff Blum could pinch hit for him. Blum is a career .251 hitter, now hitting .111 this season, and not exactly a feared pinch hitter.
I guess I should also mention Kouz is hitting .146
Yep, Kouz got taken out the other for Blum during a bases loaded AB. It’s early though, and he’ll adjust. I’m batting well over .750 for my predicitions, so I won’t sweat the small stuff. He has a .179 BABIP, third worst in the NL. His leash is getting shortened but once he begins producing he’ll be fine.
Kouz will come around & balls will begin to drop in for hits. I still stand by my NL ROY call.
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As for the Hernandez thing, everyone else on the web and in the media was raving out Felix after the Dice-K duel. To my knowledge, the Mop Up was the only source out there that took a level headed look at things and said, “hold on, something else is going on behind the scenes.” I think we should celebrate one of our victories and let people know that this website can provide in-depth & original insights, thoughts, and observations that other sources fail to bring to the table. Nothing wrong with that.
Never said there was, we and you in particular should be proud of your foresight and maybe even your bold David Wright prediction will come true.
Luckily for Felix and all of baseball really, he should only miss 10-20 days. Let’s hope that this sends a shock to Seattle’s system in regards to their use of Hernandez. That club hasn’t been very good at developing pitching anyway.