Spoone

[Flosman]

Has there been any reports on how he is coming along? I know he had what he thought was a setback in the spring. However it really sounded as if it was a setback in his eyes only. Any word out of Sarasota?

[Tony-OH]

I heard he's reporting no pain, but not to look for him until late July or August at the earliest.

[QBsILLEST1]

I heard he's reporting no pain, but not to look for him until late July or August at the earliest.

I wonder how his velocity will be once he is back and pitching regularly. We see what the surgery did for Patton, it fixed his arm problem but sapped a few MPH off the fastball, as we already expected.....

[Flosman]

I heard he's reporting no pain, but not to look for him until late July or August at the earliest.

Thanks for the info Tony. I assume he is throwning some long toss at this point? Anything off the mound yet?

[Flosman]

I wonder how his velocity will be once he is back and pitching regularly. We see what the surgery did for Patton, it fixed his arm problem but sapped a few MPH off the fastball, as we already expected.....

Unless you talk to him where he says he is throwing about the same velocity.

[WV O's]

Unless you talk to him where he says he is throwing about the same velocity.

Is this not just weird?? Can we get a definitive answer already?? You have to believe him right?

[jerios55]

Unless you talk to him where he says he is throwing about the same velocity.

Spoone or Patton?

[napbow]

How far behind in terms of talent is Spoone when compared to the Big 3? From reading his profile in the 2008 Top 30 Prospects it seems it would be called "The Big 4."

[hoosiers]

IIRC, Spoone was considered comfortably better rated than David Hernandez and, I believe, the organization thought we would have a "Big Four" - with Spoone as the fourth rated (assuming all were in the organization at the same time).

One must remember that Spoone did not make a list like the BA top 100 entering 2008 so, while I expect other organizations and independent publications were well aware of who Spoone was, I believe the Os were more excited and knowledgeable about Spoone's potential than most. 2008 was going to be Spoone's coming out party in a way.

We'll see how healthy and strong Spoone is in his comeback in a couple of months. If, and it's a big if, Spoone comes back as strong as before, we would likely have some rated between our Big 3 and Erbe/DHernandez/Patton/Bergesen/Berken/Britton. Perhaps a Big Four, but regardless of whatever fancy name is involved, it would only bolster our considerable pitching depth.

[Flosman]

Spoone or Patton?

I was speaking of Patton who has said generally his velocity is back to where it was pre-injury.

[snatch311]

I think the odds are stacked against Spoone making it to the O's as a starter. He has always had command issues, and missing out on more than a season's worth of development time (if he has no residual effects from surgery) isn't going to do him any favors.