Matusz speaks

[stef]

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2011/07/matusz_admits_that_he_wasnt_me.html

Some "interesting" quotes from BM.

[Sports Guy]

This organization is run by morons.

Why would you totally go away from what he has done for his whole life?

You have seen him be very successful. You drafted him and gave him a lot of money based off of what you saw...You felt he was close to ML ready and you then, bring in a few new pitching coaches and ask him to change everything?

Idiotic.

Please, spare me the bad luck crap. The Orioles are their own bad luck.

[LookitsPuck]

Matusz needs to take the blame more.

That said, I wish I could know more about the Mark Connor situation. Matusz has had nine million things go wrong for him this year. It could be physical, it could be mental. Most likely it's both. From being injured, not facing failure in the past, and different pitching coaches [all the while having a manager want you to work on holding runners], it's easy to see how this kid fell apart. But he needs to bounce back. This guy is #1 round material, and I feel he can still be successful. But he needs to go out there with Griffin, work repeatedly on his delivery, and get his strength up. And dammit he better train properly in the off-season. There's one thing to *train*, there's another to train *properly* for his position. Did he have a solid throwing routine? Did he adhere to it? Hard to say at this point.

All I know is he's had a ton of obstacles, and I think most people would fall on their face. Now he just needs to execute. This year is probably a waste for him. He needs as much work in AAA as a possible. I'm not terribly concerned about the velocity unless it IS an injury issue, but I believe it's merely a function of not getting any consistent work due to obstacle after obstacle.

[Fan4Life]

This organization is run by morons.

Why would you totally go away from what he has done for his whole life?

You have seen him be very successful. You drafted him and gave him a lot of money based off of what you saw...You felt he was close to ML ready and you then, bring in a few new pitching coaches and ask him to change everything?

Idiotic.

Please, spare me the bad luck crap. The Orioles are their own bad luck.

Can't argue with any of this... should we start the #1 pick in next years draft countdown? Not that it would matter...

[gamer]

Did you read the article....

He was told to throw across his body less, and to be quicker to the plate.

Thats pretty much something I would say 80 percent of pitchers some time or another is told to do.

Just because the Orioles are horrible doesn't mean you can blame them for everything that goes wrong.

EDIT: Directed at Sports Guy and anyone that agrees with him

[Sports Guy]

I don't necesarily disagree but when you say organization, aren't we really talking about Buck and his guy Connors. Obviously, Buck was on board with the changes that Connors wanted Matusz to make. These are two guys (Buck and Connors) from outside the organization.

But their boss is MacPhail...You mean to tell me, he doesn't step in and say something? You mean to tell me that guys like Griffin and others who have worked with Bmat don't step in and say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

This is just as much on AM as it is them. You can't tell me he didn't know this was going on.

Hell, we saw 2 side by side pics and it was obvious what was wrong and we are amateurs.

Its unreal that you would do this to a guy who you already believe is your best starter.

[Spy Fox]

Very interesting to hear, a lot of what he says validates what has been speculated around here recently.

Disappointed to hear about the lack of proper preparation but I'm glad that Matusz is being honest about it and glad that he is taking steps to correct it.

Not surprised to hear that he was frustrated by the coaches, but at this point the responsibility is on him-- he needs to respond to this adversity better than his O's prospect predecessors.

[LookitsPuck]

This organization is run by morons.

Why would you totally go away from what he has done for his whole life?

You have seen him be very successful. You drafted him and gave him a lot of money based off of what you saw...You felt he was close to ML ready and you then, bring in a few new pitching coaches and ask him to change everything?

Idiotic.

Please, spare me the bad luck crap. The Orioles are their own bad luck.

We need to know how much of Brian Matusz they actually tinkered with.

Is this largely a function of him facing injury after injury with no consistency to keep his arm strength up to build on a strong showing in spring training? Or is this because Mark Connor and Buck completely dismantled his delivery?

Is Matusz just throwing Connor under the bus and jabbing at Adair/Buck because he's never faced failure and needs someone to blame? Or are they legitimately to blame?

[Sports Guy]

Did you read the article....

He was told to throw across his body less, and to be quicker to the plate.

Thats pretty much something I would say 80 percent of pitchers some time or another is told to do.

Just because the Orioles are horrible doesn't mean you can blame them for everything that goes wrong.

EDIT: Directed at Sports Guy and anyone that agrees with him

They wanted him to be quicker to the plate...They shortened his stride..By doing that, it throws off his mechanics and brings the velocity down.

And why? Just so guys don't steal bases on him? Who the hell cares.

He had managed to have a pretty good start to his career with the mechanics they felt he had to fix.

You want him to hold runners better? Fine..Tell him to go talk to Flanny and have Flanny teach him his move to first. He was a master at that and Flanny is a brilliant pitching mind and could have helped him out.

Instead, you change his mechanics? Are you kidding me? Sorry but that's idiotic.

[mcneck]

Did you read the article....

He was told to throw across his body less, and to be quicker to the plate.

Thats pretty much something I would say 80 percent of pitchers some time or another is told to do.

Just because the Orioles are horrible doesn't mean you can blame them for everything that goes wrong.

EDIT: Directed at Sports Guy and anyone that agrees with him

Yeah but other teams actually make these changes without completely ruining a pitchers stuff and confidence. They way he was pitching at the end of last year I say if it aint broke don't fix it and that goes for all of the young pitchers .

[Sports Guy]

We need to know how much of Brian Matusz they actually tinkered with.

Is this largely a function of him facing injury after injury with no consistency to keep his arm strength up to build on a strong showing in spring training? Or is this because Mark Connor and Buck completely dismantled his delivery?

Is Matusz just throwing Connor under the bus and jabbing at Adair/Buck because he's never faced failure and needs someone to blame? Or are they legitimately to blame?

I don't read this as Bmat trying to deflect blame or something like that.

He was asked questioned and answered them honestly. It is obvious that his mechanics are out of whack.

He did put accountability on himself. He said he should have been more mentally prepared and that he should have done a better job with his conditioning. he recognizes the issue and is changing his routine in the offseason and working with Brady. That tells me he knows he has to change things. That doesn't say to me that he is blaming everyone else but there is no doubt they changed things and there is just no justification for this.

The good news is that he should be able to get his velocity back...He should improve his conditioning and that this should just be chalked up to a lost year and that he will be fine and ready to have a big year next year.

[Flacco Machado]

Can I say something?....Brian needs to shut up! Every other day, we're hearing stuff about what is wrong with him. This guy is a big baby. I know that Buck is getting tired of his act too. Shut up!

[Sports Guy]

Can I say something?....Brian needs to shut up! Every other day, we're hearing stuff about what is wrong with him. This guy is a big baby. I know that Buck is getting tired of his act too. Shut up!

He was being interviewed...Want him to lie? Plead the 5th?

[LookitsPuck]

I don't read this as Bmat trying to deflect blame or something like that.

He was asked questioned and answered them honestly. It is obvious that his mechanics are out of whack.

He did put accountability on himself. He said he should have been more mentally prepared and that he should have done a better job with his conditioning. he recognizes the issue and is changing his routine in the offseason and working with Brady. That tells me he knows he has to change things. That doesn't say to me that he is blaming everyone else but there is no doubt they changed things and there is just no justification for this.

The good news is that he should be able to get his velocity back...He should improve his conditioning and that this should just be chalked up to a lost year and that he will be fine and ready to have a big year next year.

But how much can we really blame Connor/Buck/Adair?

Do we know that his ineffectiveness is because of them wanting him to be faster to the plate to hold runners better? Or is it because of an intercostal strain that he missed 2 months of the season [and this is after being hit with a line drive on his bicep], only to rush himself back by saying things like [not completely accurate in quoting, btw] "I know the numbers don't prove it, but I felt great out there" while rehabbing. And then we he comes back he's faced with a wort. Think about that for a second. Basically 2 and a half months of just crap. He hasn't been injured like this in the past. He's never faced failure.

Is it due to injury or is it due to them completely changing his mechanics? I can''t say definitively. I can say the mechanic changing probably didn't help Matusz, but are you convinced that he would have still been effective?

[Sports Guy]

Well, you are calling Buck and Connors morons. Do you really want a GM who tells coaches how to coach and managers how to manage. Obvisouly, they were trying to make Matusz better. I actually agree that I think it was stupid to mess around with a guy who had just had the best success of his career to finish the 2010 season. It actually reminds me of when the Mets weren't happy enough with Doc Gooden and tried to change him to be quicker to the plate after he'd had 2 great years. I think it's stupid but throwing it on anyone other than Buck and Connors isn't right. And you think Mike Griffin, the AAA coach, has any place to tell them not to try and make those changes? Haha. This is the real world.

The whole think backfired if that's what we are chalking up Matusz problems too. It's also possible that they may have contributed to but not be the 100% cause of his problems. I take Matusz at his word and he comes across as honest to me. Still, it's hard to figure that a few tweaks in ST have thrown him for such a loop and now he can't remember where he was before. Let's also remember that the velocity was down last season as well before these tweaks were made.

In this case, they are/were. I have no problems saying that.