Talks with Mets pick back up

[weemnj]

I wouldn't want to dismiss Bedard's knee injury and oblique injury as "flukish" since they didn't involve his throwing arm (I'm not saying anyone is actually doing this, just making a point). As I've written many times, Bedard creates a tremendous amount of twist and torque on his hips, knees, and core during his wind up compared to the normal pitcher. He relies a lot on creating a wound spring between his feet and his shoulder. He uses his knees, hips, and core to "tighten" the spring by "sitting down and twisting" on his push off leg during his leg kick. It doesn't surprise me that he has had some issues with these parts of his body based on his motion.

Also, to be completely honest, it scares me that Bedard is so small boned and slight of stature (relatively to a normal professional BB player) since he relies heavily on the mph of his fastball. I would also be scared of giving Santana a 6-8 year deal for the same reason.

Bedard is at an age where muscle and ligaments don't wear as well and/or heal as quickly. I won't go so far as to predict that he'll have further knee, hip, and/or oblique injuries, but it definitely wouldn't surprise me at all based on his motion.

The torque he creates is the basis for why I argued so vehemently during the season that Bedard shouldn't be pushed past 100ish pitches during his starts. He will break down if he is pushed too far IMHO. He will never be Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, or Josh Beckett. That doesn't mean he isn't an extremely valuable pitcher if he is used correctly. However, if he is used incorrectly, the golden goose will likely be ruined.

Awesome analysis-----Does the fact that one-third of his pitches are that unreal curve increase his chance of injury? Most here seem to feel this doesn't come in to play but the required torque for that awesome pitch has got to be unreal.---

[Dr. FLK]

There are rumors of another catcher signing that could start a domino effect ending the Ramon to the Mets talks. According to Rotoworld, the BrewCrew could be about to sign Kendal, and then they would deal Estrada (possibly to NYM).

The Brewers and free agent Jason Kendall are negotiating with an eye toward getting a deal done this week.

The Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt doesn't believe the Brewers would bring in Kendall with the idea of pairing him with Johnny Estrada. If they do land Kendall, they could part with Estrada for a lesser prospect (to the Mets?) or non-tender him next month.