Dontrelle Willis. . .

PacBell/SBC/AT&T Park is home to his worst career splits which include a 1-2 record (in 4 starts), 9.00 ERA, 1.94 WHIP and a .322 BAA.

Those stats do not include the 03 NLDS playoffs where Dontrelle made a relief appearance at Pac Bell, giving up 2 hits and recording one out.

Is Dontrelle's "poor performance" this season actually the result of Marlins mgmt. selling off their infield (cf, Brandon Webb in 2004)?

I guess I could look at his G:F ratio or BABIP-allowed, any other ways of validating this theory?

I read somewhere that Cabrera's defense this year ranks towards the bottom of the NL. Those other guys have bats, but as usually the case with infielders with big bats is that you give up a lot of D.

:-(

I wish I had him on my HACKING MASS team.

The last time I saw a pitcher this out of sync, it was the "staff" of my dad's slow-pitch softball team after having a few Ankiel.

I thought Hacking Mass was based off players expected to be good.

:-( otm

It's based off players expected to be good by their organizations for little or no reason.

Yeah basically you want to pick players who are lousy, but who managers put out there every day (or every five days) anyway.

So Jason Kendall, Juan Pierre, Steve Trachsel, etc. . .

Willis sent to class-A Lakeland.

trachsel was just dfa'd!

Part of me can't even believe Trachsel lasted this long.

The other part won't be surprised when the Reds pick him up and start him in place of Johnny Cueto.

Everything about Trachsel lasts way too long.

Yeah basically you want to pick players who are lousy, but who managers put out there every day (or every five days) anyway.

-- Alex in SF, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:10 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Thought they factored in the previous season so what you really wanted is someone who dropped off the cliff (i.e. D-train has had problems for awhile), may be wrong though. Verlander would have been a good pick unless he has righted himself recently.

I don't believe they factor in the previous season. I think they just show the 2007 rating when you are picking your teams.

Everything about Trachsel lasts way too long.

That's not what she said.

Single A Lakeland is harsh... Suck it up D-Train, hope to see you soon.

his delivery must be even more awkward than usual

The reasoning in sending him to Lakeland is because there is less pressure (but maybe more humiliation?). From the outside, his issues seem more mental, which would partially explain the mechanics. (And he floated a 3-0 fastball last night at around 80 mph.)

I wonder if he'll bat cleanup on non-pitching days. Dude can "rake".

"projectable body"

It would not be outside of the realm of possibility to see an Ankiel-like comeback from D-Train.

dan (nyc): rob, have we seen the last of (the good) dontrelle willis?

Rob Neyer: (12:18 PM ET ) I think he has an operation, and eventually comes back as the highest-paid LOOGY ever.

:-(

4.1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 37 strikes, 36 balls in his last appearance.

:-( indeed

Not so much a new windup as a more balanced, controlled, and not-as-fast version of the original. No walks in his start last night.

From a couple weeks ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF_9mQVnWoY

is that high-A?

Florida State League, yes.

trelle <3 <3 <3 <3

one more good start and ill be forced to break out my d-train whistle

http://beck.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/05/willis_takes_a_hard_look_at_hi.html

Dontrelle Willis said the biggest change to come out of his stint on the disabled list is the ability to not worry about perception anymore. That includes not only his pitching, but the perception of his diagnosis with anxiety disorder. He has his thoughts, and others have theirs.

"I'm a guy that shoots from the hip. I was just playing bad," Willis said. "And that happens. I'm not a doctor. I'm not trying to be a doctor. I'm trying to be a baseball player. I'm not getting into that.

"Even when I went on the DL, I felt fine. You can ask anybody in here. I'm not a depressed guy. Maybe I'm hard on myself, but I wouldn't have gotten here if I wasn't. But there's a fine line to knowing what you can control and what you can't control. As far as how I feel, I don't have a condition. My condition is me going out there and playing baseball and having fun. If God doesn't want me to do it, then I'll find something else to do."

Clearly, he wants to get back to baseball instead of talking about his health. Still, he was able to make light of it when he talked about what his family thought.

"The whole situation, to be honest, they were just laughing," he said. "They were saying, 'Now the whole world thinks you're crazy, but we all knew you were.'"

As for his pitching, Willis said he has been able to take his games one pitch at a time. He wasn't thinking ahead too much, he said, but he was worrying about his past pitches when he couldn't do anything about them.

Asked if there was a specific pitch or situation when he knew he was better, he cited the home runs he allowed.

"Every time I got a ball hit hard for a home run," Willis said, "(I was) coming back and focused to continue to work and continue to push forward. You can't give up."

That, he said, was the big thing he got out of talking with coaches and doctors and instructors: He has been able to shake off some of the pressure of being in his shoes.

"Everybody says they want to have fun, but when you struggle, it's not as fun as when you're playing well, obviously," Willis said. "Now my mindset is just simplified, going out there and really just thinking about myself and not really caring about anybody else as far as what they think. I'm not going out there and, excuse me, pitching with a gun to my head instead of just going out there and having fun. You make a pitch, and if you don't (execute) it, go on to the next one."

Talking with him, there's very much a sense that he's at peace with his situation, whichever way his comeback goes. If he's going out, he's going out trying to enjoy the game.

"Whatever the outcome may be, I'm going to really go out here and enjoy this game of baseball," he said. "Only a few of us to get to play until we're 35, and I'm not Tom Glavine, so I'm going to enjoy this."

<3

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/location.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2009/month_06/day_14/gid_2009_06_14_detmlb_pitmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/425883.xml&batterX=0&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=1&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500

how embarrassing that he performed like this in those horrible throwback uniforms. would've made me hate myself so much.

Pure fucking carnage.

Uncle.

I feel bad for the guy. Glad I got to see him play when he was pitching like fucking god.

i aint gonna clown dude, never really bought into the hype but once saw him shutout the mets.

i blame the pitching coaches. nothing could be worse then old man coaches trying to firm up mechanics on a junk ball pitcher.

look at the bright side, at least nolan ryan didn't get his hands on him.

mets should pick him up

he's not 36

Start for Toledo today:

4 IP
3 H
5 R
5 ER
8 BB
1 K
44 strikes
55 balls

Fucking sad.

man I really like this guy. was hoping to follow his career through many productive years. so so bummed.

Two outings into what could arguably be a make-or-break spring training, Dontrelle Willis looks far better than he has at any other point as a Tiger. Yet if it seems like there's a bad break ahead for the D-Train, it's possible he found it Monday in the form of a hyperextended left elbow suffered on a quick pickoff throw.

Willis said he's fine and that he'll be playing catch tomorrow. Still, his voice was just a little more downtrodden than one might expect from someone who just tossed his second consecutive outing of two scoreless innings. As of Monday afternoon, Leyland had yet to hear from the team medical staff as to whether the injury is bad at all.

"I'll be out there tomorrow long-tossing and stuff," Willis said, "so I'm fine. Just tweaked something. They're just doing precautionary on me, but I'm OK."

If it indeed isn't bad, then Willis will start Saturday at home against the Yankees to try to continue what could well be the early stages of a career comeback.

Willis entered after the Braves had roughed up Max Scherzer and Fu-Te Ni for eight runs over the first two innings. He retired the side in order in the third inning in just seven pitches, six of them strikes. He headed back into the dugout to a seriously enthusiastic ovation.

"Just trying to focus, understand I'm one pitch away every time I throw the ball, and every pitch is for a purpose," Willis said. "I was able to establish that and get some good ground balls. As long as they're taking a right turn, that's a good thing."

Willis came back out and, like he did in both innings of his previous outing, gave up a leadoff walk to Jason Heyward, who hit about a 450-foot homer off Max Scherzer in his previous time up. Willis' first-pitch ball to Freddie Freeman was his last of the day he hit the zone for his next three pitches before getting Freeman to swing and miss at a fastball with movement for the first out.

Up came Eric Hinske, and down he went on three pitches -- a slider and two fastballs -- taking a called third strike.

It was then that manager Jim Leyland and assistant athletic trainer Steve Carter came out to check on Willis, who was telling him he was fine before they could even get to the first-base line.

Willis finished off his outing with a slow groundout from Lakeland native Matt Diaz, who's 10-for-24 off him in his regular-season career.

"I think Matt Diaz is like 99-for-100 off me," Willis said.

http://beck.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/03/dontrelle_effective_again_but.html

we should have a Dontrelle '10 poll.
"total disaster" has my vote.

that or cy young.

Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni Fu-Te Ni

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/03/24/dontrelle.willis/index.html