Quick Bits: Joba, Hughes, Damon, Robertson
February 10, 2010, 9:00 pm by iYankees · 19 Comments
Here are a few quick items on the evening:
- Pitching coach, Dave Eiland, reiterates that the Joba rules are, indeed, a thing of the past.
- Eiland also noted that Phil Hughes would have “some” restrictions, but added they would not be “extreme.”
- According to Tyler Kepner’s sources, the Braves have offered Damon a $4M deal with $2M of that deferred.
- Joe over at RAB wonders if Dave Robertson’s jump in velocity led to his ’09 elbow injury.
Interestingly, the Yankees, and, specifically, Dave Eiland, adjusted Robertson’s mechanics last season – Eiland shortened his stride and encouraged him to get his arms up quicker – allowing him to throw harder. In fact, Robertson had altered his delivery after being drafted in order to improve upon his command. As a result, the changes led to a decrease in fastball velocity, but increased his delivery’s deceptiveness and, with that, increased his strike out numbers. I am curious to see how the new tweaks, which have seemingly helped him regain that lost velocity, in conjunction with previous alterations that brought on his deceptiveness, influence K-Rob’s numbers in 2010.
Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images
