Blade Tidwell

#51
#51
StarRaider said:
Looks like CTV was right! End of the month is tomorrow.

I imagine Blake gets no weekend starts in April but CFA works him back into shape during the month and gets him ready for May/June run.

I get my info straight from Jimmy Hyams BTW.
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It'll be interesting to see how CTV brings him along. I'm guessing he'll throw a few times this weekend to see how he holds up. I'd bet he'll get a short start sometime in mid-April. If all progresses well, I expect to see him in the weekend rotation a week or so before April is done.
 
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#53
#53
youcancallmeAl said:
It'll be interesting to see how CTV brings him along. I'm guessing he'll throw a few times this weekend to see how he holds up. I'd bet he'll get a short start sometime in mid-April. If all progresses well, I expect to see him in the weekend rotation a week or so before April is done.
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As well as the weekend starters have pitched, I think all three have earned and deserve to keep their starting spots. An embarrassment of riches right now but having four starting studs is going to pay off big time in the SEC tourney and in June.
 
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#55
#55
StarRaider said:
As well as the weekend starters have pitched, I think all three have earned and deserve to keep their starting spots. An embarrassment of riches right now but having four starting studs is going to pay off big time in the SEC tourney and in June.
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Blade is the staff ace. He alone among our starters has the experience of a full season of SEC combat, Hoover, regionals, superregionals, and Omaha. He's our bell cow. I see him eventually taking the lead role in the rotation, pushing Beam to weekday starter. But that's just one man's guess. All guesses are valid at this point.
 
#56
#56
youcancallmeAl said:
Blade is the staff ace. He alone among our starters has the experience of a full season of SEC combat, Hoover, regionals, superregionals, and Omaha. He's our bell cow. I see him eventually taking the lead role in the rotation, pushing Beam to weekday starter. But that's just one man's guess. All guesses are valid at this point.
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It’s a valid point, and as you said everything is just a guess at this point. Personally, I think if Beam keeps performing at the rate he is now, you’ll be hard pressed to demote him to midweek starter even for Blade. It also just depends on how dominant Blade becomes once he knocks off the rust.

I see Blade serving as largely a bullpen piece for the month of April while he builds up his stamina, and then some decisions will be made based on how the rotation has performed lately.

As a Red Sox fan, I see Blade serving as a Garret Whitlock roll for us. A once starter who battled an injury, Cora slowly built him up in the bullpen last year, and then he became a dynamic multi-inning long reliever who was lights out for us in the post-season and got the most high-leverage innings without ever starting a game.
 
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#57
#57
TheMookieMonster said:
It’s a valid point, and as you said everything is just a guess at this point. Personally, I think if Beam keeps performing at the rate he is now, you’ll be hard pressed to demote him to midweek starter even for Blade. It also just depends on how dominant Blade becomes once he knocks off the rust.

I see Blade serving as largely a bullpen piece for the month of April while he builds up his stamina, and then some decisions will be made based on how the rotation has performed lately.

As a Red Sox fan, I see Blade serving as a Garret Whitlock roll for us. A once starter who battled an injury, Cora slowly built him up in the bullpen last year, and then he became a dynamic multi-inning long reliever who was lights out for us in the post-season and got the most high-leverage innings without ever starting a game.
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Yeah, I'm a major league fan for a long, long time, and tend to see things like this through that same prism. I have just seen how staff aces who come back strong are almost always put back at the top of the rotation in MLB. Leadership is huge. How does that translate to the college game? I really don't know, as I only seriously started watching the college ranks last season when the Volunteers captured my attention. (Now I'm a college fan and those Major leaguers can shove it as far as I'm concerned with their labor squabbling). So, I am watching intently to see how Tony handles it.

Let's put it this way: Once Blade gets stretched out, and assuming he's performing like last season, who would you rather have pitch the game that decides the SEC championship, or the Hoover championship, etc. For me, the answer to that is Blade. He's been there, and done that.
 
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#58
#58
I was pushing the Blade Tidwell train as our ace and I feel like I may have to backtrack. I think Burns is showing elite stuff that Blade was still learning at the end of last year. Having said that, Blade’s experience is invaluable. That’ll help tremendously when it comes to the postseason. For now, I think Blade slowly transitions into the Sunday spot and gets his first start in about 2-3 weeks. I think Beam will feel the fatigue of a full season by then and will become a long reliever / 4th starter. Ben McKee made a good point that he should start to regress some because he hasn’t pitched a full season in over 2 years.
 
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#59
#59
youcancallmeAl said:
Let's put it this way: Once Blade gets stretched out, and assuming he's performing like last season, who would you rather have pitch the game that decides the SEC championship, or the Hoover championship, etc. For me, the answer to that is Blade. He's been there, and done that.
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Well, I think this is a different question than the one being discussed. I think there is some general agreement that the basic rotation for most of SEC play is likely to not change unless someone starts to underperform.

Post-season play is a much different animal and not what I was referring to. Will Heflin was a de facto 4th starter for us in Hoover last year. Blade will definitely fill that role come post-season, and in your scenario of a championship or winner-take-all game, then yeah Burns or Blade might be that guy.

But, just speaking generally about his role moving forward it’s much harder to say and it’s more likely he stays in the pen until the post-season approaches.
 
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#60
#60
Our bats alone can beat pretty much any mid week opponents left on the schedule. Therefore, there’s no need to change the current weekend rotation. Let Tidwell pitch relief until the SEC tournament. Last year, we played 5 games during that week.
 
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#61
#61
TheMookieMonster said:
Well, I think this is a different question than the one being discussed. I think there is some general agreement that the basic rotation for most of SEC play is likely to not change unless someone starts to underperform.

Post-season play is a much different animal and not what I was referring to. Will Heflin was a de facto 4th starter for us in Hoover last year. Blade will definitely fill that role come post-season, and in your scenario of a championship or winner-take-all game, then yeah Burns or Blade might be that guy.

But, just speaking generally about his role moving forward it’s much harder to say and it’s more likely he stays in the pen until the post-season approaches.
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There's more to this to consider: Blade is our only starter/high profile pitcher eligible for the MLB draft this season. That means there is a lot of money at stake for him with respect to his draft slot. As a Red Sox fan, you know all too well the difference in money between one slot and another in the higher rounds. Optimizing his innings in front of scouts is something that he will want, assuming he's 100%. CTV has some measured obligation to showcase him for the scouts, if we assume he is at least as good as any other of our starters. For one thing, the higher he goes, the more the feather in CTV's hat. For another, If CTV doesn't showcase him, and if Blade slips down in the draft, and an argument can be made that it was CTV's fault, you can bet rivals will use that as fodder against us in recruiting top quality pitchers.

But I agree with those that think this problem might get solved for CTV by natural circumstances. Neither Burns nor Beam has been down this road before, and it's likely at least one of them either hits a bad patch or runs out of gas.
 
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#62
#62
youcancallmeAl said:
There's more to this to consider: Blade is our only starter/high profile pitcher eligible for the MLB draft this season. That means there is a lot of money at stake for him with respect to his draft slot. As a Red Sox fan, you know all too well the difference in money between one slot and another in the higher rounds. Optimizing his innings in front of scouts is something that he will want, assuming he's 100%. CTV has some measured obligation to showcase him for the scouts, if we assume he is at least as good as any other of our starters. For one thing, the higher he goes, the more the feather in CTV's hat. For another, If CTV doesn't showcase him, and if Blade slips down in the draft, and an argument can be made that it was CTV's fault, you can bet rivals will use that as fodder against us in recruiting top quality pitchers.

But I agree with those that think this problem might get solved for CTV by natural circumstances. Neither Burns nor Beam has been down this road before, and it's likely at least one of them either hits a bad patch or runs out of gas.
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I actually think it’s the opposite in some ways. His shoulder soreness caused him to be slow played a bit in his return because of his draft stock. They did not want to aggravate it or put too many innings on it, which is why they shut him down. A lot of coaching staffs might not have done that.

I actually think they are going to be very careful with how much he pitches and how quickly because he is already a nearly consensus first round pick and the last thing they want is to have the shoulder soreness come back.

I’m not so sure he really needs to be “put on display” for the scouts. They know his talent and his stuff, and I’m sure the most important thing is his health. Kumar Rocker is a prime example. Look at what injury concerns did to his draft stock.
 
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#63
#63
TheMookieMonster said:
I actually think it’s the opposite in some ways. His shoulder soreness caused him to be slow played a bit in his return because of his draft stock. They did not want to aggravate it or put too many innings on it, which is why they shut him down. A lot of coaching staffs might not have done that.

I actually think they are going to be very careful with how much he pitches and how quickly because he is already a nearly consensus first round pick and the last thing they want is to have the shoulder soreness come back.

I’m not so sure he really needs to be “put on display” for the scouts. They know his talent and his stuff, and I’m sure the most important thing is his health. Kumar Rocker is a prime example. Look at what injury concerns did to his draft stock.
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Fair points, all. As I said, I think he will be given as much as he can handle provided that his health will handle it. I too think they should be very careful with such a valuable talent. Remember that those same scouts who know how talented he is at this very moment are not sure that his shoulder is OK. And unless their organizations are certain it is ok, they will not spend a high draft choice on a gamble. At some point, Blade has to prove through performance that he is OK and is going to continue to be OK vs that shoulder. It is a tricky situation for CTV.
 
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#65
#65
This shows my age, and also shows a ton of experience. I would have very cautious optimism and very tempered expectations when it comes to Tidwell’s return. These injuries are tenuous, and these injuries of shoulders/bones/elbows/ligaments etc are quite fragile. I hope Blade returns “new and improved,” but quite often setbacks occur. Let’s hope that his deliberate and conservative return allow him an injury-free April, May, and June.
 
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#66
#66
preacherman20 said:
I believe with any player last years performance gives you a little more lead way but you have to prove it every year. Too many good arms this year. Can’t make many mistakes out of bullpen like you can as a starter. ERA goes south really fast.
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so you think Blade's ERA (currently 9.00) will go up or down? :p
 
#67
#67
I hope it goes down. Just saying it is tougher out of the bullpen to move it down fast. When you are starting you get 5-7 innings per week. Right now most of our bullpen is getting 1-2.
 
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#74
#74
What an incredible problem to have.

Man, our pitching staff has been so dominant that I don't know what we're going to do with this pre-season All-American and probable top 10 draft pick when he comes back from injury.
 
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