Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRedChief
even a baseball fan that only pays attention during the playoffs knows Thor’s raw talent. Best in baseball upside. I’d be Leary of him on our team because of Martinez. Of course he doesn’t have that level of talent but he did have a #1 upside. He lacks focus. Is a head case. Yadi took him under his wing . The Cardinals invested in him. He’s still a headcase. You think the Cardinals can get Thor back in track?
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Man, the **** if I know.
But I will say that I trust this field staff quite a bit. I like Maddux, I like Shildt. I also don't think Martinez is a headcase, I think he may just be lazy and lacks some drive so he just doesn't do the things he needs to do between starts (or in the offseason) to fully maximize his ability.
The headcase label really irritates me because it's almost always used incorrectly and lazily. Lynn was just the most ridiculous example of it (dude was friggen nails in leverage situations as a rookie in relief and people are trying to argue he's soft...ridiculous) but there are plenty others. Baseball is so self-selecting that you get very few guys make the show who can be mentally broken.
But there are guys who qualify. Armando Benitez was the first guy I remember who clearly qualified in my eyes - dude would give up a hit and just get mad and start throwing everything harder, straighter and right down the middle. He'd just lose his focus and fall apart.
Martinez doesn't do that. He's had some wobbly appearances of late but many of those have just been grounders finding space. Meanwhile he's still out there attacking righties and playing aggressive, focused defense. He just hasn't done enough work to make himself a challenge to lefties and that's less about being a headcase and more about just not being the kind of Type A driven personality we'd hoped he'd be.