Notes: Rodney gets his chance
LAKELAND, Fla. -- At long last, Fernando Rodney will have another chance to
throw off a mound in front of manager Alan Trammell and Tigers coaches
Saturday morning. Yet the worry isn't whether he can still pitch, but how
hard he'll try to do it.
Nearly a full year has passed since Rodney last pitched competitively, trying
to shrug off the twinge he felt in his elbow last Spring Training. The twinge
turned out to be a torn ligament in his elbow, sending him to the operating
table for Tommy John surgery and then back to Lakeland for a summer of rehab.
He spent anywhere from three to four hours a day working out in Lakeland,
essentially on his own. He rode out three Florida hurricanes in a hotel. He
returned home to the Dominican Republic for all of three weeks, then came
back to Lakeland in January. The monotony was the hardest part.
"You come here, you know you have to do the same thing, and you do it," said
Rodney. "With each day, you feel better and better and better. You have to be
patient."
He started throwing off a mound again over the winter, and has progressed far
enough that he has no special restrictions beyond what all the other pitchers
have this early in camp. So he'll throw the same 25 pitches Saturday that
everyone else throws. Pitching coach Bob Cluck just wants to make sure he
doesn't try to do more than everyone.
Pitchers' arms react differently following Tommy John surgery. Some regain
their command to spot pitches before they rediscover their old velocity,
others vice versa. So far, Rodney says his command is good. He hasn't had a
chance yet to rear back and test how hard he can throw.
"I feel good," Rodney said. "Sometimes I feel a strain, but I ice it."
The concern there is that Rodney's game is based on the vast difference in
velocity between his mid-90s fastball and his low-80s changeup. His
difference was one of the largest some Tigers coaches have seen in a long
time, and it absolutely fooled Triple-A hitters in Toledo. Yet, until Rodney
finally broke through against big-league hitters in September 2002, he
struggled time and again in Detroit because he tried to throw too hard. He
settled down once he took enough off his fastball at times to locate it
consistently for strikes.
If he can't throw as hard as he used to starting out, can he still set up
hitters for his devastating changeup? Cluck and Mud Hens pitching coach Jeff
Jones believe so. The question is whether Rodney buys it.
"I'll be on him like a hawk," Cluck said.
For now, at least, Rodney understands. The boredom of that lost year here in
Lakeland is enough to scare him off.
"He said nice and easy," Rodney said. "I'll throw a couple changeups. That's
what I use anyway."
He believes, as club officials and doctors do, that he'll be ready for
Opening Day. If he is, barring a disastrous spring performance, he'll have a
solid shot at taking the final spot in the bullpen.
It won't be the closing job he once held, but it's a big-league job. Rodney's
injury, in retrospect, set off a staggering series of moves in Detroit all
over the bullpen. Without Rodney's injury, the Tigers might have never signed
Ugueth Urbina. Likewise, a strong 2004 season from Rodney probably would've
meant no two-year contract for Troy Percival. Esteban Yan probably would have
stayed in middle and long relief instead of working as setup man and closer,
earning him a lucrative offer from Anaheim at season's end.
At this point, though, Rodney doesn't want to consider closing or the domino
effect that followed when he couldn't. He just wants back in Detroit.
"I want to be ready," he said. "If I feel ready, I know what I have to do,
and I'll do it. I'll try to do my job."
Trammell throws BP: It wasn't a major return from injury, but Trammell is
throwing batting practice again for the first time since his mysterious
illness last May. He couldn't do it for the final four months of last season
because of recurring dizzy spells. Finally, Trammell said, the dizziness is
gone.
"That's what I wanted to do," Trammell said as he tried to loosen his sore
right arm Thursday morning. "It's something I enjoy doing. People just take
for granted how many balls the coaches throw. There's more to it than what it
looks like. It looks easy and all that, but believe me, I know. Whenever you
can help out, it's nice."
Trammell felt good enough, moreover, to take part in Lakeland's annual
charity softball game Friday night. So did Al Kaline, a last-minute addition
to a celebrity lineup that included Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith, Rollie
Fingers and Jim Palmer as well as Olympic softball gold medalist Jennie
Finch.
Farnsworth, Johnson make impressions: Trammell didn't want to make too much
of Thursday's first throwing sessions, but he made a point to watch reliever
Kyle Farnsworth and starter Jason Johnson. He came away from both segments
impressed with their command.
"That's what I'm looking for is guys executing out of the chute," Trammell
said. "You hope that guys come in here and they're not thinking they'll just
get ready by going through the motions. I just don't like that mentality. I
didn't see it."
The two impressions were in vastly different situations. Farnsworth was
throwing in front of Tigers coaches for the first time, having just been
traded from the Cubs little more than a week ago. Johnson, however, led the
Tigers in losses last season and went winless in August and September despite
showing glimpses of ace-caliber stuff.
"He's on a mission," Trammell said. "He wants to show people that last year
was not Jason Johnson. He was outstanding today."
Coming up: Those pitchers who didn't throw on Friday will do so Saturday,
including Rodney and first-round draft pick Justin Verlander. With physicals
and stress tests out of the way, the Tigers will move up their workouts to
their usual early-morning start time.
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