Friday, November 23, 2007

Jeff Andrews is already annoying me

From today's PG:

How Andrews works with one pitcher, however, will draw a lot of attention over the next several months.

Specifically, can Andrews "untweak" Zach Duke and turn him back into the wunderkind left-hander he was as a rookie in 2005?

"He can pitch," said Andrews, announced by the Pirates as their pitching coach yesterday. "I think he's going to come out of it."

"It" is the funk Duke fell into in 2006-07 beginning with former pitching coach Jim Colborn's decision to tweak his delivery in spring training 2006.

The quotes around the word "untweak" suggest that it was Andrews' word and not Meyer's. So, the way he's going to fix Duke is by MAKING MORE CHANGES.

The name of the article is "Andrews' No.1 priority-- Duke." The problem is that Duke is, at the absolute best (and I think this is up for debate) the third most talented starter on the team. Andrews' #1 priority should be figuring out why Ian Snell went from "Roger Clemens level" back to "2006 Ian Snell level" in the second half. Or maybe how to get Tom Gorzelanny to last a full year. The reward from working with those two would be much greater than attempting to getting Duke back to his 2005 level, which is about as likely as me sprouting wings. I can just feel myself getting more and more cynical with this new staff and front office as each day goes by.