Results tagged ‘ Rich Dubee ’
Halladay Says Williams ‘Completely Out of Line’
Mitch Williams appeared on 94.1 WIP this morning and ripped into Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee, saying the Phillies need a new man for the job.
He said Roy Halladay‘s problems were a simple mechanical fix that Dubee simply could not find. He mentioned an encounter he had with Dubee in Spring Training, when Dubee yelled at him for trying to talk to his pitchers, although he claimed that did not make his criticism this morning personal. Williams, the former Phillies closer who currently is an analyst for MLB Network, also said he showed Kyle Kendrick his current change up grip, which has brought him great success. Kendrick denied that. It’s been well known Kendrick gives credit to former pitcher Justin Lehr, who learned the grip from Tim Hudson.
“He didn’t like the fact that I spoke with his pitchers at all about anything,” Williams told Angelo Cataldi. “It may be time for a new voice.”
Halladay answered back before tonight’s game at Citizens Bank Park.
“Coming from the mechanical wonder,” Halladay said. “Yeah, I strongly disagree. To come from a guy who’s not around, who’s not involved. He’s not involved in the conversations … honestly has no idea what’s going on. He really doesn’t. He has no idea what’s going on in the clubhouse, on the field between coaches and players. To make comments like that, it’s completely out of line. It really is. Rich Dubee, when I first came over, he taught me a change up. If I hadn’t had that coming over here I wouldn’t have had the success I’ve had over here. Especially dealing with the injuries I’ve dealt with, if I didn’t have that pitch, if I didn’t have him working with me, I really would have been in a lot of trouble. In my opinion, it’s a statement that I feel like he needs to make amends for. I really do. There’s very few pitching coaches that I respect more than Rich Dubee. Watching Kyle Kendrick, the stuff that he’s learned, the way he’s grown, is because of Rich Dubee and it’s because of his work ethic and the way he goes about things. It really does upset me. It upsets me that guys outside of our group of guys that don’t understand what’s going on here make comments like that. Hopefully, it’s something he’ll learn from. I’m not sure if that’s the case, but he couldn’t be further from the truth. And I don’t think it’s the first time he’s been a little off base.”
Halladay was asked about the other times Williams has been off base.
“I’ve heard him criticize a lot of guys for mechanics,” Halladay said. “For a guy who’s never been a pitching coach, I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t go and look at any player in the Major Leagues and say, well, he should do it this way. I just don’t understand where that comes from. I really don’t. Former players, there were guys that had certain success doing it certain ways. There’s no one way to do things. To think that you know the one way to do it is a little bit arrogant. … What matters is your success and how guys get it done. It’s not mechanical. It’s a matter of confidence. There’s a lot of things that go into it. I really just feel he’s wrong on this one. I’m sure he’s not a bad guy. I’m sure he’s trying to do the best he can at his job, but I really feel like he was kind of off the mark on this one.”
Said Dubee: “That’s good. Maybe I hurt his feelings with the dust up, but I don’t know. Mitch has got a chance. He can apply to 30 teams (to be a pitching coach). You know? I’ve got no comment to that. Maybe he got upset because I spoke to him about getting involved in our pitching, where I don’t think he belongs. Maybe he’s upset at that. But I don’t think other people belong in our pitching. Again, like I said, he’s got a chance to submit a resume.”
Read the details about Williams’ altercation with Dubee here.
Dubee Talks Doc
Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee offered his take this afternoon on Roy Halladay‘s performance last night at Turner Field.
It is no surprise he is as optimistic and upbeat as Halladay, Charlie Manuel and Ruben Amaro Jr.
Here is some of what he said:
Q: What do you make of the results and are you as optimistic as him?
A: What I make of the results is pretty much that whole game. They struck out 16 times and they put nine runs up on us. They hit a couple of mistakes and we paid for it. But as far as Doc’s stuff, I feel very good about it. I think he continues to build. Like I said his last two outings in spring training, he’s starting to build momentum. Is he there yet? No. But I thought his stuff continues to improve. The one thing he’s not doing, he’s not commanding it like he needs to.
Q: Is there an issue with Roy trusting his stuff?
A: I don’t know if it’s an issue of trusting his stuff as much as trying to get to where he understands what his stuff is and how it’s going to play and how he can work off that. It’s still a phase where he’s trying to find out what he’s going to have and what he’s going to be able to do.
You talk about he got nine out of 10 outs with strikeouts. They got six hits, two of them were home runs, the other four weren’t hit very good at all. Broken bat by (Freddie) Freeman in the first, a jam shot by (Juan) Francisco in the first, a jam shot by Freeman and then (Andrelton) Simmons’ base hit in the fourth. That’s all encouraging to me. He’s still got swing-and-miss stuff and he’s got to find a way and we have to find a way to be a little more aggressive and get quicker outs.
Q: He said he can let his fastball loose, but he then threw mostly offspeed stuff deep in the count. Why?
A: Hitters will dictate a lot of time, too. If they’re still charging fastballs and you’re getting some of the swings you’re getting off breaking balls and splits, why wouldn’t you throw it?
Q: So he’s not afraid to let sinker or cutter go?
A: I don’t think so, no.
Q: What’s taken so long for it all to click for him then?
A: Bad habits. Bad habits that he acquired when he was hurt. This was a guy who did something as consistently as you could possibly do it for years.
Amaro, Dubee Opine on Halladay’s Saturday
Roy Halladay’s start yesterday in a Minor League game at Carpenter Complex drew plenty of attention.
He has had a rough month, struggling in starts because of dead arm, lethargy and illness, respectively. Then 11 of the 18 batters he faced yesterday reached base. He got just three swings and misses, with Triple-A hitters from the Toronto Blue Jays hitting numerous balls hard. His fastball consistently hit 87-89 mph on the radar gun, hitting 90 mph once in the first inning. He officially allowed three runs, although he had the bases loaded with two outs when the first inning got cut short after he reached his pitch limit.
Halladay insisted he felt fine and will be ready to go April 3 in Atlanta.
“He was OK,” Ruben Amaro Jr. said.
“After what he’s gone through, he was fine,” Rich Dubee said. “I’m not looking for results right now. The good part was he threw 80 pitches, he felt strong and felt like he could have thrown more. The arm slot was fine. He’s a ways from repeating it. Do you see anybody at their level yet? He’s not where he’s going to be yet. But I thought the velocity for not having pitched was good. He sat 88 to 90 consistently and finished the game at 89 almost 80 pitches into it. So arm-strength wise, that was good and he feels like there is more there. I think the more we get it right, the more it will come out.”
Dubee: Doc Can Be Ready
The Phillies believe two more starts in Florida is plenty for Roy Halladay to be ready to pitch April 3 against the Braves at Turner Field.
Halladay lasted just one inning Sunday in a Grapefruit League game against the Orioles at Bright House Field because of a stomach virus. He lost eight to 10 pounds in a couple days, but after throwing a successful bullpen session yesterday, Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee said today he is confident Halladay will be ready to go in 13 days.
Halladay is pitching in a Minor League Spring Training game Saturday at Carpenter Complex and March 28 in a Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays at Bright House Field.
“Sure,” Dubee said, when asked if two starts are enough for Halladay. “What’s the risk? He threw 25 pitches last time out. Our other guys, their last game they’re only going to throw 50 probably. So that was his short haul.”
And why pitch Halladay in a Minor League game rather than face the Orioles in a game in Sarasota?
“He’s missed some time, but more important than that is I didn’t want to put him back on a bus,” Dubee said. “It’s contained germs. Contained germs. That’s what on a bus. It’s like flying. Why do people get sick on flights? Because there are germs on there. I don’t want to put him in a confined area.”
Dubee said he liked what he saw in Halladay’s bullpen session yesterday. He has said Halladay’s problems this spring are mechanical, and not health related.
Halladay to Pitch Saturday in Clearwater
Roy Halladay threw a bullpen session today in Clearwater.
It seemed to go OK.
“Roy threw very well,” Rich Dubee said through a team spokesman. “He lost almost 10 pounds, so he’s just got to gain some weight back and get his strength.”
Halladay lasted just one inning Sunday in a Grapefruit League game against the Orioles at Bright House Field because of a stomach virus. He said Tuesday he lost 10 pounds because of the illness, and still felt a little weak and jittery. He is scheduled to pitch in a Minor League spring training game Saturday at Carpenter Complex. He would get one more start before he is scheduled to pitch April 3 against the Braves in Atlanta.
Halladay has had a rough month. He looked fine in his first two Grapefruit League starts, throwing his fastball in the 89-91 mph range. But his velocity has dropped since then. In his third Grapefruit League start his velocity fell into the 86-88 mph range as he talked about experiencing “dead arm.” He got shelled in 2 2/3 innings in his fourth start March 12, saying he felt lethargic. Then he lasted just one inning in his fifth start Sunday because of the stomach virus.
The Phillies have said repeatedly that Halladay has no physical issues. They said some of his struggles stem from mechanical issues, which they have been working on.
Halladay Works on Mechanics
Roy Halladay tried to fix some things with his delivery during his bullpen session this morning at Bright House Field.
“He looked wonderful,” Rich Dubee said. “He looked fine.”
Halladay struggled mightily in 2 2/3 innings Tuesday. He said he was lethargic because of a more intense workout routine and throwing two bullpen sessions before that start. Both Halladay and Dubee have said there are no health issues.
He is scheduled to pitch Sunday against the Orioles.
Dubee: Doc Is Fine, Trust Me
It sounds like everybody in Philly is a little freaked about Roy Halladay.
Understandably so.
Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee answered a few questions about Halladay before today’s game against the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
Q: Did you talk with Roy today?
A: We talked. He’s fine.
Q: Are you encouraged after you talked with him yesterday and today?
A:No, I think I knew he was fine physically yesterday. He came out saying he’s fine. He said on the mound he’s fine. He feels good today. He feels like he didn’t even pitch physically. That’s good.
Q: What’s the difference between what he said last year when he said he was fine and this year when he said he was fine?
A: He had issues year. He had issues. He can’t make it public. Why should he? You guys don’t need to know everything, first of all. This guy didn’t want anybody to know he was banged up last year.
Watch Those Tricycles, Charlie!
Charlie Manuel occasionally reminds people he has been in baseball 50 years.
In other words, he has seen almost everything.
But it took until this afternoon for a grown man pedaling a tricycle to crash into him on the field. The Houston Astros had a mid-inning tricycle race between two men, who pedaled from the Astros dugout down the third-base line past the Phillies dugout down the first-base line. One of the contestants steered his tricycle smack into Manuel, who was seated on the warning track between pitching coach Rich Dubee and catching coach Mick Billmeyer.
Billmeyer and Dubee nearly collapsed from laughing.
Manuel chuckled a bit, too.
“That three-wheeler got me,” Manuel said after the 7-1 victory at Osceola County Stadium. “I saw him, man. I thought, ‘He better get over.’ He got me. He ran over me with a three-wheeler. Dubee was supposed to stop him there, isn’t he? He’s supposed to save me. He let me get run over. He said, ‘Go ahead, hit him.’ He ran over my toes too, man.”
Years from now nobody will remember the details of this game. But everyone will remember the time some dude rolled over Manuel’s foot on a trike.
“Watch those tricycles, Charlie!” Phillies front office advisor Dallas Green said afterward.
Dominicans Rock Hamels
Cole Hamels summed up his rocky 2 2/3 innings today against the Dominican Republic thusly:
“Thank goodness it doesn’t count.”
He allowed 12 hits, eight runs, one home run and struck out three in 2 2/3 innings against a talented lineup in a 15-2 loss at Bright House Field. The Dominicans scored four runs against Hamels in the second and four more in the third before he got pulled after throwing 59 pitches.
“Obviously, what I was going out and trying to do, I wasn’t able to accomplish it as well,” said Hamels, who is the Phillies’ presumed Opening Day starter. “They’re very good at what they do. It’s just a game where you take it and try to build on what you can for the next bullpen and then getting ready for my next goal, which is try to pitch deeper into a ballgame. Establish strikes in the strike zone, I don’t think I was doing that as well as I know I can. And on top of that, when I was throwing strikes, they were hitting them. Didn’t miss many bats.”
Said Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee: “Spring Training has a purpose. One of the things is you’ve got to get your fastball going. He knows they’re all fastball hitters over there. But he sprinkled in (nine) cutters, some curveballs, I think he threw five curveballs, seven changeups. But he wants to get his fastball command going. And that’s the purpose today. It isn’t about results right now. … He’s facing an All-Star team and he doesn’t even have all his weapons.”
Schwimer Traded to Toronto
There is more to the Michael Schwimer trade than just a glut of relief pitchers in Phillies camp.
The Phillies announced today they traded Schwimer to the Blue Jays for Minor League first baseman Art Charles. Ruben Amaro Jr. said they shipped Schwimer to Toronto because they had depth in the bullpen, they needed to anticipate future roster moves and they needed power at the Minor League level. But Schwimer had fallen out of favor with the organization after he disputed the Phillies’ decision to send him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in August, claiming he was injured, although there also had been other issues.
It might be more accurate to call this trade addition by subtraction.
“He’s a great kid,” said Amaro, when asked if last season’s dispute sparked the trade. “There’s nothing wrong with Schwim.”
Schwimer said he agreed, but added one caveat.
“The Phillies want to win period so they’re not going to let any petty differences affect them wanting to win,” he said. “So in my opinion I think that had absolutely zero effect.”
Todd Zolecki
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