I have a good feeling we’ll be seeing Snell throwing in AAA very very soon.

I don’t know if demoting Snell would help him or crush his confidence, but for me this would be more about trying to get him out of his doldrums than the immediate replacement. I can’t shake the idea that Snell needs a wakeup call. Or at least the idea that I would like to see how Snell responded to a wake up call.

Plus watching Snell is driving me insane. I would rather watch Karstens, Gonzo or Vazquez fail at this point even whether it affects the bottom line or not…….

Snell sent down to Indy.

http://bucsbits.mlblogs.com/

there has to be a corresponding move. Short of Morton going on the DL…retroactive to last weekend…someone has to go down. Tonight’s starter for the Indians…Cliff Lee…was sent down to the minors in 2007…and he was only one of the best pitchers in the AL last year. Maybe the wakeup call will get Ian to where he is supposed to be.

One problem is that if Morton can’t go tomorrow OR Sunday…that means another move…or no Karstens in the BP the rest of the weekend.

Back to Ian…one suggestion I have would be to just eliminate excuses that do not involve him when he does interviews with the media. If he’s not performing…he needs to say “I didn’t pitch well…and need to do better next time.”

But if the Bucs think that demoting Snell might help him work some things out and pitch back to his potential, isn’t it the right move for the Bucs?

Replacing Snell with Vasquez probably doesn’t help the 2009 Bucs, but if we’re being honest with ourselves, the 2009 Bucs aren’t the organization’s biggest priority.

The Pirates today optioned starter Ian Snell to Class AAA Indianapolis. A corresponding move will be announced before the game tomorrow.

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/pbc/default.aspx

He is in the future plans of the PBC. Let’s see if he can gain some consistency there.

…I don’t know whether I still believe Snell has any upside or not, but keeping him in the rotation when he keeps doing the same stupid things only serves to reinforce the behavior.

I don’t have the luxury of watching Pirate games on TV, but I was following on ESPN’s Gamecast the other day when Sizemore hit the triple off him, and I could have predicted it. After getting ahead in the count, everything Snell threw was low and off the plate, hoping Sizemore would chase it. Only he didn’t have to because everyone in the ballpark knew exactly what Snell was going to throw and where he was going to throw it. Sure enough, with the count full, Snell brought a fastball a few inches back into the lower outside corner of the strike zone and Sizemore crushed it.

This isn’t rocket science. You can’t pitch outside unless you occasionally back the batter away with an inside pitch to keep him from leaning out over the plate. Moreover, you can’t throw five consecutive pitches to the same approximate spot at the same approximate speed and not expect a good Major League hitter to time it.

Snell is either unwilling or unable to keep hitters off-balance by moving their feet, throwing their timing off or changing their eye level. If it’s the latter, he’ll never be a productive pitcher anyway and it’s time to see what someone else can do. If it’s the former, he’s more likely to learn that lesson in the minors than he is being coddled in the majors.

The first step in fixing your problem is admitting you have one. He hasn’t.

How many MLB starts has he made? Why can the move be about about performance, maybe with a side order of attitude adjustment? If he does have more to give, it sounds like he’s simply not bringing it to the mound on game days.

You’d like list of specific ways that playing in AAA can make Snell better? How about you provide a list of specific ways that playing in MLB can make Snell better?

Maybe he’s being sent down until he’s better, not to make him better.

from Snell’s discussion with Dejan are somewhat out of context unless you see the entire statement. I’d suggest everyone check it out.

I think maybe the lightbulb is coming on.

I’m as certain as ever that Snell is mentally rock friggin’ solid.

He’s a petulant child.

I just realized that the Pirates have scored and allowed the exact same amount of runs this season (317). Not quite Tampa Bay territory, but still not terrible. I know that with impending trades they will ultimately end up giving up significantly more runs than they score, but I wish guys like Ron Cook et al would look at stuff like this and realize that they aren’t THAT bad, or at least as bad as Cook makes them out to be. Records in 1 run games = LUCK (for the most part)

I wonder how much of this is true, and how much of this is Snell’s ego. It certainly sounds like he is not a team player, and that he thinks that he does not even have a problem. I could see the demanding a trade thing, but it makes no sense to request going to the minor leagues.

On the other hand: No matter where he is, Snell is going to get his millions, while most of the players in Indianapolis actually realize that there is something that they must work on just for the chance at such a payday.

How do you coach a multi-million dollar arrogant kid?

Good luck in Indianapolis, Ian Snell.

suprising that there is negativity toward a player after he throws so many people under the bus…..

If snell has that anxiety disorder and is just avoiding that tag.
And the negativity is he referring to? his own or the teams negativity toward his starts or the way he’s been pitching?

Perhaps this will let him work on his control inside, work on his slider and breaking ball? I know he could work on that up in the bigs, but again maybe that anxiety disorder thing is hitting Ian Snell….

Do the pirates have a sports psychologist?

if snell did indeed go to JR and demand him to send him to AAA i think that is a good sign. Snell wants to get better and knows he is not helping the pirates win games. He put the team in front of himself which is great to see. He will be riding buses and staying in cheap hotels instead of flying and nice hotels with the pirates. hopefully this is the start of a different mind set for him.

but no one has framed this as a possible semi-insubordination issue. If Kerrigan watches him pitch in the bullpen and Snell is lights out, and Kerrigan says, “I want you to pitch like that in the game,” and Snell goes out and for some reason simply can’t, that’s one thing. But if he WON’T, well …

Just speculating.

That Boy is out of his F-ing mind, he makes totally no sense, gives different answers to the same question, gives the same answer to different questions, and contradicts himself. He just lost his head completely, he’s done.

Let’s not forget he came to MLB with questions about his attitude.

His statistics the past 18 months are terrible. Definitely worthy of being sent down.

Then factor in he has criticized the pitching coach, manager, GM and the umpires and, I think, it’s an easy decision.

He reminds me of Kip Wells. Unbelievable talent. Unbelievable head case.

Will any of the SPs mentioned as a replacement be an upgrade? No, I don’t think so. But if you are going to stress accountability, I think he needs to go. If he pulls any nonsense in the minors, suspend him.

It’s not like you are hurting his trade value. It’s zero.

Great stuff. Does not consistently throw strikes. Not real coachable. Mediocre stats after one good year.

I went to a game with Wells v. Pedro Martinez maybe five years ago.

Wells was throwing 95, 96. All he did all night was nibble. He didn’t go inside at all. It seemed liked he had three balls on every batter.

Wells walked a bunch of guys and was quickly knocked out. The game took forever.

That’s exactly what watching Snell was like to me.

You don’t see any parallels?

for the morning PG.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09177/979953-63.stm

don’t represent much in the way of replacements this year for Ian Snell.

But then again, I think Snell had simply worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh with his penchant to blame others for everything that went wrong.

I suspect that if we could talk to Joe Kerrigan, he would say that Snell was not receptive to the advice he needed to improve as an MLB pitcher.

Snell was a bad pitcher for us from the All-Star break in 2007.

The team is going to be out a lot of money for non-performance on Snell’s part through next season, and we couldn’t get much of anything for him via trade, but he just needed to go.

I’d like to see him come back in a month or two and be a valuable contributor to the PBC, however, I think there’s a snowball’s chance in Snell of it happening.

Maybe he can be a second half All-Star for Indy.

Bon Voyage, Ian!

Vlad,

If the Post-Gazette’s coverage of Snell this season doesn’t convince you that he’s an “unbelievable head case,” I’ll just say I respectfully disagree.

The Pirates are banishing him to the minor leagues, with seeing a sports psychologist a key part of him returning to Pittsburgh.

Sounds like an appropriate use of the phrase to me. Again, just my perspective.

Moreover, if you review what the Pirates—and other teams went through with Wells—I think it’s appropriate for him as well.

Finally, both players throw 95 mph and can’t find a spot on two of the worse teams in baseball. Does that suggest a problem to you?

Azibuck, let me show you some statistics to judge whether the comparison is valid:

Wells:

Breakout season 2002

12-14, 134 K, 71 W, 3.58 ERA

Current season

0-2, 18 K, 18 W, 6.49 ERA

Career

65-96, 919 K, 593 W, 4.71 ERA

Snell

Breakout season 2002

9-12, 177 K, 68 W, 3.76 ERA

Current season

2-8, 52 K, 44 W, 5.36 ERA

Career

33-46, 576 K, 308 W, 4.75 ERA

You’ll have to explain to me how their career statistics and trajectories are different.

They both seem to have the same problems to me. Great arms. Lack of trust in their stuff. Lack of control. Not coachable. Not mentally tough.

Again, just my perspective.