This post is dedicated to The Daily Fungo's Mike McClary, who is counting down the days until his Sporting News subscription runs out. (The countdown is near the top of his right-hand sidebar.)
During a lunch trip at the bookstore, I flipped through the latest issue and noticed a little tidbit of interest in Stan McNeal's column, which highlighted four players who could be busts this season. One of them was Detroit's Guitar Hero, Joel Zumaya.
McNeal cites Zumaya showing up to spring training overweight (which is the first I'd heard or read of that - anyone else?), the bouts of tendinitis due to the aforementioned Guitar Hero and his tight grip on the baseball, and his "violent delivery" as the reasons for concern.
(Unfortunately, I can't find a snippet online. It was a sidebar to this column. The other players he flagged as potential busts were Jered Weaver, Barry Zito, and Jim Edmonds.)
So does McNeal raise some valid points? Or can Zumaya's eventual breakdown perhaps be attributed to working in his first major league season as a sometimes overzealous reliever, during which he occasionally pitched two days in a row? (He logged more actual innings per season in the minors, but those were as a starter.)
You make the call.
** One more note on Mr. McClary: Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of his Detroit Tigers Podcast. He's got a couple of interviews coming up that I think you'll really enjoy.