[新聞] No postseason for Buchholz

[Jethro1215 (ALE Champ => M3)]

Red Sox rookie hurler shut down due to shoulder fatigue
(By Ian Browne / MLB.com)


BOSTON -- As it turns out, top pitching prospect Clay Buchholz will not be a
secret weapon for the club come October. Citing some weakness and fatigue
that developed in Buchholz's right shoulder during September, the Red Sox
announced on Friday that the right-hander will not pitch again in 2007.
Highly regarded by the organization before the season even started, Buchholz
earned himself national fame by pitching a no-hitter against the Orioles on
Sept. 1.

"Obviously, this was not our first choice or even our second choice," said
general manager Theo Epstein. "This was pretty much our last choice, our last
option. Unfortunately, this was something that, after discussions with the
medical staff, is something that we have to do."

Given Buchholz's competitive nature, it was not surprising that he wanted to
keep pitching, despite knowing that the organization had his best interests
at heart.

"They're thinking about the long-term in the whole deal," said Buchholz. "It
just feels like all the hard work and the year I seemed to put together this
year ... Just to go home [before the postseason], I'm sort of bitter about
it. But it just makes me want to work harder and get back here next year."

Buchholz, 23, reacted to the news the way the Red Sox expected he would.

"I think with all young players and pitchers, they think they can go out and
do it, and he quite possibly could," said manager Terry Francona. "But again,
I think it would be very disrespectful to try to get some innings out of
somebody [when it] may not be in his best interest."

The Red Sox were keeping their options open for ways Buchholz could help
during the postseason, be it as a starter or a reliever. But it became more
apparent with each passing week that it would not be a wise move with respect
to Buchholz's future.

Boston sees Buchholz as a big part of its future and couldn't, in good
conscience, pitch him when they had medical analysis that proved it to be the
wrong move.

"Clay has been suffering from a fatigued and weak shoulder on and off here
this month," said Epstein. "It's now to a point where he can't pitch safely
in October. We examined him again [on Thursday], and the only option at that
point was about 10 days to two weeks of no-throw plus a two-week throwing
progression, which maybe would have given him an opportunity to pitch a
couple of innings in the World Series."

But that was a big maybe.

"Given that was a pretty limited reward, it didn't seem worth the risk of
keeping him hot for another month," Epstein said. "He's going to shut it down
for the year and start the rest of the offseason. He needs to have a great
winter of strengthening and conditioning and come back ready to throw a lot
of innings next year."

As much talk as there was about Buchholz being on an innings limit this
season, Epstein made it clear that shutting him down for October was hardly
in the plans before the shoulder fatigue began to develop.

"We were discussing different roles for him [regarding the postseason]," said
Epstein. "I think we were open to starting him or using him out of the
bullpen depending on how matchups shaped up and how the rest of the team
looked and how healthy we were otherwise. We were certainly open to starting
him."

But the Red Sox never got that far in their planning.

The first time Buchholz pitched after the no-hitter was on Sept. 6 in
Baltimore, where he threw three shutout innings out of the bullpen to earn
the win. But Buchholz first experienced some shoulder fatigue after that
outing, and didn't pitch again until Sept. 19, when he made an abbreviated
start (4 2/3 innings, 68 pitches) in Toronto. Four days after that start
against the Blue Jays, Buchholz looked noticeably flat during a side session.

"It wasn't like I couldn't throw at all. It was like I was a little weak,"
said Buchholz. "And they ran a couple of tests on it, and it showed that it
wasn't as strong as it was a month ago, a month and a half, and two months
ago. That was about it. The ironic part of it is, I feel really good today,
for some reason. And then I go in there and they tell me I'm going to go home
in a couple of days."

In all, Buchholz pitched 148 innings this season. His previous high was the
119 he pitched a year ago.

"It's important to step back and realize that this kid just turned 23, this
is the first time he's ever pitched this long," Epstein said. "There's a
reason why he's fatigued and weak right now. This is not totally unexpected.
That's kind of what the innings limits were all about, because that's an
estimate of when you're starting to get into this phase, obviously.

"Because of how talented he is, we were hoping to be able to have him pitch
into his seventh month and have him pitch into October, but now he's feeling
the fatigue. He's at that point where he can no longer pitch without going
into a real danger zone, and he would require two weeks of no throwing and
two weeks of progression. It was dictated for us."

Buchholz was essentially going through a dead-arm phase.

"It wasn't really a feel," he said. "It was just something like, earlier in
the year, you can throw a ball and it just seems to take off. And the last
couple of weeks, it's just, during the game, I feel great, but on the side,
whenever I'm throwing, it just feels like it's not coming out of my hand as
well as it was. It's not like there was any pain or anything. It just felt a
little dead. Like I said, I'll just go about it in the right way, work hard
and get stronger next year."

This winter figures to be crucial in how long Buchholz can pitch in 2008.

"He needs to be a really hard worker this winter," Epstein said. "He needs to
put in the hard work this winter so that next September he's really strong
going into the postseason. He's looked us in the eye and promised he would do
that. We believe him, and we'll help provide him the proper structure to make
sure that happens."

The Red Sox stressed that Buchholz is not injured. The fear was that if he
kept pitching, that could have changed. The Red Sox learned that lesson
first-hand with closer Jonathan Papelbon last year and weren't about to have
history repeat itself with Buchholz.

"There's some fatigue, and with fatigue comes some lacking in strength that,
again, we've been very aware of," said Francona. "It happens with all young
pitchers. But we're determined not to learn the hard way. It's somewhat
disappointing because of how exciting this kid is. But it's a decision that
we made as an organization, united."

And Buchholz will go home with some sense of remorse, wondering what the
October stage could have been like at this stage of his career. But he also
vowed to come back strong next year.

"I've accomplished every goal that I've set for myself this year," he said.
"It's been a lot of fun being up here for the month, getting to hang out with
everyone I've been watching on TV for years now. The goals that I set, I
accomplished them, and then a little bit more when I got up here. I had a
blast with it. This offseason will be all business, and I'll be back here
next year."


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