Slow Start Yourself

LT finally signed, so we don't have much of an excuse to postpone the pain and agony that this season seems primed to deliver. It's game time 2009. How better to start than to pick on one of our least favorite analysts - Keith Law. Mr. Law posted the following about Chris Young Yesterday:

Young was awful all around; he topped out at 86 mph and threw a couple of fastballs at 83. We're at the point in camp when pitchers should be at or near their regular-season velocity, and Young is 4-6 mph below where he should be.

(There's more - use your ESPN Insider account to view it). We have nothing personal against Mr. Law, but we constantly find ourselves disagreeing with his analysis. Here's the real story - Young never plays well in Spring Training. He's a bright guy, he uses the time to work on different things. We aren't worried about him at all. Here are his recent Spring Training lines:

• 2009: 6.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 8 IP


• 2008: 4.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9 IP


• 2007: 5.14 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 14 IP


• 2006: 9.90 ERA, 2.15 WHIP, 20 IP

And his corresponding lines for those seasons:

• 2009: To be determined


• 2008: 3.96 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 102.3 IP


• 2007: 3.12 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 173.0 IP


• 2006: 3.46 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 179.3 IP

About all that can be extrapolated from these numbers is that there is no correlation between Young's play in Spring Training and his in-season performance. One would expect a paid analyst to do a little research, but journalism isn't what it used to be.