Hideo Nomo

[Jeffrey Asao]

Just thought I'd throw this out for everyone. Hideo Nomo pitched 6.1
scoreless innings of 5 hit ball against the Giants. He pitched 7 inn of
shutout ball in his AA minor league start and signed a contract for 250K
with the Brewers...sure, Nomo has been erratic, but he does have pretty good
stuff and considering how thin the phillies are thin in pitching, does anyone
have any idea why the phils didn't take a gamble on him? Couldn't have been
any more of a gamble than Spoljaric, Brantley, or the Person character.

Jeffrey

[n...@n.com]

#1: Nomo's recent history has been so dreadful that it will take a
lot more than 6.1 scoreless innings to wipe the slate clean.

#2: Nomo's stuff isn't what it used to be. His fastball used to
dance. Now it just strolls. He has shown zero, zilch, nada
indication in his career that he can adjust to pitching when he has
anything less than his best stuff. He lost the element of surprise
inherent in his unusual windup. I'll wager that his outing against
the Giants will be the exception, not the rule.

#3: The Phillies decided to take a gamble on Spoljaric, and it
failed. Now you say the Phils should have gambled on Nomo instead of
Spoljaric. Well, duh! The truth is, the Phils could've gambled on
Calista Flockhart throwing three better games than Spoljaric did.
20/20 hindsight is an unremarkable talent.

The Phils wound up plucking a couple of servicable young starters in
Ogea and Byrd from the garbage heap. I cannot bring myself to
criticize them because their third gamble didn't pay off. Hershiser
maybe, Nomo no.