A: I am familiar with the brand because I own several pairs. So far, though, I haven’t had to undergo Tommy John surgery. In fact, the underwear and the pitcher are not connected, unless the former pitcher wears them. The underwear is named after the company’s founder Tommy John Patterson. But you can wager that he knew Tommy John underwear would sell better than Tommy Patterson drawers.
Q: If MLB could implement a salary cap, would they grandfather in all the multi-year contracts and the deferred contracts like the one the Los Angeles Dodgers gave Shohei Ohtani? — LARRY, Dallas, Tex.
A: MLB and teams would have to honor those signed contracts or risk huge lawsuits. They could not unilaterally say, “Hey, Shohei, we have a salary cap now so we don’t have to pay you that $680 million we deferred on your $700 million contract.” It, indeed, will be a dilemma. The Dodgers have deferred just over $1 billion through 2047. So, on paper, a salary cap isn’t going to turn the Dodgers into losers. They probably would benefit the most from any team with a salary cap in place.
Q: Why didn’t Hunter Greene undergo elbow surgery last fall so he would be ready for Opening Day? — ALAN, Sugarcreek Twp.
A: That’s the great mystery hiding under a rug in the Cincinnati Reds front office. Apparently, Greene’s elbow was stiff when he pitched against the LA Dodgers in the playoffs and didn’t tell anybody. Perhaps he thought rest over the winter would make the stiffness go away. And perhaps the Reds thought the same thing. If that’s the case, or both cases, it didn’t work and now they won’t have Greene until July and that’s if all goes well. Greene is on the fourth year of his six-year $53 million contract. Since joining the Reds rotation in 2022, Greene has been on the injured list at some point in every season. As former Reds general manager Murray Cook told me, “Signing pitchers to long-term contracts is a recipe for disaster.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Will the ABS balls and strikes system adjust for stances like when Joey Votto adjusted his stance over the years? — GRFG, Beavercreek.
A: Because the ABS apparatus will be stationary, I wondered the same thing. How about Pete Rose’s deep squat in his stance? How would ABS adjust to that? It would seemingly call a strike up around Pete’s eyes. But after seeing a couple of awful low out-of-the-zone strikes called on Team Dominican Republic players against Team USA by an umpire, I have to wonder. Can ABS be any worse?
Q: With big money and free agency ruling MLB, are players not as colorful as they used to be? — UNCLE JOHNNY, Troy.
A: No, they are not. It’s all business now. Where are the nicknames like The Thumper, Joltin’ Joe, Three Fingers, Wild Horse of the Osage, Poosh ‘Em Up, King Kong and Toy Cannon. Where are guys like Mark Fidrych talking to the baseball and Rube Waddell, who left games to chase fire trucks and Wade Boggs eating chicken before every game? The game now is too antiseptic, too much sameness.
Q: What pitcher made the most Opening Day starts for the Cincinnati Reds? —JIM/TERESA, Leitchfield, Ky.
A: That would be one of my favorite all-time Reds pitchers, Mario Soto. He started six Opening Day games in the 1980s, when the Reds were not very good. Aaron Harang, Pete Donohue and Tony Mullane each started five. Soto was 4-2 in those starts. He won the first four with a 1.52 earned run average. In 12 seasons with the Reds he was 100-92 with a 3.47 ERA. Had he played for better teams and not had his career cut short by chronic shoulder and arm injuries he probably would be in the Hall of Fame.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Q: How often are runners on second base able to steal a catcher’s signs? — CHRIS, Dayton.
A: Stealing signs is an art and former Reds player Eduardo Perez, son of Tony, was a master at it. However, stealing a catcher’s signs from second base is difficult. With a runner on second, a catcher flashes four or five different signs and by pre-arrangement the pitcher knows whether the real sign is the first one flashed or the third or the fifth. And they change the sequence between innings.
Q: Do you expect any MLB expansion in the near future? — JIM, Hayesville, O.
A: There has been talk about expanding into two cities, which makes sense. That would make it 32 teams, 16 in each league. Then maybe they’d quit interleague play so by World Series time it won’t be two teams that have played each other at least 13 times. The cities? New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Charlotte, Montreal and a smattering of others, but not Dayton.
Q: Am I the only one who is frustrated with the recurring injuries to the Reds pitchers? — MIKE, Riverside.
A: No, you’re not. I hear it at Kroger’s, at Starbucks and in the Men’s room at UD Arena. Fans definitely are frustrated. But the Reds are not the Lone Rangers. Pitcher injuries throughout MLB are an epidemic. The arm was not designed to throw baseballs 100 miles an hour or withstand the torque of throwing sliders. So pitchers are as fragile as crystal and teams are fortunate if they don’t lose two starters during the season.
Q: If there is an MLB work stoppage next year, what is on your bucket list to cross off while there is no baseball? — JOEL, Kettering.
A: I love horse racing, but I have never attended the Kentucky Derby because it is run the first Saturday in May and I’m always covering a Reds game. So if a work stoppage comes to pass, I’ll be one of the 150,000 at Churchill Downs hoping to at least catch a glimpse of a horse’s tail.
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