Which relievers came into a season with dead arm? Dead arm is a fancy way of saying fatigue. That's all. Doolittle has nothing to be fatigued over because he hasnt done anything for 9 months. He threw 17 innings the last two months of the season.
He isnt anything in his current state. He is throwing batting practice. Put him on the IL, let him work out his crap away from the team. But as it stands, he can't locate. He cant throw hard. And hes trying to develop secondary pitches in real games. He isnt a long term piece here in DC, so let him get better and ready for what amounts to a free agency try out.
I gotta agree with this. Doolittle made 83 appearances last year, and who knows how many times Martinez warmed him up and didn't use him. There is a huge spate of pitcher injuries right now compared to the normal opening of seasons. I don't know whether teams have had guys throwing too little in the unplanned offseason or too much, but it's possible he erred in the latter direction. Seems unlikely, though, given so many obvious data points: 83 appearances and velocity loss screams elbow problem to me, not a dead arm. And yeah, I know he doesn't throw many breaking balls, but Kendall Graveman needed Tommy John, and he sometimes used to go entire starts throwing literally one or two breaking pitches.
But overall I'm in total agreement. As I said on the game thread last time, he shouldn't be pitching in major league games right now.
