New Phillies reliever Adams says 2012 was a struggle
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New Phillies reliever Adams says 2012 was a struggle
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
The Phillies officially announced the signing of free-agent reliever Mike Adams to a two-year, $12 million deal Thursday. The contract also includes a vesting option for 2015, which is a lot of money for a guy who admits last season was a physical struggle.
Adams, 34, is expected to take the role as closer Jonathan Papelbon's setup man next season. He has been one of the best eighth-inning relievers in the game since 2008, posting a 1.98 earned run average while striking out 311 batters in 295 innings.
The veteran righthander posted a 5-3 record with one save and an uncharacsterically high 3.27 earned run average in his only full season with the Texas Rangers last year. He was shut down for the final week of the season and underwent surgery in October for a condition known as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.
"Last year was a struggle for me," Adams said. "The TOS was something that kicked in in early April. I didn't know what was happening. I thought I was just having some shoulder discomfort issues. The majority of the season I battled not having the same stuff I had previously.
"I didn't have a good feel for the ball. There were times when I didn't know how to grip a fastball because I didn't have the feel. That's the symptoms of TOS. By the end of the year, it really caught up to me. My arm felt like it weighed five or six pounds more than it normally did. The ball felt like it weighed three pounds."
Adams surrendered three home runs in a five-batter span in his final appearance of the season against Oakland after allowing only one home run in his previous 60 games.
"My last outing, I felt like I was pitching a shot put," he said. "The toughest part was the mental part. I was trying to fix my mechanics and I was trying to fix everything. Once I knew that I had TOS, it was a huge relief after talking to (Rangers teammate) Matt Harrison and knowing that he told me I was going to feel great after (surgery). The trainer for Texas told me that once I get a few weeks into the rehab process I'm going to feel like I have a new arm."
Adams said the rehab process has gone well so far. He thought he'd be ready for the start of spring training. He admitted that he is more concerned about being ready for the April 1 opener in Atlanta. The surgical procedure involved removing a rib.
"It’s the first rib, which is below the clavicle," Adams said. "So what happens is that first rib starts squeezing the clavicle. You have a main artery and a nerve that runs through there, so when you start squeezing those, that nerve starts shooting pain through your body. I was having headaches constantly for three weeks. My trap was hurting, my pec, the middle of my back was hurt. I was having some numbness and tingling in my bicep and forearm and it was something that was pretty bad.
"Once I had the surgery to take care of it, some of the shoulder pain was gone within two days. It took a little while longer for a lot of the other symptoms to go away, but they said in time it will. They say the nerves have been so freaked out that they needed time to recover. It wasn’t until about three or four weeks ago that I really started to feel the symptoms go away."
Shortly after the winter meetings, the Phillies sent special assistant Charley Kerfeld to watch Adams throw. The righthander obviously passed the physical administered by the Phillies Thursday and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. acknowledged the risk involved.
"There is no question that there is some risk involved," Amaro said. "As a group, we talked to our people about the TOS and how that might affect him short term and long term, but I think ultimately we feel comfortable enough and felt comfortable with the procedure and the follow-up information that we got. While there is some risk to it, it probably was a good risk. This is a guy who can solidify our bullpen."
- Amaro signed Oswalt to win a 2010 world f'in championship, not for 1/2 a good year. Further, his 2011 season wasn't "worst on the team". There you go again with the exaggerations. Bringing up Myers and Lee? Why don't you introduce Verlander to your argument while you're at it?
— vafan - they gave away Lee to save $9 mil., then agreed to give Blanton $24 mil and traded 3 prospects for Oswalt ! that anyone can defend those steps is beyond th pale....Rube should have been fired there and then!— warbiscuit
- Crapped the bed on Lee, everyone including Amaro knows it. Is that all you got? Blanton was a fair deal relative to the available players, market value and minor league talent. Regarding the Oswalt deal, prospects are prospects when you have a world series staring you in the face. — vafan
- if Pence were worth trading 4 top prospects for, how come Rube was able to net a single non-prospect when discarding him? who's the moron?— warbiscuit
- Everybody knows you can't compare players traded for the same player at different times. In this case, Pence was much better when we got him then when we traded him. Landscapes change daily in baseball let alone a year later. BTW - did you mean to say Tommy Joseph is a non-prospect? The 2nd round pick? Your zero credibility is now in the negative. — vafan
- had Rube NOT discarded Lee for peanuts, they would have likely won the 2010 World Series, wouldn't have needed to trade for Oswalt or Pence and would have 7 more prospecst assets to use as assets for other more productive trades .. spend high, sell low methods is how you destroy a franchise— warbiscuit
- Amaro completely crapped the bed on that one. Disagree, though, on wb's crystal ball analysis of 9 players. Obviously, the franchise has not been destroyed. — vafan
- Gose (traded for Wallace)--age 22 -may be future Bourn or Revere - made major league debut with Toronto
Villar --age 21 -ranked top 100 prospect by Baseball America
Singleton --last ranked #34 best prospect
Domingo Santana -- 23 hrs, 97 rbis for A for Astros, etc etc etc
Joseph is not highly ranked..— warbiscuit - Adams, ready by May or even June 1, fine by me. Bastardo was too confident in his roster spot the first half of last season. Now it's gone and he, Aumont and a few others can strive for the set-up role that Adams has. That's the nature of Major League Baseball.
I would have spent the Adams money on Hamilton or Fisher and nailed a corner outfield spot. But it's true, the outfield market went crazy; Victorino's three-year deal is for more than Rollins' was last year, and so many post-ers ripped Amaro (wrongly) for that one.
— eman - We might win the division if the pitching staff has an ERA under 2.0— 4thand10
- Cosart -- rated #50 best prospect 2012, age 22, had AAA success last year— warbiscuit
- Tommy Joseph - .250 at AA
Seth Rosin -- acquired with Joseph for Pence -- 4.08 at advanced level A
translation --don't expect to see either at major league level— warbiscuit - vafan: "I don't need stats to tell me Oswalt helped the Phils win major league games in 2010 and 2011."
yes, stats and facts are very inconvenient..
Oswalt 2011: 10-11 3.69 era
Phillies without Oswalt, 2011 92-49
Oswalt post-season 2010-2011: 1-2, 3.93 era, 13 runs (11 earned), 4 hr's
Cost for 2 months of "good" pithcing (Aug-Sept 2010): Gose (future Bourn or Revere), Villar (ranked top 100 prospect), Happ (projected no. 4 or 5 starter)— warbiscuit
