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."
Texas is as desperate for bullpen arms as Philly. Makes you wonder why they didn't try to resign him... hmmmmm.— Sam Crow- sam i agree with you, you took the words out of my mind. god forbid another bynam— wildgreenman
- Ever since the Phils were burned by Freddy Garcia, they have amped up the physicals on all trades (hence why Lopes never was signed from Houston).
I have confidence in the Phils whereas there wasn't much else out there for relief and if Adam's doesn't recover and need to go on DL, Phils should get financial relive and insurance $$$.— Professor1982 - Sam.....the thoracic outlet syndrome can be a real career killer for pitchers. Not many people have surgery for it. Not many doctors even know how to operate on it. Success rates can be slim. Obviously going by his last outing with 3 HRs given up over 5 batters vs. only 1 HR in his previous 60 games, something was wrong. I would assume there is some physical evidence to show that the surgery is working. In his physical therapy or regular workouts he should be able to tell there is less tingling in his hands or better "life" in his arm. The real proof will be how he starts throwing. That's the only true test and if he just had the surgery in Oct., he probably won't start throwing much til early/mid January. The Rangers probably just want to move on with cleaning house after 2 near misses at the brass ring. They've lost a lot of people this winter. Time to rotate in some new blood. As we've tried to do the last few years too.— Mark1npt
- ps....if he comes back great, the Phils need to schedule an appointment for Bastardo with Adams' surgeon because he has the same thing (and a lot of the same results).— Mark1npt
- Talking about what Adams has done "since 2008" is ridiculous. Relief pitchers fade fast. Where is he right now? Why didn't the Rangers try to re-sign him? I hope he is good. I hope Kendrick and Lannan are decent. I hope Michael Young is better than PP. I hope RUF, Revere and Brown aren't the worst OF in baseball. I hope Pap is better this season. I hope J-Stroll stops strolling. I hope Howard has worked hard this offseason to hit breaking balls. I hope Doc is fully recovered. I hope Howard has worked hard this offseason to hit lefties. I hope Utley is healed. I hope Howard has worked hard this offseason on his fielding. I hope Hamels isn't the only healthy star on the team. I hope that Nix is better than he was in 2011. I hope they add Swisher. But, really I hope the Phillies fire Amaro!!— Copper34
(sigh) it was only a matter of time before Amaro showed up. Did he show up on the Polanco article too. I haven't checked.
Texas released a lot of age and money this year. Hamilton, Napoli, Dempster, Young, Adams. They are a perfect example of how you cant win a WS on paper.
Adams is a gamble at 2 and 12. Not too long ago it seemed that Lidge was a steal at 3 and 36 !!! How'd that work out?
Keeping fingers crossed and I understand everyone's concern. But if Adams comes back strong, he is not just good. He's outstanding.— zubzub- @sigh - is someone forcing you to read the comments section of philly.com?? Amaro should show up anytime there is a Phillies discussion. Rube-the-Boob is killing the organization. As a Phillies fan, it is hard to look forward to a season knowing that the future is dim as long as that imbecile is running the show. Last year at this time, he was promising "small-ball" ... LOL. He really is a moron. As if being disciplined at the plate, working opposing pitchers, and striking out less is equivalent to "small-ball." Glad to hear that vafan (see below) thinks there is a "pretty good chance" for a second coming of Madsen/Lidge ... "due for some payback" ... Too funny. If that is the way the baseball universe works, payback ought to guarantee a WS Championship, b/c Smug Ruben has been burned by more than bullpen signings. He was burned by OF trades (Pence), trades for starters (Oswalt, the trading of Lee), signings of "star" players (Rollins, Pap), signings of scrubs (Wigginton, Nix, Thome) ... in fact, RAJ has been burned in almost every personnel decision he has ever made. — Copper34
- (deeper and more pronounced sigh) — zubzub
- I knew I would regret agreeing with you earlier. Let's clear this up: Pence was a great trade and hit well over .300 that year, Oswalt was a great trade with an unreal won-lost record with the Phils that year, Rollins has already outperformed his most recent contract and Wigginton, Nix and Thome weren't the reasons we lost last year. You have any other screen names 'cause you're starting to sound familiar. IMO, Amaro is doing as good a job as anyone out there. — vafan
- I agree with the copper that stats since 2008 are misleading. I think that'll be the only time I ever say I agree with copper. I want to add that bullpen pitching is definitely the hardest position to predict. Amaro has been burned before with bullpen signings so I think he's due for some payback. I'm hoping for the second coming of Madsen/Lidge and think it has a pretty good chance.— vafan
- All I know is, that in the next life, I'll be a middle inning left handed reliever. Not a lot of talent, not a lot of work, but an awful lot of money.— boroughboy
- So people are pissed of that Amaro signed Adams, because he had surgery. People are pissed off that Amaro traded for Young, because he is 36. People are pissed off at Amaro because he traded for Revere, who isn't an HR hitter. People are pissed off that he signed Lannan, because he isn't Grienke. Why don't you guys just take a deep breathe, and wait until they play a little baseball? Nobody can predict this damn game. Who really thought the Giants would win two titles in the last two years? Who actually remembers that Howard drove in more runs after the All-Star game last season than Pujols? Baseball is a funny game. Let's stop all the damn whining for awhile.— Paul SoTX
- Amen, dude. Bunch of whiners in this town... — Phront_Runner
- @Vfan and Zub....I agree....if Adams can come close to what he was, this could be very similar to that Madson/Lidge combo of '08. Since this is such a weird condition/surgery I have to assume the Phils brass/doctors have gone over it with a fine tooth comb.— Mark1npt
