Bernie Miklasz is back with an article on Mark Mulder’s slump at the beginning of the 2005 campaign. Bernie’s focus is on how the slump has followed Mark Mulder from Oakland.
Bernie starts off his article stating the simple fact that something is wrong with Mark Mulder:
Somewhere along the line last season with Oakland, Mark Mulder stopped being Mark Mulder, one of the most stylish and successful lefthanded starting pitchers in baseball.
Simple and to the point. It sums up the issue.
Bernie then details how the Cardinals sent trainer Barry Weinberg to Oakland to check out Mulder who checked out clean.
About halfway through the article Bernie asks the million dollar question:
Was Jocketty swindled by Oakland GM Billy Beane?
Excellent. But in the next few lines he walks away from it:
The question is premature, but it won’t go away unless Mulder rediscovers what he’s lost.
Here is where Bernie misses a great opportunity with this article. He does discuss Mulder’s numbers this year vs. the pitchers who went to Oakland, but it stops there. Instead Bernie goes on to look at the reasons why this is happening.
Ugh.
Bernie concludes with:
Until then, Mulder’s decline in Oakland will shadow him like an uninvited, unwelcome guest.
Well, no duh. What we wanted was more proof on whether this was a good deal or not. Maybe dig into that a little more. Maybe explore how Mulder has pulled out of funks before. Maybe discuss other trades for pitchers that have started off this way and compare if they’ve turned out well.
Score: 3 out of 10