And no, this is not about the B-96 disk jockey.
It's about a man who we were ready to fry last year, until it was revealed that he was trying to pitch through a serious injury, that's how much he wanted to contribute. Of course, the more he pitched, the worse it got, and finally Joe Borowski had to toss the towel in on the 2004 season.
What's amazing is that he has now apparently rehabbed, without surgery on the shoulder (he did have his knee scoped in the offseason), has lost weight, and is throwing harder than he did before the injury.
There has been speculation on everyone from Ryan Dempster to LaTroy Hawkins (ugh!) to Robb Nen, as to who will eventually surface as the Cubs' closer.
But JoeBo put together two pretty good years in 2002 and 2003...
W L G GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA
4 4 73 25 2 95.2 84 31 29 10 29 97 2.73
2 2 68 59 33 68.1 53 23 20 5 19 66 2.63
... the first of those as a setup man, the second as closer, in the NL Central championship year.
Note particularly, the number of walks -- 2.7 per nine innings in 2002, 2.1 per nine innings in 2003. Joe throws strikes. He's no Eric Gagne, but he knows how to get hitters out.
It's very easy to say, this early in the spring, that all is going well, as Borowski says:
If Borowski shows during spring training that he is pain-free, has good velocity and can close games as he did in 2003... well, that ought to solve the closer problem, as well as give the Cubs two really good setup men in Hawkins and Dempster.
I'll be rooting for him. Regular Joe is a favorite of mine -- he works hard, doesn't whine, and contributes.
Would that every major leaguer should do the same.
0 recs | 6 comments
rooting right there with you
yup ...kjk - February 19, 2005
Love to see Joe back
But this is the first I've heard of Borowski's velocity being back. And honestly, I never take a player at his word alone that he's healthy. They (almost) all want to play, and all insist that everything is fine. I thought it very telling that no coaches or scouts in that article were saying that Borowski was healthy. The best we got was Dusty Baker saying "He's better than at any time last year" which is a pretty meaningless statement since he was a complete and total wreck last year.If Lunch-bucket Joe is back to his 2003 form, then I'm all for making him the closer. But I'll believe it when I see it.
Even more disturbing is that Baker never even mentions Dubois as a candidate for the LF job, instead talking about Hollandsworth and Hairston. I'm not sure Dubois is better than those two, but I am sure that he should at least be given a chance to win the starting job. But again, Dusty doesn't seem interested in giving a kid a shot.
Josh Timmers - February 19, 2005
C'mon Joe!
I'm with ya, Al. I'm rooting for Joe to come back strong. We really need him this year, and I like his attitude and professionalism as well.Graham - February 19, 2005
Let's hope it's true
'Cause if it is, this is the best news I've heard about the Cubs since the Garciaparra signing.Keep up the good work on the blog, Al. As always, I'm enjoying your writing (I only have two regular Cubs blogs stops each day, TCR and yours) and I wish you and everyone at SportsBlogs good luck.
helen - February 20, 2005
Go, JoeBo
A healthy Borowski is the instant favorite for closer, to me.Course, I enjoy nail-biter 9th innings.
But I don't enjoy walks, Mr. Dempster.
mlf - February 23, 2005
Walks?
Mitch Williams' first Cub save in 1989 -- he walked the bases loaded, then struck out the side.I doubt Dempster will be that frightening; just remember Williams used to say of himself:
"I pitch like my hair is on fire."
Al Yellon - February 24, 2005
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