PMB: I would like to start with a little career synopsis/biography. This is from your Wikipedia entry; anything that should be changed or something you would like to add?
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Will Carroll is the author of two books: Saving the Pitcher (2004), and The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball’s Drug Problems (2006).Carroll is a Senior Writer for Baseball Prospectus.com, for whom he writes the “Under the Knife” column during the baseball season, makes frequent contributions to the BaseballProspectus.com/Unfiltered blog, and publishes a set of “Team Health Reports” and “Positional Health Reports” during the pre-season. He also leads Baseball Prospectus’s audio and video media initiatives, in particular “BP Radio”. He also serves as the football injury expert for RotoWire.com. In 2006, he was the injury expert for the short-lived The Fantasy Show on ESPN. In 2007, Carroll has also worked as the NFL injury expert for SI.com, for whom he writes the weekly “Will Carroll’s Injury Report.”
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WC: That’s pretty much it. Seems more like an obituary. I’m not sure of how to explain what I do – I’ve been struggling with that definition for a while.
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PMB: Yeah, people still don’t understand what I do everyday. If there is one piece of advice you have for Fantasy Baseball owners, it would be….
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WC: Make your own decisions.
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PMB: Solid advice. Kerry Wood blew his first save of the season last night. However, he did save the Cubs’ first three wins of the season. Do you think he can stay healthy and that maybe his career has turned the corner? Could he be a bonafide closer?
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WC: It’s possible. We don’t know how anyone adjusts to workload or role changes. Wood’s history and his continual inability to change a known mechanical flaw work against him. He’s always had the stuff and the attitude. It’s not that hard of a job, so I’m rooting for him.
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PMB: I’m rooting for him too. Former Cy Young winner and broadcaster extraordinaire Steve Stone was often vocal about Wood’s faulty mechanics leading to his injuries. Do you think he has corrected his mechanics? And does this situation relate to the topics covered in your first book “Saving the Pitcher?”
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WC: See above, listen to the interview I did with Steve that’s available at the BPR page, and … well, yes. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/
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PMB: And what about Mark Prior, the other Cubs phenom that could never stay healthy long enough to really contribute consistently; do you think we will see him again? I know he’s on the 60 day DL for San Diego right now, but does his career still have a chance?
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WC: Chance? Sure. It’s a matter of how much he focuses. His mechanics kept it from being a complete breakdown and if he can get back to that, sure.
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PMB: Let’s hope for his sake he can. I’m rooting for him (and Wood) too. I remember you becoming a household name in sports media circles about a couple years ago, at about the same exact time when the story of Jill Carroll, the free-lance journalist captured, and later freed in Iraq, was dominating headlines. Did the similar sounding name ever confuse people?
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WC: No comment. I get a lot more Will Ferrell confusion. He’s taller.
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PMB: Fair enough. This was during the time you exposed the Chicago Cubs for trying to disguise the severity of Prior’s injury. And then they responded by trying to attack your credentials. Please tell us more about what transpired there…
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WC: I’ll argue with the characterization. I didn’t “expose” them, I just gave the facts as I had them. It was a very off-hand reference in the Larry King section of my column. They did what they thought was right and … well, we see how it ended up. I wish I’d been wrong, but I knew I wasn’t. Like any reporter, I’ll make mistakes and I’ll own up to them, but after the mistakes I made (tactically, not factually) early in my career, I’ve learned.
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PMB: Most people argue with the characterization I have of pretty much any situation that i’ve characterized. One of the keys to White Sox season is #4 starter Jose Contreras. Why does he vary his delivery between over-the-top and side arm motion? Is it for specific pitches, or a fatigue thing?
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WC: It’s a tactical thing. He can throw different pitches from different angles giving him more looks. Not many people can do that and maintain control. It’s hard enough to hit the strike zone, harder still to make it hard to hit, and even more hard to do it in different ways. Contreras is pretty special in that regard. Pedro did it a little bit, but not nearly as noticeably.
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PMB: The White Sox have had a history lately of dealing pitchers (Mike Sirotka, Freddy Garcia, Brandon McCarthy, Danny Darwin) who rapidly decline once they get to the new team…how do the see it coming? Or maybe I’m overanalyzing and overgeneralizing?
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WC: No, it’s noticeable. I’m not sure what it is, but I like to think that Herm Schneider has something to do with it, at least to the extent that he says, “this guy’s about done.” I’m not implying anything.
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No implication required. According to the “Pete Rose†subheading in your Wikipedia entry:
“Carroll was the co-writer, with Derek Zumsteg, of an article in 2003 for Baseball Prospectus stating that Pete Rose had come to an agreement with Major League Baseball that would allow him to be reinstated with no admission of wrongdoing.[1] Carroll’s sources within baseball had provided him with this information. The report was denied by Major League Baseball, and Rose has not yet been reinstated, even though he has since admitted to gambling on baseball. When asked in an interview in October 2007 whether he still stands behind his story, Carroll responded: “Absolutely. Rose himself has been quoted as saying he had a deal.â€
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PMB: Do you think Rose could still be reinstated sometime soon?
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WC: No, that ship has sailed. Rose handled the incident terribly, or rather, handled it in the manner that Pete Rose would handle it. I’m not sure he gets it, to this day.
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PMB: Have you ever spoken with Tommy John about the surgery being named in his honor? And how a specific surgery and injury will always be linked to him in the course of baseball history?
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WC: Yep, just this week! The interview’s up on BP Radio and he told me afterwards that I was the first person to ask how he got injured.
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PMB: What a coincidence! When you were doing research for your second book The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball’s Drug Problems, what shocked you the most about the steroid era? And what insights would you give to baseball trying to regulate the use of HGH?
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WC: I was shocked how little I knew about it. I’m still shocked at how many people in sports and sports media know even less. HGH? Meh, why bother? It’s not effective and few are using it. I’m worried about what’s next, not what’s 2005’s hot drug.
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PMB: Finally, your Facebook profile picture features you with Jenn Sterger. Since you’re such good friends with her, can you pass this interview along to her?
WC: I’ll send her a link