I think Buchholz has found his way into the Hurdle doghouse. I'm not sure what he did to deserve that fate. One thing I do know: Hurdle (and not just Hurdle; this may be a common human trait) tends to get very frustrated with players who have raw talent yet are unable to turn the corner and become big time "consistent" contributors. Hence the preference for Fogg (viewed as a scrappy "competitor" of limited natural ability) over Kim. I think the same thing applied to Chacon. The fact that he used to throw in the mid-90s and had a plus curve was held against him -- he had the "natural" ability, so there must be some kind of mental block preventing him from stepping up, right? The harsh truth is that a lot of guys like Buchholz and Chacon stall in their development despite having at least 2 plus pitches. You might add Jeremy Affeldt to that list, too. It's not for lack of trying or being "uncoachable." They just never develop consistent command of all their pitches, and so they remain useful guys who flip between the bullpen and the rotation, always good enough to keep a job but never good enough to hold one for long.
And Clint just hates these guys. Could it be that he sees a little of the young Clint Hurdle in them? Remember, Clint had all the natural ability in the world himself back in the day. He kind of squandered his prime years, then recognized the hard work it would take to stick around as a role player for a few more years ...
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