Submitted by Greg, Feb 23, 2007 13:31

Excellent piece -- there's really no reason to think that Schilling won't continue to be excellent for another two or three years. I think the Clemens comparison is apt: they're both drop-and-drive, power pitchers who rely on a splitfingered fastball as an out-pitch. As their advancing years have ticked miles per hour off their fastballs, they've compensated by changing speeds and mastering the art of setting hitters up.

As far as Johnson is concerned, how much of his ineffectiveness the past couple of years (really just last year, as he was actually pretty good, though still dissapointing, in 2005) can be attributed to his bad back? His back caused him to lose velocity on his fastball, snap on his slider, and worst of all, command. But Johnson's body-type and pitching motion, which places an extraordinary amount of torque on his midsection, makes him vulnerable to this type of injury as he ages.

I don't see any of those predispositions in Schilling: like Clemens, his mechanics are conventional and sound.

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