MONTREAL – David Cone emerged from a 12-minute meeting with Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre late yesterday afternoon and maybe for the first time in his life, had nothing to say about what was discussed.
“You’ll have to ask them,” Cone said when he was asked when he would get another start. “They have the schedule, you will have to get it from them. I have been sworn to secrecy. If I told you, I would have to kill you.”
With that, Cone quickly dressed and headed for the bullpen where he hoped to find the answer to a very bad start. But why the secrecy? Did Torre and his pitching coach tell Cone he was being yanked from the rotation thanks to a 1-6 record and chubby 6.49 ERA? Was there a physical problem with Cone’s 37-year-old arm?
Nothing even close because Torre divulged that Cone will start Sunday against his former team at Yankee Stadium in the finale of a three-game Subway Series.
“He will pitch Sunday night,” Torre said of Cone, who hasn’t won since April 28 when he tossed seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays and admits he is searching for answers. “He pretty much left it to Mel and I which makes the decision a lot tougher. He said he feels fine and that he will do anything we want him to do.”
What the Yankees want Cone to do more than anything else is get a win. It doesn’t have to be pretty because he has pitched well at times and lost.
“We are getting him back there, trying to get him back on the right track, so the sooner the better,” Torre said of Cone, who was punished for six runs and seven hits – two homers that accounted for five runs – in six innings by the Expos Monday night.
While Torre acknowledges that Cone’s numbers are better on five days rest than the customary four, he isn’t convinced rest has had anything to do with Cone’s problems.
“With the way his arm has felt, we don’t feel [rest] has been a problem,” Torre said.
However, until Cone pitches better with shorter rest, it will be an issue and one Cone understands. In three starts on five days rest, he is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. In nine starts with four days rest, Cone is 0-6 with an 8.04 ERA. Sunday, he will be working with five days rest. And when he starts next Friday against the White Sox he will have had four days off.
Cone was originally slated to work Tuesday night on five days rest but when Ramiro Mendoza’s shoulder barked loud enough for him to be shut down, Cone volunteered to fill in even though it was on four days rest.
Mendoza will now pitch Tuesday. He played catch yesterday and will throw in the bullpen tomorrow.
Cone has carved out a borderline Hall of Fame career by not giving into hitters. It’s the same attitude he is bringing to this battle, one that has people whispering that Cone’s career is over.
“The way I look at it is this, it can’t get any worse,” Cone said. “The numbers are what they are and that’s the way it is.”
While Cone didn’t use those words to Torre in yesterday’s meeting, Torre sensed Cone has nowhere to go but up.
“I think he has bottomed out,” Torre said. “Now, it’s just about getting back to work and trying not to over-do things. I talked about it the other day and he will tell you the same thing, he is a rhythm guy and when you get to the point of trying too hard, you get out of your rhythm and do a lot of things that are going to hurt you. Again, it’s nothing that he isn’t aware of. But it’s not something you know what it is that you can just eliminate.”
As for Cone’s state of mind, Torre believes there is nothing to worry about.
“He is fine, he seems very calm but he wants to get this thing solved,” said Torre, who has no plans to take the ball from Cone for two reasons.
One, he believes in Cone’s track record of success. Two, there aren’t any other options if Cone is yanked from the rotation because there isn’t a pitcher tearing it up in Triple-A.
