Let me start by saying I view every individual pitcher as being different. That is a philosophy I’ve always had. What’s comfortable for one might not be comfortable for another. And let’s get one thing straight…I like all sorts of mechanics. I’m not a one-trick pony. I don’t have a cookie-cutter approach to mechanics.

O’Leary — and apparently you — don’t understand what I mean when I say I like the elbow to pick up the ball. It’s you being able to draw a straight line from the elbow through the wrist/ball. It doesn’t matter whether that line is down (high elbow) or up (low elbow). I’m not literally saying the elbow is picking up the ball. Maybe this will help…I want anybody who is willing to do so, google the images of Justin Verlander and Rich Harden and check out the throwing arm, wrist, and ball and take note of the differences. Take note of the hook Harden possesses and notice how I can draw a straight line from Verlander’s elbow through his wrist/ball. If you want to continue to apply how you define the elbow picking up the ball to what I write, have it at, but just so you know, you’ll be twisting my words.

One thing I’ll admit I was wrong on is the short-arming part. It looked to me that Motte was loading the ball by his ear before release in the clip I watched, but the clip used by O’Leary shows that’s not really the case.

Secondly, I do like pitchers to break the hands late. But there are plenty of pitchers I like that break their hands early. CC Sabathia (who also lets his elbow pick up the ball) and Tim Lincecum (who also lets the elbow pick up the ball) come to mind. I want pitchers to throw with velocity. I want a pitcher’s stuff to be explosive. If breaking the hands late helps do that, then great.

But it’s a matter of degrees. Does the pitcher have the arm speed to break the hands later? Will their control suffer? Will they suffer timing problems? Is the pitcher conditioned well enough to take the extra stress applied to his shoulder?

I’m not looking for the next Casey Fossum or Kip Wells, pitchers O’Leary has praised in the past. Their mechanics aren’t bad, but those pitchers don’t produce the kind of stuff I’m looking for. I’m looking for power-type pitchers. But again it’s a matter of degrees. I look at a pitcher like Kyle Lotzkar in the Reds system…generates excellent velocity, but he has a whole bunch of red flags. Matt Purke’s arm action would preclude me from drafting him as high as the Rangers did for the type of money he wants, but his upside is undeniable and the pick will look great if he can stay healthy. I want the pitcher that produces the best safest using the safest mechanics possible.

The bottom line for me is that I’m not deciding who I like and don’t like solely based on injury risk. It’s a factor, but it’s not the be-all, end-all for me. If I were to make my decisions based on injury risk, I would be passing over many pitchers that have Cy Young awards, made All-Star games, and made millions of dollars with mechanics that so many on the internet view as being terrible.

Where it says “pitcher that produces the best safest using the safest mechanics possible.”

I mean produces the best stuff using the safest mechanics possible.